WONDER WOMAN 1984

wonder 1984

If someone has bagged themselves a lucky stone and wished for the perfect movie to lift our spirits in 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 Director Patty Jenkins has certainly been listening.

In this long-anticipated sequel to Wonder Woman’s 2017 headline outing, Gal Gadot returns as the Amazon princess who’s now living an understated life in the 1980s as a curator of ancient artefacts, all the while keeping her signature red, gold and blue superhero deeds anonymous.

As the era of excess’ ‘having it all’ mantra brings out the worst in people, it’s up to Diana to save mankind once again when a powerful artefact finds its way into the wrong hands.

The film’s authentic ‘80s-ness, seen through the eyes of a revived Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), who has swapped his pilot’s jacket for classic Nikes, provides colour and heart as he gets acquainted with a new world filled with parachute pants and space travel. In these turbulent times, the latter serves as a wonderful reminder of the amazing things humans are capable of – though Steve’s raised eyebrow at ‘cheese on demand’ is pretty understandable.

The energy is strong throughout, as Diana swings her golden lasso from D.C. to the desert, bolstered by Hans Zimmer’s heroic score. Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal are superb as the personable yet painfully awkward Barbara Minerva slash vampy alter ego Cheetah, and desperately opportunistic ‘oil guy’ Max Lord. With much to juggle across its 2.5 hour run time, the film feels well-paced and does a commendable job of fleshing out each character thoughtfully in a story that’s rooted in the value of truth.

“We all have our struggles,” says Diana, as though talking directly to the audience about this strange year but here, Wonder Woman 1984 truly shines as a welcome dose of perfect golden power-suited escapism.

 

MANK

mank

PLATFORM: NETFLIX | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Ask any Film Studies student what the greatest film ever made is, and they’ll likely tell you it’s Citizen Kane, if they’ve seen it or not. And while many know the story of its wunderkind director Orson Welles, or the incredible cinematography of Gregg Toland, less might know about its writer – the witty, cynical, alcoholic Herman J. Mankiewicz.

Truth be told, you don’t need to have seen Kane to appreciate Mank, although it might enrich the experience. This is a sentimental yet acerbic peek behind the scenes of 1930s and ‘40s Hollywood, as told from the perspective of Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), with a meticulous backdrop of Paramount and MGM studios and powerful players such as Louis B Meyer (Arliss Howard) and William Randolph Heart (Charles Dance). A passion project for director David Fincher, it was adapted from his late father’s screenplay and includes some beautiful little touches like cue marks in the frames. According to its stars, Fincher demanded 50-200 takes of many key scenes. If this is what Mindhunter ended for, it may as well be perfectly executed.

Oldman excels as the disenchanted writer, hired by Welles (Tom Burke) to ghost-write the script for Citizen Kane so long as he foregoes credit. Initially unable to complete anything as he recovers from a broken leg and adapts to Welles’s intense demands, he confides in, and alienates, friends and colleagues in the industry including actress Marion Davies (perfectly played by Amanda Seyfried), his secretary Rita (Lily Collins) and his wife Sara (Tuppence Middleton).

Influenced by politics – both nationally and within Hollywood, he writes a script openly mocking Hearst, the most powerful man in the country at the time and friend to many of his colleagues and benefactors, setting off a tense chain of events affecting everyone involved.

Mank is not quite the ‘film of the year’ as many touted it, but does faithfully follow in the footsteps of Kane, happily basking in its shadow as well as offering an entertaining, immersive and gloriously dialogue-heavy insight into its writer and the political landscape and Hollywood system influencing it.

BEAST MODE

beast mode

When a has-been Hollywood producer accidentally kills his lead, he turns to a herbal elixir in the hope of saving his movie and career. The magic he unleashes brings a plague of blood-thirsty shapeshifters into Hollywood, in a tongue-in-cheek homage to Hollywood spin and eighties horror.

