The Babadook
Australian horror film The Babadook (2014) has been gaining a fair bit of attention lately. From winning acclaim at international film festivals to securing a reasonable theatrical release in its home country, which is becoming increasingly rare, this is a film that has people talking. After a slow start, I think it is fair to say that writer director Jennifer Kent’s first feature film deserves absolutely everything that is said about it (assuming they are good that is).
The film centres on a single mother Amelia, played by Essie Davis, and her son Samuel, played by Noah Wiseman. Samuel’s father died in a car accident as Amelia was being driven to the hospital to give birth to him. Things are already going pretty rubbish for the family when the boy finds a book titled “The Babadook” on the shelf to read before bed. The book is amazing by the way and if they bought it out, I would snap up a copy for a prized piece of merch. Already scared of monsters, the starkly terrifying book reduces Samuel to a bawling, inconsolable mess. From there the horror part of the story really kicks in with the usual bumps in the night and aspects of the book playing out in real life. The film is really astutely made and because the tone and pacing are both so spot on, it makes it all the more terrifying. And believe me it is terrifying. It’s a very different horror film too, with its stylish shooting style, being not at all visceral and clearly influenced by though not derivative of classic haunted house films. Thematically, this is a very dark and adult horror film. It is not just about the supernatural threat to the physical body, but it also deals with grief in a very intelligent and interesting way. It is also one of the better examinations of the relationship between a mother and her child in a horror film that has been seen for quite a while.
There is so much texture in this film. The house where a lot of the action plays out has a lot of wood and a very gothic feel to it, the soundtrack and sound design both add so much without distracting at all, whilst the heavily focused on close-ups shooting style also brings a really different vibe to the film. Essie Davis is well known to Aussie audiences for her role as Phryne Fisher in the TV series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. She is excellent as the 1920s sleuth in that series, but she is even better in this film. As a mother close to the edge, she totally embodies the role with her physical appearance and mannerisms. The film opens on a long close-up of her face, just being mad good at acting, and from then on you know you are in for a wonderful performance. She excels at both the grounded elements of the script, as a mother who just cannot take any more and is becoming increasingly exasperated with her son’s nightmares, and also at the scream laden supernatural aspects of it. The fact that Davis’ performance is so excellent is important because the arc of her character, her disintegration, is a very good narrative through line for the film. I was expecting Essie Davis to be as wonderful as she is, but a total surprise to me was the performance from young Noah Wiseman as Samuel. It is one of the more shocking performances from a young actor I have seen in quite a while. Part of that is because he is totally invested in the role and genuinely acting, not just playing along as himself. There are a couple of sequences where the character is putting on magic shows. And so excellent is Wiseman’s performance that he is able to act as the bad actor that the character would be… if that makes any sense. In any case, he is really good at everything, from making you believe he is an annoying brat, to a genuinely troubled kid, to mortally terrified.
I saw this film on my birthday, two beers in hand down at my local cinema. Aside from the fact it scared the shit out of me, it was a perfect present. A highly original and artistically made horror film from my home country that knocked my socks off. Here is hoping that the film is a big success and it leads to Kent being able to bring some more frightening tales to the screen. If you get the chance over the next couple of months to see it, jump at the chance.
Verdict: Longneck of Melbourne Bitter
Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Carrie (1974) and Patrick.
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Cheap Thrills
Cheap Thrills (2013) is an indie horror film that has been garnering a fair amount of hype recently. Featuring David Koechner, aka Champ Kind on the cast and a simple, relatable, yet able to be taken to the extreme premise, it is easy to see why plenty have fallen in love with this film.
