Review Category: Movie

ALONE

It’s easy to imagine that upon conception Alone was an intelligent, thoughtful horror-thriller. Johnny Martin’s film would offer a fresh perspective, a contrast to the abundance of regulation zombie fare cluttering up the streaming services. Whether during the development process or through production that movie became lost, hidden behind clichéd melodrama, leaving only remnants of what could have been.

Tyler Posey plays Aidan, a young man who wakes one morning to discover a zombie apocalypse has broken out and he is forced to barricade himself inside his apartment. What then follows is forty minutes of self-pitying punctuated by moments of generic zombie bashing as Aidan slowly unravels toward a moment of real darkness. Then rather abruptly, there is a tonal shift and the story heads off in a different direction entirely.

If you can’t see where the plot is going, we envy you, but you clearly haven’t watched enough genre horror. This is a crowded area and to deliver something new and fresh is an increasingly difficult challenge. The performances are fine – there’s a cameo from Donald Sutherland whose character arc is even more transparent than Aidan’s – and the direction is suitably naturalistic and documentary-like. But there is no meat on these zombie bones, no depth to the plot or plight and little genuine threat from the afflicted populous. What remains instead is a disappointingly mediocre movie that will struggle to hold your attention for its duration and one you may well have forgotten all about soon after.

WHITE NOISE

Daniel Lombroso’s documentary film on three of the main players in the American alt.right movement aims to give its subjects enough rope to hang themselves, and largely succeeds in showing them for the ridiculous, yet dangerous, figures they are.

Produced by The Atlantic, Lombroso spends time with Richard Spencer, Mike Cernovich, and Lauren Southern as they capitalise on the rise of nationalism and the election of Donald Trump to spew their racist nonsense across America and other western nations.

That this film can be viewed at a time when, for now at least, the rise of these dangerous fascists has been curbed, is a comfort, but there’s little of the schadenfreude the viewer desires, because it’s too soon and too raw.

Cernovich (the end result of whose credo would see even his Iranian-American wife deported) is a grifter, and Spencer is truly vile, but many of those features have just been dangerously radicalised by ideas that should have been confined to the dustbin of history decades ago. That social media has allowed them to pursue fame and fortune through hate is a worse indictment of the modern world than any fear for the future of the ‘white race’.

The film’s subjects are humanised to a degree, which is a consequence of allowing them to hang themselves, but no-one can come out of this documentary thinking these people are justified in their spite, and Lombroso should be applauded for this even-handed assassination.

ASSASSINS

CERT: 15 / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (SKY STORE, AMAZON PRIME, GOOGLE PLAY, YOUTUBE, VIRTUAL CINEMA)

Lord Byron once wrote “‘Tis strange—but true; for truth is always strange, Stranger than fiction…”, and nearly 200 years since penning those words, it seems that they are truer than ever. We don’t even need to list the examples anymore, they just spring from the mind like a waterfall. Especially after the last few years. But before the world was insane (well, this insane), documentaries have for years harnessed those “that can’t be true?” stories for us to experience, often on the seat’s very edge and with our jaw on the floor next to the family relaxing dog. And in Ryan White’s film Assassins we have a winding tale, befitting of a Hollywood thriller, but with very sharp points to make.

Assisted by actual CCTV footage, in court recordings and other evidence, alongside some revealing interviews and talking heads, this unbelievable film details the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the older half-brother of current North Korea leader Kim Jong-un, at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport of Malaysia in 2017. Though, it sheds its focus as much (if not more) on the two women “responsible” for the nerve agent attack, as it does on the events of that day (and the eye opening run up to it).

White’s film is a compelling tale of power, politics and manipulation/damnation of innocence. It lays bare for us how those in high places and with their hands around the throats of their nation are beyond reproach, and how those with far less power are left to be used, abused and left for the vultures to pick at. Often sadistically playfully so at that.

If you are unfamiliar with the story, we won’t ruin what will be a most illuminating evening for you, but if you are up to scratch, this film offers up the human consequences of that day, as well as the inhuman gains, and the life or death aftermath. We meet those involved, untangle the web of deceit and manipulation, and make some quite staggering discoveries from the facts and actual images themselves.

Had a screenwriter written this for the big screen, critics would have lambasted it as ridiculously plotted or insanely over the top, but knowing it’s all real will never cease to amaze. When murder and fierce politics meet Youtube and youthful vulnerability, you are left with Assassins, and White makes sure to cast a light on the inherent problems present in attaining justice, reporting the facts and wielding scary amounts of power. Despite its roots in one unpredictable part of our world, there is a strong feeling here that some of the biases and inequality shown is applicable in a wider sense too. Especially the brief closing point about social media’s venomous ignorance of facts and lack of humanity.

