Monthly Archives: June 2022

Cinema, horror, New Releases

MEN (2022) + THE NIGHT HOUSE (2021) – FILM REVIEWS

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MEN (2022) + THE NIGHT HOUSE (2021) –

Two fascinating genre films I saw this month had virtually the same narrative set-up within the horror genre. Both have lead characters who lost their partner to violent suicide, prior to being propelled into a journey of psychological trauma, mystery and devastating enigmatic danger.

Also, both the arthouse horror of Men (2022) and psychological horror of The Night House (2021) are intelligent offerings within the genre, eschewing easy solutions while exploring themes relating to grief, domestic violence and toxic masculinity. Moreover, while both films are expertly made there are many frustrations to be had while watching them. Nonetheless, both deserve praise for challenging the audience and genre conventions while telling their twisted tales.

Here are my reviews with the usual marks out of eleven.

*** MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ***

Jessie Buckley as Harper Marlowe in Men, directed by Alex Garland. Photo: Kevin Baker. Copyright: Men Film Rights LLC. All Rights Reserved.

MEN (2022)

Written and directed by Alex Garland

Main cast: Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Gayle Rankin, Paapa Essiedu

Would you “Adam and Eve it?” – after delving into ideas relating to men playing god with artificial intelligence in both the brilliant Ex Machina (2015) and genius of Devs (2020), Alex Garland returns with this surreal horror where men are very much cast as the devil in the garden of England. It’s a disturbing experience. So, be warned if you are faint of heart. Moreover, there are no simple answers as Garland births a succession of thought-provoking themes which occasionally baffled, and at times frustrated the hell out of me.

The always superb Jessie Buckley portrays Harper Marlowe who, after a tragic but visually shocking incident involving her husband, seeks solace in the countryside to process her trauma and grief. There she encounters a series of male figures, all portrayed by Rory Kinnear, who all exert negative thoughts, words, looks, and energy toward her. Is this all a dream or a fractured reality? Is Harper going mad? Do we care? Further, Garland drip feeds in flashbacks to Harper’s toxic relationship with her husband in several hard-hitting scenes. How this is connected with the many faces of Kinnear’s characters I could not quite work out. Well, other than the theme that all men are bastards, with little in the way of nuance to the contrary.

Alex Garland is an incredible writer and director and I have enjoyed most of his work. However, while Men (2022) has an incredible dénouement with body horror scenes Cronenberg would be proud of, I never really felt scared throughout. Moreover, despite Buckley’s absorbing performance I ultimately felt disconnected from her story as many ideas and moments, such as the scene in the tunnel lacked a real punchline. Similar to Ben Wheatley’s In the Earth (2021) – with the sparse cast and seemingly shot during lockdown, Men (2022) has some fantastic ideas and fascinating themes relating to grief and gender politics. Unfortunately, they didn’t all gel to create a satisfying whole. But maybe I am the one to blame. I am a man after all.

Mark: 6.5 out of 11

THE NIGHT HOUSE (2021)

Directed by David Bruckner

Written by: Ben Collins & Luke Piotrowski

Main cast: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis Hall, Evan Jonigkeit

Like Jessie Buckley, Rebecca Hall is always never less than brilliant and here she gives a complex rendering of a character, Beth, reeling from her husband’s violent suicide and secrets from the past which literally come back to haunt her. Alas, Beth is a shell of a person who drinks constantly but pretends everything is okay. She has strange dreams or waking nightmares which propel her to investigate further why her beloved husband shot himself. While I empathised fully with Beth’s mourning, I found the edge and antagonism, Hall, under Bruckner’s direction is given undermined the fear factor for me. Some slight vulnerability may have raised the heart rate even higher during the expertly crafted plot.

Nonetheless, when Beth really digs into the past and begins to find mysterious and hidden places in the woods, plus evidence of her husband’s potential infidelities, the film really grips you. Is the figure that plagues her real or a psychosomatic vision of grief. But Beth is determined to find out what her husband was up to with a variety of women. When it is revealed it is a exquisitely delivered twist. It’s really tough to come up with something original in the horror genre, but the revelation was extremely horrifying and ingenious.