Craig is a man down on his luck. His morning root was interrupted by his crying baby, a final notice has been pinned to his front door and to top it all off, he gets fired. This basic, effective, characterisation is filled out as the film progresses. We learn that the now fired mechanic was once a writer, who has clearly either fallen out of love with his art or lost the ability to produce. This back story is obviously not the point of a film like this, but it does definitely help to elevate the narrative and that level of detail and craft makes you (well me at least) a little more willing to overlook some of the film’s later flaws. Down on his luck, Craig finds himself in a dingy bar, trying to drink away the pain of losing his job, before heading home to see his wife and baby, who he now has absolutely no way of supporting. At the bar he runs across an old mate Vince, and they are in turn befriended by a rich couple played by Sara Paxton and David Koechner. These two are out for her birthday and Colin, played by Koechner, has an obsession with making memories which leads to the two old friends being challenged to a serious of dares with increasing financial stakes and correspondingly increasing levels of risked attached to them. I won’t give too much away, but the gauntlet kind of runs from taking shots to public toileting to severing limbs, with more than a few diversions into other stunts, which can be anywhere from unoriginally crude to intriguingly psychological.
I am really not sure how I feel about the ending of Cheap Thrills. I for one did not see it coming, though I think I have heard others peg it as a little obvious. At first I was really not a fan. But now after letting it stew a little bit, even though I still don’t love it, I kind of respect it as a choice of ending. I definitely feel that, even though it is briefly touched upon, the financial aspect to the motivations of these characters really should have been fleshed out a little more. The film is clearly a comment on the haves and have nots in our societies. But the idea is just plonked there a little and I wanted some interrogation of it. Having said that though, it is great that a horror film even puts the ideas out there though, plenty of films would have focused totally on the crassness and the one upmanship. Morally, it was good that the character of Craig was at least a little conflicted to begin with and again this should have played out a little more through the economic exploration that the film was lacking. Ditto the almost immediate breakdown between Craig and Vince. It is kind of plonked there but the point that could be made is either not there or it is at the very least not wholly rounded out. The performances are pretty solid overall. As one of the two leads, I thought Ethan Embry who played Vince was the pick of them, seeming to channel Tom Hardy a little and he nicely mixes up a sense of fun with a definite dash of intensity. His comedic sense is great and it would be cool to see this film lead to more opportunities for him. Koechner is probably the most famous person on the cast. Initially he is just so ‘big’ with the performance it’s distracting. You can’t help seeing him a little as Champ Kind, with his uber obnoxious loudmouth air. As the film goes on though, this tempers a little and he actually establishes pretty easily a character that stands well apart from Champ, so it is good to see that he has the ability to pull that off.
Cheap Thrills is an interesting film with a great core concept. It definitely could have taken that concept, and the commentary on us as individuals and a society further, but at the very least those ideas are there. At its best, this is really, really good. As it stands though, its just good, but the kind of good that is different enough from the norm it is probably worth your while checking out.
Verdict: Stubby of Reschs
Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: The Tunnel and Devil.
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Trailer for your Weekend: Calvary
I was a huge, huge fan of The Guard (2011). It is one of those films that I really could not understand someone not loving. Calvary (2014) sees the director of that film John Michael McDonagh reuniting with awesome star Brendan Gleeson. Also along for the ride are a cracking cast including Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Dylan Moran and Domhnall Gleeson. The film looks wonderful, like these guys will bring a dash of the boisterous from last time but really ramp up the thought provoking elements this time. Anyone else fans of The Guard and looking forward to this one too?
Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: 2011 in Review and Trailer for your Weekend: This is the End.
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Little Miss Sunshine
Revisiting Little Miss Sunshine (2006) I was struck by how much, just like Juno (2007), the reception of the film has cooled in light of the pale imitations that studios started pumping out to cash in on its success. This is a shame, because as a crowd-pleaser of a film, with something for pretty much everyone, it is bloody hard to beat.