Assassins and its true story of murder and exploitation, and in our ever developing viral age full of worldwide political turmoils, is a tale that feels as relevant and urgent as ever. See it and try to believe it all actually happened, because it did! Seeing is believing, as strange and heartbreaking as what you are seeing may be. Byron, you called it!

TWIST

CERT: 12 / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (SKY CINEMA)

There is somewhat of a knack to bringing modern feelings to classic stories. When it goes well, the results can be ever so charming (see Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield), when it doesn’t, well, you get King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. However, it is even more difficult to go the whole hog and actually take a classic story or character and bring it into the modern day entirely, though not impossible (as TV’s Sherlock has shown). Twist attempts just that with Charles Dickens’ 1938 novel Oliver Twist.

Starring Rafferty Law (here credited as Raff Law) as young streetsmart Oliver (better known as ‘Twist’), the film sees the lonely lad noticed by a group of young people who carry out jobs for (and live with) a man known as Fagin (Michael Caine), and they are about to plan their biggest one yet, but the stakes begin to spiral out of control for all involved.

Some will undoubtedly scoff that the very idea of a modern Oliver Twist, taking Dickens’ material and making a Brit heist caper out of it. Gender swapping numerous characters and putting a contemporary spin on the story and themes. But despite the seriously iffy reviews this Sky Original production has received, you could do far, far worse than spend 88 minutes in the company of director Martin Owen’s little flick.

It is obviously nowhere near a match for some of the material that inspired it, from the source novel to that Kingsman action kick, but the cast is infectious in the fun they are having together in this well meaning modern update. Sally Collett, Martin Owen and John Wrathall’s script does pull out some (ahem) twists and while they are foreseeable and at times a bit much, the film keeps on running, like these parkouring kids along the London rooftops. There is warm camaraderie among the characters, a youthful charisma innate in the story and an energy that keeps the film and its barmy thievery antics engaging.

Caine is naturally an ever watchable veteran core to the film, showing the young ‘uns how it’s done (even with knowingly dodgy disguises – and accents – thrown in), and he’s well opposed by a sadistic Lena Headey as Sikes. Though the young leads make a good accounting of themselves with likeable turns by Rita Ora as Dodge, Franz Drameh as Batesey and Sophie Simnett as Red. Though the film is obviously the first star vehicle for Raff Law, who has some shaky lines but cuts an appealing lead figure, with a connectable backstory. There are differing levels of support offered by Noel Clarke, David Walliams and Leigh ‘Keith Lemon’ Francis! Admittedly a couple of those latter names may make or break it for you though.

It ain’t a masterpiece and cannot escape the feeling of seasonally unleashed Sky One drama special at points but if you are willing to give it a chance, these kids keep us wanting some more for the entirety of the sprightly running time.

GO/DON’T GO

Introvert Adam is sat quietly in a bar when a match-making friend introduces him to the outgoing ‘K’. Adam is in introspective and distracted mood, but the gregarious young woman is sufficiently interested in him to agree to head out on a night together. Outside the club, ‘K’ and everyone else disappears and Adam is left alone on an empty street in an abandoned city. With a sigh of recognition, he wanders off into the night. It’s a captivating start to an unusual indie film.

The image of the lone survivor, left to fend for themselves in a depopulated world has featured in many movies over the years including The Last Man on Earth (1964), its remake The Omega Man (1971), The Quiet Earth (1985) and many other low-key, end-of-the-world flicks brought to the big screen in the decades since.

Go/Don’t Go has a more intense sense of abandonment and entrapment than its predecessors in the genre. As the story unfolds, scenes from Adam’s daily life are intercut with flashbacks from a time before the calamity; moments which reveal more about his relationship with ‘K’. Mixed into that are Adam’s attempts to navigate a way to sanctuary; a trial-and-error process that sees him mark-up routes on a map with the words from the film’s title. Adam also converses with characters from his past, who offer him advice, while unseen figures appear to threaten his well-being and his sanity.

This is anything but an adrenaline-fueled tale of post-apocalyptic survival. Instead, Go/Don’t Go is a slow-burn, existential treatise on loneliness, separation, and loss. The whole endeavour pivots on the figure of Adam (played with quiet conviction by writer/director Alex Knapp), who appears in almost every frame. Adam attempts to inject meaning into his silent and solitary life by following a self-imposed routine. Much of the film tracks him completing his curious daily rituals, and his occasional attempts to escape his predicament (either by heading off towards the mountains or enjoying a solo date night). It’s a concentrated and unhurried character study.