Bruckner gives the film a terrifically creepy atmosphere as the lakeside property is enveloped with shadows, fleeting figures, light and reflection colluding to trap Beth in the haunted space. Indeed, the finale in the woods, house and on the boat create palpable and clinging dread. But then it ends and deflation occurs as questions and loose ends remain unanswered. The script also suffers from back story overload. I mean major events which occur before the film starts have a strong bearing on the narrative as a whole and should have been shown in flashback. Overall though, The Night House (2021) is well worth a watch due to the clever plotting, creepy locations and powerful suspense throughout.

Mark: 7.5 out of 11

Cinema, Comedy, Reviews

CINEMA REVIEW: EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE (2022)

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CINEMA REVIEW: EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE (2022)

Directed by: Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

Written by: Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

Produced by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Mike Larocca, Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, Michelle Yeoh, etc.

Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, etc.

Cinematography: Larkin Seiple

Editor: Paul Rogers

*** CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS ***

Wow, where does one start when reviewing Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s highly entertaining and genre-colliding film, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (2022)? Well, let’s start inward and work outwards. Thus, overall, it is one of the most exhilarating cinema releases of the year. Michelle Yeoh gives a spectacular series of performances as middle-aged wife, mother, business person, actor, chef, martial artist, sign-flipper, lesbian pianist, planet saviour, and rock named simultaneously Evelyn Wang, Evelyn Wang, Evelyn Wang, Evelyn Wang and yet more Evelyn Wang’s. Yes, if you didn’t know this is another multiverse narrative, but arguably the best and most fun of the lot.

Spinning a plot that could be pitched as Crouching Matrix, Hidden Beauty the relentless Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (2022) has a seriously insane story and series of crazy, funny set-pieces throughout, with the filmmakers throwing drama, science-fiction, kung-fu, horror, comedy, rites-of-passage, romance, surrealism, and kitchen sink genres at the page and screen in a riotous visual and aural feast. I mean what other films deliver a talking raccoon, giant dildo fight and homage to Stanley Kubrick into the creative mixer. And that’s just for starters. I could say more but don’t want to spoil all the spectacular surprises on show. Safe to say, I won’t look at a bagel the same after watching this devastating cinematic smorgasbord. Word of warning the tone of this film smash cuts all over the place, and while I could find fault with this, the sheer pace, imagination and diversity of the concepts did not just win me over, but smashed me into submission.

But what the hell is the story, Paul? Oh yes, there is a narrative core and spine with which to hang the madness on. I said I was going outwards didn’t I? So, Michelle Yeoh, Evelyn, is married to Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) and their relationship is slowly cooling like campfire embers. The family business is in financial strife and as the launderette struggles, Evelyn finds herself being audited by the I.R.S. Adding to these woes are stressful relationships with her daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu) and elderly father, Gong Gong (James Hong), thus Evelyn’s mid-life is not so much in crisis as about to explode. She needs a miracle. An escape. A means with which to resolve and work through her issues. But this reality bites. Hard. Thankfully, this isn’t real life. It is cinema. And there are alternatives universes. Many alternative Evelyn’s in fact. But is this Evelyn the chosen one? So a journey of identity and discovery begins. Will Evelyn save herself? Will Evelyn save the world(s)? And does it even matter?

I would probably need to watch Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (2022) again to see if the myriad of plot concepts actually make sense. My instinct was that the writers were in control and deliberately out of control with their material. Throwing punchlines, taking risks, improvising and not so much pushing but burning many, many envelopes. Yet, they have found a rock in Michelle Yeoh to build their multi-stranded narratives and themes around. She superbly anchors the film allowing the filmmakers to simultaneously explore the meaning of life, identity and existence in two-hours-or-so of exhilarating cinemas. Yeoh deserves award nominations galore for the energy, strength and emotion shown within the many lives of Evelyn Wang. It was also terrific too to see Ke Huy Quan return to a prominent movie role. He is so likeable and funny. Please never retire again!