The film is a simple, but not sentimental, long distance journey taken so that the youngest member of a family can compete in a beauty pageant. The family is a bunch of misfits, from a foul mouthed grandad, a prick of a father through to a teenager who has taken a vow of silence. The car is a bright yellow, mechanically questionable kombi van which adds to the misfit feel of it all. The results of the film, like any great team, are far superior to the constituent parts that it is made up of. Along the way, there are little moments that give the film such charm – a homophobic old dude spotting a suicidal gay Proust scholar for a porno, and a note advising ‘go hug mum’. It’s a comedy that does credit to its road film roots, having the characters overcome a range of barriers, from the comical to the heartfelt. It also does not shy away from the fact, actually it totally embraces it, that kid’s beauty pageants are the weirdest thing in the history of the world. And the whole film is topped off by a dance sequence that may be the greatest and certainly most incisive in cinema history.
You know why both Little Miss Sunshine and Juno are really good films and all the shitty pale imitations are shitty pale imitations? Both of them have really exceptional and most importantly original scripts. This one is a weird script in some ways. It is simultaneously really artistic, no one would ever say a lot of these things, but despite that it also manages to be incredibly true to life. The film is also boosted massively by the fact that the cast is exceptional, and many of the cast are giving if not career best performances, then pretty close to it – Toni Collette, Abigail Bresnan, Steve Carrell (he has never been in the same ballpark of awesomeness as he is in this film), Paul Dano and Greg Kinnear for example. Carrel’s character is an interesting one to consider the film, and its merits through. There is a lot going on there, but really his character is a peripheral figure. It says a lot about the film and the script that a fringe character is so three dimensional and well written. That is also true of Dano’s character, who aside from one big (and crushing moment) is really in the background with Carrell, adding so much colour and surprising depth to the film. Even caricature characters like that of Alan Arkin are not only expertly written, they also manage to some how sit with the tone of the film with no jarring.
Little Miss Sunshine is hilarious filmmaking that also manages to make you both care and feel. If you think about it, there are not that many films you can say that about. If you have never seen this, then you are missing one of the truly great post 2000 films. And if like me you have not checked this out since its release, then it is well and truly time to take another look.
Verdict: Longneck of Melbourne Bitter
2014 Progress: 12/101
Progress: 108/1001
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Planet of the Apes (1968)
Planet of the Apes (1968) is a film that has become a really central part of pop culture. Not just through The Simpsons, though yes that did totally ruin the film’s ending for me some years ago. I hadn’t seen the film for a whole bunch of years, so thought I would revisit it to see if it still held up as a sci-fi classic for me.
I actually watched Planet of the Apes a good 10 years ago, long before I was into classic film. I recall being really impressed by it and blown away by the ending even though I knew what was coming. It starts exceptionally well, combining thought provocation like all the best sci-fi with some nice futuristic visuals. The exploration of the mental and philosophical issues of exceptionally long space journeys is really good stuff and it leads into a spectacular crash sequence. The camerawork here is one of the highlights of the film as the camera swirls wildly while the spaceship tumbles to the ground. There is an early sense of exploration and a final closing off of the initial ideas that the film is concerned with, particularly in the manner that George Taylor played by Charlton Heston reacts to the fact that everyone he knew has been dead for millennia and he will almost certainly never get back home. These are all great questions to ponder, especially today with manned missions to Mars possibly looming, and the very real probability that one day people will have to sign up for one way space missions. The discussions between Taylor and his rather more perturbed crewmates are really well scripted and bring all of those ideas out. Unfortunately once the three men were captured by the apes, the film really flattened out for me. Aside from that capture sequence, the action is all pretty lacklustre and the narrative never particularly goes anywhere. Most of the elements of the film that work later on have very little to do with the apes actually, which are obviously the focus of the action. Rather, it is the hallmarks of the environment that have the timeless prescience of all the best sci-fi that hit the mark. The soil is totally ruined, nothing at all will grow and much of the planet is a total wasteland.