The reflective atmosphere of this personal diary is enhanced by a melancholic soundtrack, and an array of haunting and arresting visuals of a ‘man alone’ courtesy of cinematographer Frank Turiano. The script invites the viewer to wonder if Adam really is living in a dystopian form of solitary confinement, or if the story is instead a metaphor for his experience of detachment from the world around him. Go/Don’t Go offers no clear-cut answer to this question, or any of the others that it raises. But this is a film in which (as the central character himself comes to realise) a commitment to making the journey might be even more important than the hope of ever arriving at the destination.

Release Date: Out Now (US)

KILLER THERAPY

Brian Langston is a disturbed young man, seething with resentment and barely contained violence. Estranged from his father, and over-excused by his mother, he reacts badly when they try to off-set their disappointment at how their son turned out by adopting Aubrey, a young girl eager for the stability of a normal family. At the end of their tether, the parents send Brian to meet with a professional therapist – and then everything goes off the rails, Brian is soon incarcerated, and a sharp downward spiral begins.

The makers of new time-shift slasher Killer Therapy are unlikely to receive plaudits from those working in the field of mental health. This is a film in which mental illness equates to homicidal rage, and mental health practitioners dealing with sufferers are either naïve, delusional or plain wicked.

This is a film that adopts an entirely detached view of its characters, few of which have many redeeming features, and most of which are implicated in some way in the chain of blame that leads to all the stabbing and death.

That might be OK if Killer Therapy had anything interesting to say about the experience either of mental ill-health or its treatment. But any such concerns are quickly set aside to move the plot along, and even the pivotal relationships of the piece (mother-son, brother-sister, patient-therapist) are not explored with any rigour or depth. Even then, Killer Therapy could still succeed if it were a well-executed shocker, but it’s not quite slick enough to pull that off either.

The best conceit of the film is the narrative break that allows the script to explore Brian’s life as a young boy and then as an unhinged adult ex-con. Those early childhood sequences are the best realised and written and contain the strongest performances in the film; both from the youngest actors in the cast. Jonathan Tysor delivers a convincing sense of early teen malevolence as ‘young Brian’, while Ivy George is easily believable as an emotionally resilient ‘young Aubrey’.

Once the film shifts to Brian’s adult years, any enticing sense of doubt about where things might be headed are extinguished, as Killer Therapy runs through some familiar serial retribution killing beats towards a rushed finale. Michael Qeliqi’s turn as ‘grown up Brian’ is intense and committed, but the storyline limits what he can do with the role. There is an extensive canon of horror cinema built around the premise of the murderous ex-offender on a revenge rampage. It’s just not clear what distinctive addition to that genre the makers of Killer Therapy were hoping to claim credit for.

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY: THE REN & STIMPY STORY

For those of us of a certain vintage, The Ren & Stimpy Show was utterly mind blowing. First rearing its head in 1991, this tale of a sociopathic chihuahua and a well-meaning, daft cat, this series was far more than your usual animated affair. And now, Happy Happy Joy Joy is here to tell the story of this most unique of properties.

From directors Ron Cicero and Kimo Easterwood, Happy Happy Joy Joy explores the creation and boom of the Ren and Stimpy characters, while also detailing the erratic mind that powered so much of what was initially seen from this duo.

Featuring a who’s who of those involved with bringing The Ren & Stimpy Show to life – such as John Kricfalusi, Vanessa Coffey, Jim Ballantine, Bob Camp, Lynne Naylor, Chris Reccardi and Billy Wray – this is the absolute perfect tell-all piece for fans of this IP. And while there’s very much a sense of championing Ren and Stimpy, the documentary does not pull any punches when it comes to the darker side of things.

It’s when the focus is on Kricfalusi that things tend to get the most intense here, with his relentless drive and determination the anchor behind making The Ren & Stimpy Show what it was, yet also being a detriment to the process by the time all was said and done. And then, well then there’s the truly dark element of all of this, as Kircfalusi ultimately ended up taking advantage of the young fans of his creation, in addition to terrorising the staff with which he wouldn’t have been able to bring Ren and Stimpy to live without.

As a celebration of Ren and Stimpy, Happy Happy Joy Joy is a triumph, but this is far more than just the literal happiness and joy of these characters and their unique world. In the end, you find yourself with a lasting sense of a sadness for the characters of Ren and Stimpy, for they, amongst many others, became victims in one man’s egomaniacal game – while those around Kricfalusi did their best to keep this runaway train on track.

Whether you’re a fan of Ren and Stimpy or not, this is a truly fascinating watch, and Happy Happy Joy Joy is an offering that has far more gut punches than a casual viewer may be expecting.

