Closing in on a bad news year, there is still cinema. It was good for magical realism, startling horror and some decent genre-bending. Whether it confronted the influence of the bad guys at the top or provided shelter from their storms, the worlds on screens in the darkness provided some special moments and comfort.
BEST
The Substance: In which a fable about aging keeps its points open and punchy so it can get into the nuance and detail through characterisation. It's not the gruelling scenes of sci-fi body horror where the gravity lies but the scene where she prepares to go on the first everyday date of her life post fame. Coralie Fargeat proved she could manage the collision between symbolic magic and tough gore with Revenge; this is the apotheosis. Film of the year.
The Zone of Interest: The horror of Nazism told as a hollowing indifference as a family privileged by atrocity look inward, away from the crimes they are compliant with which drift over the wall as the sounds of pain.
Love Lies Bleeding: Writer/director Rose Glass went from her strange earthly martyrdom tale to this bold gay noir collides with magical realism to produce something of its own kind but welcoming at the same time.
Civil War: People who didn't get this complained about the conceit of Texas and California as political allies, ignoring the point it made about how drastic the times had become. A muscular scenario that fit its times. Not so much mockery of this after the U.S. election result.
Furiosa: Constant action and substantial characters supported by good performances and Miller's usual flair made this one of my favourite Mad Max movies.
Birdeater: A friend described this as a woke Wake in Fright (the better joke would be Woke in Fright but, of course, I didn't say that at the time) and I almost disowned him ("woke" as a put down is a goofy old bloke ploy, IMHO). It's much more about control within relationships and goes pretty deep. A distraction with a stripper in bushland does it no favours but the central trauma is well examined.
Blink Twice: A brash slap in the face to entitlement culture with a satisfying, rounded finish.
I Saw the TV Glow: A deft and subtle combination of adolescence and magical realism deliver a poignant portrait of adult panic. Quietly effective.
Longlegs: Its detractors responded to the hype campaign but the central ideas, once clarified, fit the bill for genuine resonant horror.
Red Rooms: The kind of morbid compulsion that draws us to true crime media is examined with a cold stare that allows the horror of the motivations to bloom. Devastating.
Azrael: Intriguing premise about civilisation after an imagined rapture and the horrifying costs of the rule of ignorance. Then the finale happens.
In a Violent Nature: Something scarcely imaginable was the freshening of the teen slasher but here it is.
MIDDLE
Abigail: A credibly cheeky vampire themed comedy which was ruined by its own advertising which let the cat out of the bag, deflating the major plot point early.
Immaculate: An Omen style supernatural tale handled well with a solid performance from Sidney Sweeny. Much better than the soggy First Omen but still too old-timey to quite work on me.
A Quiet Place: Day One: Effective prequel that sensibly opts out of outdoing the original in favour of building a real emotional core.
Alien Romulus: Ok. Not bad. Not good. The franchise that never lived up to its first installment just seems stuck in a loop or goes into uninteresting origins sagas that just end up looping like the others.
Oddity: Very effective, atmospheric and enjoyably absurd, like a Peter Strickland film, but I wanted more from it.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: First time was fine. This was ok but unnecessary.
Wicked Little Letters: Nice setup but, for all its basis in reality, kept falling short of credibility.
Milk and Serial: Highly accomplished found footage horror on YouTube out gunned so much taking the same approach but didn't quite add that extra.
MADs: Like found footage, I don't care that much if something was all done for the camera in one take. The presentation of it that way will do. A hell of a ride.
Maxxxine: Having triumphed with Pearl in the middle of this trilogy, Ti West opted to make something resolutely ok instead of something wilder and less rounded.
Dune Part 2: Lovely, big and thrilling but overlong. If you're going to invite unfortunate comparisons with Life of Brian as you depict devotees beatifically recognising signs of the messiah, then the counter theme of dissent should be pumped harder than here.
WORST
Rumours: I don't know if its the collaboration with the brothers Johnson but Guy Maddin (never thought I'd be putting one of his down here) has been losing touch with what made him humbly great and might never recover. Also, if you admit that the title of your movie is just from an old Fleetwood Mac album, you never have me on side (to be fair, it wasn't Maddin who said this).
Imaginary: A goofy idea that gets progressively worse with every scene. By the end when it thinks it's getting all surreal on us an exposition character appears to rattle off an over complicated spiel we neither asked for nor felt like living through. Waste of time and resources.
Heretic: Very good setup with a strong central trio of performances but collapses into self-conscious cleverness which by the end just feels trite.
Black Cab: Too many ideas colliding in a progressively confused mash of supernatural tropes.
Midas Man: How to make The Beatles boring when concentrating on their genuinely interesting manager who is rendered ineffectual and bland. For two and a half hours!
V/H/S/Beyond: Entertaining but nowhere near the best of the franchise with too many so-what level entries.
The First Omen: Goofy attempt at a prequel with uninteresting characters and tie-ins.
House of Spoils: If it had been released as a magical realist piece with even less of a supernatural story I might have liked it.
Daddy's Head: A stark style with unlikeable characters and a quirky premise cannot a horror movie make. Also, I am sick of horror movies that begin with extreme high shots of cars driving through forests.
No comments:
Post a Comment