One aspect of this film that really stands out, especially given its vintage, is that it is really quite a dark film both narratively and especially thematically. The plight of the astronauts is bleak, basically from start to finish and there is a certain meanness to much of what happens. For such a mainstream film, some of the technical elements are quite bold. There are long segments with very little dialogue, the spaceship is intricately designed, there is an almost handheld sense to some of the camera work and the soundtrack is full of (at times annoying and intrusive) electronic bleeps and bops. The ape costuming work, whilst possibly revolutionary at the time, is exceptionally dated now, just looking terrible and basic. At times, I found them to be so bad that it was actually distracting. Planet of the Apes is quite famous for a number of the philosophical messages it examines. This is cleverly done by inverting the roles of humans and apes that currently exist. Humans are used for ‘animal testing’, talked down to and generally treated abhorrently. In some ways it is a very forward argument against human exceptionalism, at least that is a reading I made of the film. Unfortunately though whilst this inversion of roles is clever, there is only so much you can achieve simply by inverting the roles. The ideas needed to be, or at the very least could have been, pushed a lot further. I guess one advantage of the limited approach of the inversion of ape and human roles is that it makes the film’s messages quite universal and open to interpretation. But I still think that overall the script needed to go further with the ideas.
I was definitely less impressed with The Planet of the Apes this time around. My impression is that if you look at various elements of the film, especially the themes and some of the design, it should be a lot better than it actually is. As a whole though, I found this to be a merely good experience rather than a truly satisfying one.
Verdict: Stubby of Reschs
2014 Progress: 11/101
Progress: 107/1001
Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Upside Down and Ben-Hur.
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Trailer for your Weekend: Boyhood
Richard Linklater, through his ‘Before’ series and other films, has proven himself to be a pretty singular talent in contemporary filmmaking. Even from him though, the forthcoming Boyhood (2014) looks like a pretty remarkable and unique piece of work. The film was shot over twelve years, literally chronicling one guy’s childhood. I try not to get too excited following trailers. But bloody hell this one makes me want to see this film. The trailer just works, combining a great choice of song with snippets from the film that give you a flavour of what to expect without ruining it for you. I would have to say it is probably my most anticipated film of the year now (ok maybe Godzilla is in front). Let’s hope the film meets that anticipation. Anyone else excited for this, or even better been lucky enough to catch this at a festival screening?
Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching July 2013 (includes reviews of the first two ‘Before’ films) and Before Midnight.
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Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
It was my hope when starting Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) that this series would turn out to be the inverse of the Elm Street films. That is, whereas with that series the odd numbered films were far and away better than the others, hopefully with this series it would be the even numbered ones. And that is true to a degree. The even numbered Friday the 13th films are at least moderately enjoyable, unfortunately the same cannot be said for the rest of them. There is also not really a centred marketing approach or narrative through line in these films like the Elm Street ones. The DVD edition I have of this is actually quite comical. The front obviously has the title Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter on it, whilst the first sentence on the back goes to lengths to explain that this is “the fourth – but not final” film in the series. Say what now?
The issue with this series for me is the sheer lack of ambition. Whilst I quite enjoy Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, there is very little that feels like it has not just come straight from all the other films. Though there is a brief revenge sub-plot that does actually feel new. But it is almost comical just how quickly that is dispensed with. Even though I bag the plot and repetitiveness of these films, this is better than most of them in that regard. I really like the start of the film, as the fuzz and ambos clean up after Jason’s rampage in the previous film on a delightfully dark and rainy night. Then it moves onto a really atmospheric section in a hospital. And let’s face it, outside of an isolated cabin in the woods, a hospital is about as excellent a slasher setting as you can get. But from that point on, the film settles back into what is essentially the exact same plot as the first few films – teens sexing and Jason killing. Unfortunately you can’t help but thinking that if the film had of been based more on the revenge sub-plot I mentioned earlier, told from that point of view, this would have been a much more interesting watch.
