Change Your Image
markyritchie
Reviews
The Bray Road Beast (2018)
Good for what it is...
I'm a big believer for reviewing movies for what they are, not what you want them to be. This documentary is actually pretty good in terms of explaining where the modern 'werewolf' myths and legends come from as well as highlighting the specifics surrounding the 'Bray Road' sightings. If you are looking for proof in terms of high def video or other things then I'm afraid you're going to be left wanting.
I should also say that a friend told me about this movie because our high school math teacher was interviewed in it. Let me just say in that regard that Lee Hampel in my opinion is an honest man with a very high IQ. He is not your average farmer or retiree so if he says there is some animal roaming around or tearing up carcasses on his property in Elkhorn then I don't doubt it, and I'm bias in this regard but I wish they had spent more time with him and his story because he is not a local and was clearly a skeptic when he first heard about it, it was only his experiences that changed his mind and he does provide by far the best evidence of something going on by both testimony and physical evidence. I wish they had spent more time or had some kind of expert evaluate what he has gathered as clearly he wasn't able to get very far in terms of asking experts to weigh in.
My only criticisms would be the overall marketing and feel of the movie. The intro as well as the cover and overall vibe have a 'Blair Witch' fake horror mocumentary feel to it that is not consistent with what the movie is trying to be. The people interviewed are all very serious in terms of just telling the facts as they have researched it so why put all this imagery to make it scarier or creepy. Furthermore some of the CGI looking reenactments were also a little hooky looking, but for low budget stuff that's what you get.
I would give it a solid B+
Killer Joe (2011)
Shocking and offensive...yes, entertaining...not really
This movie is kinda fun to review because its almost impossible to be neutral on it given the content however I'm giving it a neutral rating. Here's why:
The directing and acting is superb across the board. I am NOT a traditional fan of Matthew McCoughney, but he is a really good actor, especially in darker roles like this or in 'Frailty' which I think is an underrated thriller/noir masterpiece. In fact if you want to prank someone tell the average McCoughney fan that they'll love him in films like 'Killer Joe' or 'Frailty' and most likely they'll rent them thinking its the usual rom com where he chases Kate Hudson around with his shirt off for two hours and get a RUDE awakening. The point here is that most of the films McCoughney has done are the predictable role where he is charming, witty and good looking. Here good looks and charm just mask an evil and dark individual who is pretty much perverted to his core, and he plays it almost perfectly. On top of that is Thomas Haden Church who I think kinda steals the show with some really good, oddly dark/funny lines and overall performance. Gina Gershon is also great as the trailer trash wife trying to screw everyone over. Lastly the directing is great and the overall tone of the movie is really dark and gives you that uncomfortable feeling from start to finish, which is hard to do, so in that sense it is a HUGE success.
Based on everything I've said this would be a big recommendation, the problem is at the end of the day there is absolutely NOTHING positive going for anyone or anything in the film. I have no problem with dark, or even shocking content, but it should have a point. I think Friedkin has been famous for giving us moments like that like in 'The Exorcist' where the girl walks backwards down the stairs and urinates on the carpet, or masturbates with a crucifix. This was very disturbing and shocking stuff, even more so in the early 1970s, however it really did serve to tell that story better, here the blunt nudity and perverse behavior just feels like shock factor for its own sake. Having someone simulate oral sex on a chicken wing is shocking, and that's about it, creative shock factor I'll give it credit for, but not much else. On top of this is the fact that even in the end there isn't really anyone you want to root for, with exception of the Dottie character, but then she herself goes on a murderous rampage of sorts to close things out. This isn't to say that everything has to be redeemed or that there even has to be a good guy, but at least a better discernible point that the film maker is making in showing all the dark, shock, potentially offensive stuff and at the end that's where you just kinda shrug your shoulders and say, 'that was an f-ed up ending to some pretty f-ed up characters.'
Furious Love (2010)
Christian documentary for the mainstream
Well I just watched 'Furious Love' by Wonderlust (a small film production company out of Chicago) and I was SHOCKED how much I enjoyed it. I watch a good deal of documentary films and have seen far to many supposed documentaries by Christian film makers such as Jeremiah films that are only self serving to the Christian community, but also poorly edited, and even boring. Most films within the genre are doomed spend there existence within the confines of a church video library, and many don't even deserve that right.
This film, although made by a Christian production group raises some tough questions, and presents an overall worldview that I think most people are at least intrigued by, if not outrightly wanting to discover for themselves. The narrator/director almost by accident stumbles upon what is described to him as spiritual warfare and darkness in parts of the world that we don't normally see in the western world. So the question becomes, does this supposed spiritual darkness really exist? And if so what is the solution, and does the Church, who claims to have answers for everything, actually have the ability to address these issues?