Lastly, kudos to Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for delivering one of the most extraordinary films about ordinary people of the year. They potentially could have shaved some minutes of the runtime for pace. Because, by the time yet another smashing fight scene had finished I was almost too exhausted to feel at one with the final act familial reconciliation. But, Kwan and Scheinert succeed with Everything, Everywhere, All at Once (2022) because as well as a machine-gun splattering of hilarious ideas and gags combined with some pretty lofty themes, this film ultimately has a hell of a heart. More than one; a multiverse of hearts in fact. All beating as one.

Mark: 9 out of 11

Cinema, horror, New Releases

CINEMA REVIEW: DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (2022)

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CINEMA REVIEW: DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (2022)

Directed by Sam Raimi

Written by Michael Waldron – Based on the Marvel Comics

Produced by Kevin Feige

Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg, Rachel McAdams, etc.

Cinematography John Mathieson

***MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS ***

I have to admit, and fully conceding my opinion counts for zero, that Disney’s Marvel and Star Wars bandwagons have reached a zenith of saturation. Too much of a good thing is definitely not a good thing. The Disney cinema and streaming products released over the last year or so, since the Avengers hit their endgame has been, just obscene. So much so I now have a powerful fatigue when it comes to watching said releases. They may be of excellent quality, but I’m not really sure I give a damn, darling.

While I am yet to see Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) or Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), I did have the misfortune to slog through the stodgy and nonsensical Eternals (2021) on Disney+. Having said that I did enjoy the meta-textual invention of Wandavision (2021). Aside from the conventional ending it tried to do something different with the character of Wanda Maximoff, dealing powerfully with the theme of grief in an imaginative and thoughtful way.

But it would take a hell of a hook to drag me to the cinema again to watch a Marvel film. I’m happy squeezing the value out of my Disney+ subscription thank you very much. But, what was this? Sam Raimi has directed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)? One of my favourite directors entered the Marvel creative team. A bona fide horror and fantasy auteur returned to the superhero genre he inhabited so tremendously in his millennial Spiderman trilogy. Okay Disney – you’ve pulled me back in. I’m tired of your high quality entertainment but here’s my cinema cash.

Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff in Marvel Studios’ DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) is a big, dumb, fast-paced, scary, fantastic, mystical, surprising and funny chunk of visually stunning fantasy cinema. After unluckily being denied the Oscar for his subtle, yet brilliant performance in The Power of the Dog (2021), Benedict Cumberbatch is on superb hand-waving, cape-throwing, shape-shifting, death-defying, hair-flicking, multiverse-jumping, father-figuring form as Dr Stephen Strange. His hypnotic character finds himself haunted by weird dreams. But are they dreams? Are they instead visions of other worlds? Other lives. Other deaths.

Enter Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez a dimension jumping teenager who, as a “human” plot device, drags Strange into devilish conflict with another powerful magician from the Avengers team. Namely, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). Wanda is still struggling with her losses before and during the crazy events that occurred in the small town of Westview. Anyway, multiverse films are like buses it would seem. You wait ages and three or more come along at the same time. Indeed, with the time-travel narrative arguably becoming exhausted or rested, multiverse plots provide the writers the ability to introduce and reinvent characters and rules of the world within the Marvel canon.

So you’ve got to see the middle act of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), where America and Doctor crash into an alternative-Earth that contains some startlingly fun casting and unexpected character reveals. Add to that the dark arts delivered by Wanda’s continued obsession with getting America’s dimension-jumping powers light up and darken the screen. This allows Raimi to splatter the walls with a dazzling array of colour amidst the spellbinding set-pieces.

The end battle isn’t half bad either with Strange confronting Maximoff’s sorcery via a deathly conduit and ghoulish switching of identity. While I would have preferred Wanda not to have been cast as the nemesis, Olsen gives a fine performance of some depth amidst the mercurial madness. Overall though, this is Raimi’s film. He pulls out all the stops and magic tricks from his cinematic repertoire making Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) more his film than just another generic release in whatever-phase-of-Disney’s plot to take over the universe this may be.

Mark: 8.5 out of 11