I don’t really have any issue with films following a formula. Hell, I am a James Bond nut. But these really should build up more of a sense of both story and character. In each film, the first 45 minutes are achingly slow and not much at all happens. This is where there should be slather of atmosphere and character interactions built. But each film meanders along, not really doing anything until the killing kicks off in the second half. Nostalgia wise, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter delivers a couple of classic appearances on the cast. Both Cory Feldman and Crispin Glover appear. The film really has to be seen for Glover’s dance moves at one point which are essentially the 80s distilled into a bite size morsel for you. As for Feldman… well wow. If you have seen this film, that sentence will probably be pretty self explanatory. If you haven’t though, let me just explain that it involves a half cocked head shaving sequence to kill the big bad. It is all rather woeful, albeit with a brutal kill at the end. And it has to be said that the very last shot, with creepy sorta bald Feldman, is exceptionally badass.
Unfortunately Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter sees this series continue on a pretty painfully formulaic run. Fortunately though, despite that, the film is enjoyable enough. It is not going to wow you, but it will give you 90 minutes of pretty mindless escapism. And there are worse things in the world than that.
Verdict: Stubby of Reschs
Updated franchise ranking below:
- Friday the 13th Part 2
- Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
- Friday the 13th
- Friday the 13th Part III
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Worth Watching April 2014
April was a relatively quiet month for me on the Worth Watching front, at least in part because I was so busy writing in-depth reviews for the site. The watching on the side tended to focus on political docos for whatever reason. Overall it was all pretty positive and even the one film I don’t think is worth watching is not a complete write off. As always, love to hear your thoughts on these in the comments section below.
Worth Watching:
- The Lego Movie (2014), Phil Lord and Christopher Miller – Whilst I like this film overall, I think that a lot of people have been too willing to overlook its shortcomings. The first 20 minutes is a blast – subversive, hilarious and a touch political. But for most of the runtime the plot is pedestrian which leaves the whole thing never as subversive as advertised. Just see the treatment of the film’s only female character Wildstyle. However it is one of the most beautifully designed films I have ever come across and the detail in the world-building is great.
- Capitalism is the Crisis (2011), Michael Truscello – This is really informative and relevant if you live in the States, Australia or any similar ‘Western’ country. The film is really slick and well put together which is great for a doco on a topic such as this. Sometimes it does feel a touch academic and hard to follow as the ideas jump around a bit. But you get used to that and begin to grasp key nuggets of info. As our systems seemingly become more and more impervious to the power of those they exploit, films like this will hopefully help to play an ever more important role. Well worth a watch.
- Home Alone (1990), Chris Columbus – Like seemingly all of my childhood favourites, this one holds up cause the script is really damn good. Such a great sense of life to this film. The soundtrack, all the performances especially Culkin’s and a simple yet fun story all help to make this so much fun. Not to mention the deservedly iconic (and really brutal) battle of wits at the ending.
- The Grand Budapest Hotel (2013), Wes Anderson – One of the director’s more accessible films, it remains delightfully almost entirely style over substance. And that is more than alright given I can think of maybe one other contemporary director with a style as unique in a visual sense (Malick). The story is straightforward and playful with plenty of humourous absurdity. Great performances from a huge cast as well, led ably by Ralph Fiennes and newcomer Tony Revolori.
- Capitalism: A Love Story (2009), Michael Moore – Perhaps not his best film, but Michael Moore can really put a film together with the best of them. His use of popular music is probably as good as any director working these days. He is also exceptionally clever and able to distil information in a way that some find glib but I find inspired. Annoying how much of this, especially the interconnectivity between the public and private sectors, is highly relevant to Australia at the moment. It is a real shame that this is Moore’s most recent film. We need voices like him working and bringing this relevance to major audiences.
- Noah (2014), Darren Aronofsky – I can see why some have rubbished this (giants!), and the flaws are plain to see, not the least of which is a number of weak performances. But this is also a big budget film more rich in ideas than any I have watched for some time. Ideas from the biblical to the very contemporary (and some that are both). Aronofsky’s visual vision comes though and pretty much all of those flourishes, a bunch that shouldn’t work, really do. Russell Crowe carries the film, just as his Noah carries the weight of the world on his shoulders in the film. Also his beard is phenomenal.