What depth and darkness the script doesn’t achieve on its own terms is well compensated for in the performances of a really strong cast. The likes of C Thomas Howell (The Hitcher), Leslie Easterbrook (The Devil’s Rejects), Ray Wise (Twin Peaks), James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China), and James Duval (Donnie Darko) are without a weak link in terms of comic timing, and personal and artistic despair anesthetised by Tinseltown lifestyles.

Sadly, whatever this movie wanted to say in its own voice about the sinister underbelly of Hollywood never quite reaches the strength it could. Ray Wise channelling Lynchian mindfulness and mysticism brings a belated strength of message, but also serves to fight among the different films Beast Mode wants to be. Never quite as comedic or horrific as it could become, the overall message of glamour and self-interest driving damaged artists and executives to self-destruction come across with greater depth and comedy in Bowfinger or Bojack Horseman, both of which create their own worlds where their scripts’ unkindest laughs are all served up with real points to make. The decade Beast Mode is set in feels often more like excuse for lazy characterisation, and its attempts at profound are left feeling hollow and glib, falling foul of the Hollywood tendencies it’s set up to satirise.

BEASTS CLAWING AT STRAWS

beasts straw

This Korean film, written and directed by Kim Yong-hoon, is a glorious affair where it’s best going in cold to get the full effect, but we’ll try to summarise without giving too much away.

Presented in six chapters, the film starts with put-upon Joong-man (Bae Seong-woo) finding a bag filled with money in a locker at the sauna where he works. He’s tempted by it, especially since things are not good at home, particularly as his mother, who is suffering from dementia, is being a pain with his wife. Meanwhile, ‘hostess’ Mi-ran (Shin Hyun-been), a victim of domestic abuse, gets into a relationship with one of her punters, Jin-tae (Jung Man-sik), who has come over from China. He suggests helping to do away with her husband, but things get complicated.

There’s so much to take in here. Ruthless crime bosses, desperation, and greed abound as the story unfolds. This is Yong-hoon’s feature debut, and he rarely puts a foot wrong as the twisted, jet-black comedy develops before our eyes. There are touches of the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple as well as Pulp Fiction, although not in a copycat way. The film takes its time to build the characters before revealing its secrets, and by the end, the puzzle comes together beautifully.

Based on Sone Keisuke’s Japanese novel, the film is destined to become a cult classic, and we’d wouldn’t be surprised if an English language version is on the cards.

Available on DVD/Blu-ray and digital in the US from December 15th.

PSYCHO GOREMAN

PyschoGoreman

Something that’s made a come-back in recent years is the 80’s retro-style horror-comedy. Psycho Goreman can be lazily described as ET meets  Guyver by way of Masters of the Universe, but with lots more blood. It’s a silly movie crammed with some ridiculous lines and some fantastic practical effects that at no point stops to take itself seriously. It’s the sort of film that opens with a scrolling intro that only really exists to warn the viewer that things are going to start weird and get even stranger.

The  whole feature is packed with some great nods to pop culture, but without it getting away of the fun.  Plot wise, its complete nonsense.  We open with brother and sister Luke and Mimi accidentally uncover an ancient evil from the ‘Planet Gigax’. Mimi then discovers that she has total control of an outlandishly powerful alien being that exists only to murder and conquer. Mimi immediately puts this nightmare creature to work as her new best friend yet treats him terribly as she does so.  She also renames him to Psycho Goreman (PG for short), not because of the bodies it leaves in its path, but because that’s a cool name.

Mimi and a reluctant Luke make PG part of their family, leading to some hellish and hilarious sit-com style moments. Each scene drips with imagination and world-building whilst at the same time being a very straight forward (and very silly) story.  The creature design is brilliant, each beastie looks like they’ve come from some twisted Saturday morning cartoon, and they plenty of weird aliens to watch out for in this movie.  It features a monster that’s just a bin full of blood and bones on legs for example. The attention to detail is fantastic and the comedy is a nice mix of outrageous dialogue and slapstick.

In addition to the special effects being a perfect blend of 80’s style and modern production standards, the pacing, acting and overall design is exactly what it needs to be for a movie like this.