Here is where I will say that I don't think this is just a movie for supposed believers in the spiritual world, or for people in the church to watch to make them feel better about their faith or worldview. I think what the movie presents is potentially good evidence to believe that there is more to life than the natural world as we know it. The movie should be viewed as a real discussion piece as to whether there does indeed exist a spiritual world, and whether or not there is both inherent good and evil at work in such a world/paradigm. It is pretty difficult to rationally explain some of the claims and even manifestations that are described and even captured by the film by the naturalist world view. Either everyone in the film is insane, massively deluded, or we have ourselves a bit of a problem if you believe that the natural scientific world is all there is and that ultimate good and evil are inventions and have no real metaphysical foundations
I think this is a pretty good piece of documentary film making that tells a good story. Most people may not agree with the conclusions but it raises great questions, and that is what good documentaries do. This is a great potential discussion piece for both the chrisitan faith as well as human spirituality as a whole, don't watch it alone!
Death Sentence (2007)
A Death Sentence for anyone who liked this movie
Death Sentence was originally written by Brian Garfield the original author of the Charles Bronson 1974 classic 'Death Wish', it was said that he didn't like the sequels to the Bronson classic, and I can't blame him as the Death Wish series got worse with every film, but I can't imagine he would have been happy with this over the top, gratuitous crap that James Wan gives us in what I believe is one of the worst films of 2007.
This is a real lesson that you can have a good story (Garfield's novel, not to be confused with the screenplay which is horrible), and a great lead in Kevin Bacon but it all comes down to whose behind the camera. James Wan seems to think that good film making involves one unbelievable scene after another that get almost ludicrous at times. One chase scene lasts so long during a crowded down town area, followed by a parking garage that you would think there are no police in the entire city, as one man is being haplessly chased by a pack of thugs with weapons drawn and firing. There is another scene in where a main character is killed and you swear it's a dream sequence, because it's so ridiculous, and it's NOT!!! I realized nearly three quarters of the way through this film that I don't even care who lives or dies anymore because it's so obvious that the filmmaker doesn't care either. Just text book bad movie making, but what can we expect from the guy who gave us torture porn crap like the 'Saw' series?
What Wan, or anyone who liked this movie doesn't realize is the revenge plot/drama is something that appeals to most people. This is because when good people are horribly wronged it's so tempting to want to take justice into your own hands, and so easy to root for those who do as a movie goer. However, in this movie there is no drama at all, no real attempt at showing the protagonist as a torn individual battling right vs. wrong, or furthermore no attempt at giving the audience an opportunity to identify/sympathize with this guy because it all just feels so bogus.
For anyone who wants to see better revenge dramas or movies of the like I implore them to watch the original 'Death Wish', or John Singleton's 'Four Brothers,' or Neil Jordan's 'The Brave One' here you will see real directing compared to Wan's juvenile trash.
Once (2007)
The Best Film of the Year!
Once:
A movie that really is hard to put into words, but demonstrates that you don't need a multi- million dollar budget, A-list Hollywood actors/directors and special effects to make an incredible film. It does what any good movie should do, tells a story honestly and drops the viewer right into the action so as to feel you're there and care about what's happening.
In this case it's the story of a young man and woman who wound't otherwise have anything in common other than she has a busted vacuum and he works at a vacuum repair shop, or so it seems, until you discover that these two ordinary poor people actually have the same passion for writing and playing music, neither having the capacity to do so in the way they would like. For him it's playing songs in streets and his tiny apartment for anyone who'll listen but no one who can understand. Enter a woman who hasn't been able to outlet her own musical creativity due to a young child and failing marriage and you get an explosion of musical and romantic creativity.
John Carney's film is really an album on screen, and I have to mention that it is the music that drives the picture, but it's not a musical in the vain of people randomly breaking into song that drives normal people crazy (because no one ever does that in REAL LIFE) but he shows you where GREAT music really comes from and how it's created. Never once are you thinking 'Oh great there breaking into song again' because not only is the music incredible (mostly written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) but it's given real time and they don't cut songs short but let you listen as if you were there in the store, studio, apartment, bus or wherever.
The movie just has so many perfect little scenes and touches like the banker who wants to play them a song of his own when they ask for a loan, or the scene when they finally get to record and it's abundantly clear that no one knows what they're doing. Lastly I have to mention that it is the treatment of their interest/relationship that is the best part of the film. It's refreshing to see romance done right, without sex or over the top cheesy melodramatic dialog, the type of crap that only happens 'in the movies', here it doesn't need to be said because like true romance it's not spoken, it's felt. Carney avoids the horribly overwrought sexploitation of male/female relationships in modern film and actually respects these two characters enough to end the movie right, with the viewer walking away just like the two smitten musicians...wanting more of their music and of each other.