BLOODY HELL

In a fine example of bring in the wrong place at the right time, former soldier Rex (Ben O’Toole) is at a bank – mainly to chat up the cute teller, Mandy (Ashlee Lollback) – when a gang of armed, masked thugs burst in to rob the place. Thinking on his feet, he uses his John Wick-esque skills to defeat the would-be robbers. Unfortunately, during the mayhem, an innocent bank teller is killed. Sent to jail for eight years, he returns to society and finds that he’s a bit of a celebrity. Rex has a habit of talking to himself – literally, as we see his inner voice manifested, Fight Club-style – and decides to get away from the publicity before he cracks. So he heads off to Finland, where he is kidnapped by a family who have to feed one of the offspring with a different sort of meat – starting with Rex’s right leg. The daughter of the house Alia (Meg Fraser) may be his only way out of the nightmare if he can only talk her into helping him.

Directed with great flair by Alister Grierson, Bloody Hell could well be the expression you use when you see the film. Packed with twisted surprises, Robert Benjamin’s self-aware script is constantly engaging; the dialogue between Rex and his inner self provides some comedy gems and the horror aspect is never diminished by the humour. The character’s military background comes into play numerous times in spectacular fashion – having only one leg doesn’t stop this hero.

Great script and direction only goes so far; Australian Ben O’Toole knocks it out of the park playing the dual versions of Rex, he’s equally charming and a hard-ass when needed. We’re so invested in the character from the start that his situation in Finland comes as quite a jolt. Grierson subverts expectations by nobbling the hero early on – and yes, there are Misery references.

Bloody Hell is the kind of movie that would have cinema audiences punching the air and gasping in shock in equal measures. Even though we have to make do with the less social home screenings, the euphoria will still be there. Certainly a film not to miss.

Where to watch: VOD

THE HONEYMOON PHASE

What makes the perfect marriage? Why do couples tend to behave differently after a few months of wedded bliss? That’s the questions posed by the organisation in writer/director Phillip G. Carroll Jr’s debut feature.

A young couple, Tom and Eve (played by Jim Schubin and Chloe Carroll), pretend to be married so they can enrol in an experiment that will reward them with $50,000. All they have to do is be locked away together in a swish house for a month and be observed and answer some questions along the way. Sounds easy? At first it is, until Tom starts behaving in ways Eve hasn’t noticed before.

The Honeymoon Phase could easily be an extended episode of Black Mirror but lacks the satirical bite as it descends into psychological and physical horror territory. We’re kept guessing at what’s going on for a while as Eve sees and hears things that Tom doesn’t. She begins to doubt which side he is on as she notices things are a bit ‘off’ with him. It’s acted splendidly, particularly by Chloe Carroll, whose descent into paranoia and sheer terror is faultless. The direction, by the actor’s husband Phillip, is taut and impressive, and his script is only let down slightly by a plot twist that raises the sci-fi element (which we won’t reveal here) a little too early. The climactic reveal would have been enough a payoff without heightening the reality at that point. That said, it’s a solidly entertaining film that highlights the darker side of relationships.

HELLKAT

A washed-up Female MMA star must fight a series of monsters, in a netherworld tournament to save her soul – what a concept! If only HellKat had the budget, script and martial art know-how to pull off such an outlandish synopsis, sadly it does not, leaving the audience seriously short changed.

The concept behind Katrina ‘HellKat’ Bash (Sarah T. Cohen) is a great one, the audio of a lost fight plays over the credits, she is drifting, with no purpose after the death of her son and is given a lift to a dead-end bar after her car breaks down. She drinks and smokes too much but has a resolute toughness. Unfortunately, her dialogue and the performance from Cohen is flat, she can only muster lines such as ‘shut up!’, when challenged in the bar, and when it turns out the patrons are demon-like, surviving gunshot wounds to the face, she doesn’t bat an eyelid. Unforgivably, she then spends the next 20 minutes of the film cleaning the toilets in exchange for tequila! So about this tournament…

Eventually, the man who gave her a lift to the bar, turns out to be a demon or the devil, something evil at least and makes her enter said tournament. The shoddy ring, bathed in red, is housed in the basement, with just our resident devil and a drag queen watching (don’t ask!) Katrina gets to fight an orc-like creature and some type of werewolf. The make-up is effective, but the martial arts action is lacklustre, after a couple of spin-kicks it all turns into a slug fest, which after sitting through scenes of constant smoking and bar cleaning is unacceptable. What could have been a low budget Mortal Kombat is a waste of concept and time.