Psycho Goreman is unlikely to win any Oscars (unless something has gone horribly wrong with the Academy) but it’s amazing fun from beginning to end. If you like low budget, superbly made and very silly horror comedy (and don’t mind buckets of gore) this one is for you.  Brilliant, bloody and buckets of fun.

Release Date: January 22nd (US)

FREAKY

Freaky

The old body swap comedy gets a horror twist in this slasher film from Blumhouse and director Christopher Landon. It may present itself as Freaky Friday meets Friday the 13th (what, was Freaky Friday the 13th not allowed?), but this is more The Hot Chick meets Jason Goes to Hell. With a few shades of Mean Girls thrown in for good measure.

Following the death of her father, anxious, awkward teen Millie (Kathryn Newton) is struggling to find her way in life. Bullied and mocked at school, stepping on eggshells at home; she’s uncomfortable in her own skin and unsure what she wants out of life. And then she’s attacked by The Butcher (Vince Vaughn) – a masked serial killer straight out of the Michael Myers/Jason Voorhees school of schlock. When he stabs her with an ancient ceremonial dagger, things really start to get uh, freaky. The pair swap bodies, leaving Millie in the (massive) meat skeleton of a middle-aged-man, and The Butcher stalking the local high school as a teenage girl. With only 24 hours before the swap becomes permanent, can Millie reverse the exchange before it’s too late?

Following in the path of Happy Death Day and its sequel, this high-concept slasher movie plays on the grand (guignol) traditions of both slasher films and high school comedies. Landon is successful in both pursuits, balancing creative death sequences and intense gore with teenage drama and daft banter. After decades of practice playing the fool in lowbrow studio comedies, Vaughn isn’t afraid to get silly, and is great fun as the body-swapped Millie. Surprisingly – given how effective he was in Brawl in Cell Block 99 – he’s less believable as The Butcher, hampered by a silly mask and hodgepodge modus operandi. Is he a silent stalker, or loquacious lunatic? The film can’t decide which, and leaves The Butcher flailing as a result.

But this is a wonderfully charming comedy horror film, with a likeable cast and funny script. Its repetition of Happy Death Day themes may leave the viewer with feelings of déjà vu, but they’re quickly forgotten once the shit hits the fan and the chainsaw starts roaring.

HOST

host

A group of friends get together on Zoom during quarantine to take part in a séance in the new Shudder original, Host, directed by Rob Savage.

The world as we know it has changed with the pandemic, and with film suffering because of it, it’s prime time for creators to really push the boat out and innovate in order to keep this industry alive – and Savage, along with his writing partners Jed Shepherd and Gemma Hurley, have done just that with an ingenious horror that provides tons of natural, and supernatural, scares.

Haley (Bishop) invites her friends Caroline (Ward), Jemma (Moore), Emma (Webb), Radina (Drandova) and Teddy (Linard) to join her in a fun evening of contacting the afterlife with medium Seylan (Baxter). But Haley and the group unwittingly unleash a demonic presence with dire consequences.

Whereas we’ve seen this screen-life genre of film fairly recently with the likes of Unfriended, what Host does to set itself apart from the rest is really ground the story in the heart of the pandemic and elevate the real-life fears of those watching whilst also giving us strong characters that actually have great chemistry.

The film also utilises some very effective in-camera effects be it practical or taking advantage of the tools that Zoom has – including constructive use of the video conferencing apps free limit of one hour. However, the ending does drop the ball slightly but that doesn’t detract from the fact that Host is a well-crafted, anxiety-inducing thrill-ride from start to finish – and the fact that it was all made during quarantine is a technical marvel in itself.

 

DEATHCEMBER

deathcember

24 short films from talent around the world, all boxed up into one cinematic advent calendar of horror. Following in the footsteps of ABCs of Death and Tales of Halloween, Deathcember is as ambitious as they come. Bringing together such big names as Milan Todorovic, Pollyanna McIntosh, Ruggero Deodato, and Lucky McKee, Deathcember certainly isn’t short on talent. Or time. Clocking in at a hefty 145 minutes, that’s a whole lot of Christmas.

