The film just rubbed me the wrong way. Perhaps I was expecting horror with comedy and instead got comedy with horror. While I understand Nathan Baesal’s high-energy, generally positive portrayal of Leslie as a purposeful juxtaposition with his slasher personae, there’s not enough focus on the difference to make it work.
Category Archives: Movies
Tideland ••• [three out of five]
On one hand, Tideland is perhaps Gilliam’s most focused film in terms of theme and impact. He seemed to know what he wanted to say with this one and it provides for some of his strongest and most recognizable characters. On the other hand, indirectly, this focus makes it more wandering and, at times, boring, than a good portion of his work.
Tiny Furniture ••• [three out of five]
There are people who will “feel” Lena Dunham’s story, which is a privileged kid’s Dazed & Confused moved to post-College. Certainly the general emotion of wandering without purpose is one we’ve all mostly felt. There will be just as many who will raise their nose to this, though. Thankfully, Dunham’s story and presentation of it are without a tone of ‘woe is me,’ and so despite her you-could-call-it-easy life, there’s a plain honesty here that makes it approachable.
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale ••• [three out of five]
As happens with a lot of slow-burn films, once you turn the corner, there’s no going back. We get one creepy character captured by the locals around whom rules and stipulations are proposed. This is fun. Then we’re told “what’s really going on” and the rules and stipulations seem to disappear in favor of a low-budget attempt at a big-budget ending. It’s managed well enough, but the change in pacing makes the film’s sparseness at the beginning seem amateur instead of purposefully paced…
The Cabin in the Woods •••• [four out of five]
Nothing is really unexpected once the initial premise is explained, but the dedication to do it and do it right makes it wickedly admirable. I loved Cabin in the Woods. I can’t wait to watch it and re-watch it at home, musing over the possible intentions of various moments and then pausing frame by frame for nerdboy analyzation…
Wanderlust ••• [three out of five]
So I say this fully aware that he’s worked on some things that I’ve enjoyed – including this movie – and somethings that are wholly original and awesome – like Freaks and Geeks, but… Judd Apatow can kiss my ass. ‘Wanderlust’ has all sortsa great laughs and moments, but it also has a recognizable Apatow touch of sentimentality that keeps it from achieving the batshit hilarity of The State or Wet Hot American Summer or the out-of-order bizareness of The Ten or even the momentum of Role Models…
Some Netflix reviews
The Thing (2011) •••• [four out of five]
Carpenter’s original The Thing is an amazing movie, certainly one of his best and one of my favorite slow-burn horror movies, but it has its flaws. So does The Thing remake / prequel. However, as written by Eric Heisserer and shot by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., The Thing manages to do what so few remakes figure out – that a remake can only get so far on nostalgia, and needs to be able to stand as its own film…
Wrath of the Titans •• [two out of five]
In Wrath of the Titans, director Jonathan Liebesman seems to have a better grasp on action sequences than Clash’s director Louis Letterier – whose keep-moving pace worked well for his Hulk film but seemed like he didn’t use a sense of scale properly for making Clash feel like something epic – and yet I still fell asleep…
House of Voices •• [two out of five]
The production on this is pretty beautiful, and actually looks, in moments, more like Silent Hill than Silent Hill did, and yes, this was before Martyrs, and Laugier grew from the experience from film to film, but, well. Shucks. I just wanted this to be a gem and instead it’s a wandering, voiceless affair that’s not spooky or interesting enough to merit attentiveness…
vaguely-offensive 