Not Worth Watching:
- Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism (2004), Robert Greenwald – I had heard a lot of really good things about this film. So I was pretty surprised to finally watch it and see that it is all a bit cheap looking and unfortunately does not really teach you anything you shouldn’t already know. The cheapness of the film is actually a little distracting it is so prominent. There are some good points in here about the blurring of the lines between news & commentary and the fact that Rupert Murdoch is essentially Elliot Carver. All in all though it is a little boring, un-dynamic and more than anything, obvious.
If you only have time to watch one Noah
Avoid at all costs Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism
Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching April 2011 and Worth Watching September 2012 (includes a review of Moonrise Kingdom).
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Trailer for your Weekend: They Came Together
Woah almost totally forgot a trailer for this weekend. Here it is, though don’t get me wrong, simply based on what is on display below They Came Together (2014) looks pretty woeful. It sort of seems like a really obvious approach to material that needs a little panache and originality to really succeed. But there is one simple reason why I will still be keen to see it when it comes out: Amy Poehler. If you are a fan of Parks and Recreation (if you haven’t seen it, please give it a try), then you will know that Poehler is possibly the best comedic performer working today. Any movie she is in, not to mention one rocking a reasonable supporting cast headed by Paul Rudd, has a great chance to be hilarious. So here is hoping Poehler and co can make this way better than the strange, bad, trailer suggests.
Related beermovie.net articles for you to check out: Worth Watching November 2013 (includes a review of Parks and Recreation Season 3) and Trailer for your Weekend: Tammy.
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Doomsday Book
The South Korean triptych film Doomsday Book (2012) features three short films from two directors, taking a whimsical look at the apocalypse. Whimsy and the apocalypse don’t seem to mix you say? Well on the evidence of this film, you would be right.
Given the title, it is fair to say I was expecting a very different tone to what this film served up. It starts off with a light, comedy of errors segment, examining family relations. This part is delivered jaunty soundtrack and all. The same segment then flirts with the prospect of being an intense ‘patient zero’ focused look at the zombie apocalypse. In the end the first of the three segments lands with a thud. Really not working as either something fun or something intense. In fact it does not particularly succeed as being something of anything. With most films such as this, it is the job of the first short to intrigue the viewer enough to see where the filmmakers take us for the next segment. This doesn’t do that and instead it feels like a gimmicky stand alone short that would not realistically be able to cohere with anything that follows. And it doesn’t. You can dig down and find some thematic connective tissue between the three shorts, but it would be a very big stretch for you.
After holding zero anticipation going in, briefly the second segment ‘The Heavenly Creature’, holds a bunch of promise. A robot, utilised by a monastery, begins to exhibit signs of spiritual growth. But this promise is rubbished by something that cripples the entire film – really terrible writing. It is a shame that a story idea with such subtlety and scope is ruined by a script that is just plain dumb and lacking any of the required philosophical nuance. In fact most of the ‘philosophy’ here just sounds like a reading from Buddhism for Dummies. Along with a great central idea, ‘The Heavenly Creature’ also brings the other only real highlight of this movie. The robot, and the effects throughout the segment look really great. It is a wonder if they could do such a good job on the relative ‘straight’ special effects like this, why not take a straighter approach to the entire film, rather than aiming for the absurdity that is delivered. By the third segment, where a giant 8-ball meteor brings the end of the world as we know it, the film is too far gone to be any kind of a success. In fact throughout this section the film takes it up (down?) a notch from being not very interesting or well made, to verging very close to being incompetent.
Tonally all over the shop, the few good ideas in Doomsday Book are buried deep below terrible scripting and misjudged atmospherics. The reality is that it starts off by misjudging tone and it never recovers at all. A film dealing more or less with the end of the world that manages to establish absolutely no stakes results in a pretty miserable watch.
Verdict: Schooner of Tooheys New
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