Nothing fills a horror fan’s heart full of dread like the horror movie anthology; and not always for the right reasons. While the subgenre has its gems, it is – by nature – a very mixed bag. Deathcember is as mixed as they come, and, given the film’s sizeable length, you’ll be rooting around for some time looking for the good stuff. Of the lot, John Cook Lynch’s Cracker, Sam Wineman’s Milk and Cookies and Pollyanna McIntosh’s Getting Away From it All are worth the investment. There are a handful of middle-of-the-road segments too, and the collection is never far away from its next smart or inventive idea.

The good, however, is vastly outweighed by the bad. Ranging from incoherent to trashy all the way through to downright repulsive (providing you get the uncut version, complete with its claymation tale of a Gumby-type child repeatedly raped by priests on Christmas), there’s very little cohesion between the shorts. None of it flows or fits together well – and some of the shorts aren’t even Christmassy at all. When Deathcember is good, it’s, well, good. But when it’s bad, it’s really bad.

 

MURDER ME, MONSTER

murder monster

For a movie with a lot going for it – a killer title, otherworldly setting, competent below-the-line crew – Murder Me, Monster (Muere, Monstruo, Muere) is a letdown. An Argentinian production set deep in the Andes, the film goes for both visceral and existential horror, but the latter is so clumsily executed, it nullifies the former.

If nothing else, Murder Me, Monster opens with a banger: A sheep farmer gets her throat slashed in graphic fashion. We don’t see her murderer, but the police assumes the perpetrator is her husband and calls it a day (CSI, this is not). Soon enough, a second victim materialises, this time a policeman’s mistress. Again an obvious suspect emerges: He seems deranged enough to fit the serial killer profile, but the voices in his head may originate from somewhere else. A Guillermo del Toro-like monster, perhaps.

The beast’s most distinctive features – face, tail – are reminiscent of male and female sex organs, hinting at the film’s subtext (violence of gender is a constant, infectious threat). Yet Murder Me, Monster goes on either pointless or obtuse tangents that dilute any impact the movie could have.

As if the overarching hopelessness and tedium wasn’t enough, Murder Me, Monster also allows cryptic psychobabble (think True Detective, but terrible) that further undermines one’s attention. The hyper-intense characters are not good company and the one that vaguely resembles a recognisable human being gets knocked off half hour into the movie. The resolution is mildly clever, but by the time it unfolds, you probably have bailed, or fell asleep (my wife did both).

POSSESSOR

CERT: 18 | RELEASE DATE: NOVEMBER 27TH

Brandon Cronenberg’s sophomore feature Possessor asserts him both as a distinct creative voice and as a part of the great horror tradition laid out by his father, David Cronenberg. This ambitious arthouse horror is an ultra-stylish, ultra-violent exploration of selfhood and identity guaranteed to crawl under your skin… and perhaps nest there.

In an alternative 2008, a woman named Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough) works as a contract killer, inserting herself into the minds of ‘hosts’ and using their bodies to carry out executions. Once the job is done, the host kills themselves while her consciousness slips back into her body, tucked away in a secret facility. Though it’s clear the work is taking its toll on Vos, she is nonetheless quickly pushed into another assignment – one which will devolve into a brutal fight for control, with the body of Colin Tate (Christopher Abbott) serving as battleground.

What ensues is a visually glorious struggle with, and for, one’s selfhood. Where Possessor’s strength lies in its spectacle and lofty ambitions, those same virtues also make it relatively low stakes. The protagonists are so thinly sketched that the battle between identities feels inconsequential. However, this also allows Cronenberg to pose questions about the meaning of identity and its mutability without having to provide answers or resolution. It can be frustrating, but it pushes the audience to come to their own conclusions.

In any case, Possessor’s visceral violence and vibrant body horror create so great and unsettling a visual impact that its echoes will continue long after the screen goes dark. Possessor forces its audience to ponder the meaning of the self, and perhaps re-evaluate its very existence.