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  • Psycho Goreman: Review

    Psycho Goreman: Review

    Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna) and Luke (Owen Myre) are as close as any brother and sister could be and they love spending time together. Then one day they unearth something in their back garden that’s glowing and it could be extra-terrestrial, so naturally Mimi picks it up and puts it in her pocket.

    Little do they know, but they’ve unleashed an evil monster hell bent on destroying the universe. The only problem is that since Mimi has the alien gemstone that the monster needs, he’s now under the control of a little girl who’s looking to cause a little destruction and mayhem herself.

    Psycho Goreman is a horror movie written and directed by Steven Kostanski which is a loving homage to horror and science fiction the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Nineties. Having a background in special makeup effects, Kostanski has handpicked some of the best designs which take people of a certain age (like me) right back to their childhoods.

    Evoking everything from Power Rangers, Wishmaster and many more, the visual style of the creature designs are absolutely perfect and the script is hilarious. Knowingly bringing a more adult theme to the vaguely familiar story, Psycho Goreman subverts all the cliches of the films Generation Y grew up with while also giving its audience exactly what they want.

    The cast are all great, but the scene stealer is clearly Nita-Josee Hanna as a little girl drunk on power and puts in an impressive debut performance with the comedy timing and delivery of somebody three times her age. The relationship between all the family members is particularly funny as well, somewhat reminiscent of Rick and Morty, but with its own spin and laugh out loud one-liners.

    However, being a nostalgic look back at a time where they just don’t make films like this anymore, Pyscho Goreman can feel a little overstuffed at times and although it’s nice to see all the things that Kostanski and his team can do, the final act felt a bit long.

    Saying that though, for those looking for a kind of film they kind of misremembered from when they were kids, then Psycho Goreman may unlock some fond memories.

  • Cruella: The BRWC Review

    Cruella: The BRWC Review

    Cruella Synopsis: In 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, a young grifter named Estella (Emma Stone) is determined to make a name for herself with her designs. Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of the wicked Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson). Their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable, and revenge-bent Cruella.

    Disney’s recent barrage of live-action efforts has been middling at best. Aside from a few inspired deviations (2016’s Pete’s Dragon is still an underrated gem), most of these slapdash remakes rest far too much on the pedigree of their inspired predecessors. Soulless products like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast confused innovation with a live-action paint job, with both symbolizing sinful new heights of cynicism for the beloved House of Mouse.

    Thankfully, I Tonya director Craig Gillespie elevates this tired trend with Cruella, a spin-off from the perspective of 101 Dalmatians villainess Cruella De Vil. Embracing the showy chicness of its central protagonist and the 70’s punk wave, Gillespie and company spin a devilishly alluring crowdpleaser despite some foundational issues.

    After two stints working with Disney (Million Dollar Arm and the refreshing traditionalist thriller The Finest Hour), Gillespie playfully lets loose within his newfound carte blanche. Cruella easily ranks as one of Disney’s most dynamic live-action efforts in some time, with Gillespie and cinematographer Nicolas Karakatsanis dreaming up a plethora of intoxicating camera movements and well-articulated frames. Every shot is constructed with purpose and intentive details, which is certainly more than I can say about most Disney live-action efforts. The lavish opulence whisks audiences along while earnestly playing tribute to the film’s high-fashion environment.

    Gillespie also expresses an astute understanding of zippy techniques, implementing flashy one-take longshots and a myriad of era-defining songs to create pulsating momentum. I love how Cruella ingrains its punk-rock aesthetic in every frame. The bold stylistic choices and lively setting make a fitting accouterment to our protagonist’s rambunctious edge. I give the team involved credit for crafting outside of the typical Disney presentation sensibility, even if it’s not a wholly inventive pastiche (the Joker comparisons have been numerous).

    Much of the rambunctious fun comes from the well-matched cast. Emma Stone is clearly having a ball as the quirky Cruella. Stone sinks her teeth into every scene, performing with a level of theatric grandiosity fitting of the character’s colorful image. Still, she doesn’t forget to imbue the wild-child persona with some much-needed humanity, delivering a fitting anti-hero deserving of the audience’s empathy. Emma Thompson is deliciously wicked as Cruella’s narcissistic rival, while Paul Walter Hauser and Joel Fry liven their archetype roles as Cruella’s sidekicks.

    Cruella marks several positive steps forward for Disney’s live-action catalog, but there’s clearly still room for improvement. Gillespie’s energetic effort gets too boisterous for its own good, with the medley of song choices and stylish edits masking the lack of dimensionality under the surface. I wish the character dynamics here had more time to render. For a movie centered on the wicked villainess, Cruella’s journey from small-time thief to bold fashion icon rarely receives time to breathe onscreen (the film’s most intimate scene, a confessional by Cruella of her misdeeds, is unsurprisingly its best). It does seem that Disney is getting a little too much credit for embracing more inventive choices. In actuality, the studio should have incorporated bolder techniques a long time ago.

    It may be a case of style over substance, but Cruella still shines as an engaging crowdpleaser defined by its own wicked sensibility.

    Cruella debuts in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access on May 28th.

  • The Dry: Review

    The Dry: Review

    Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) is a cop returning home for the funeral of a friend who supposedly killed his wife and his son before turning the gun on himself. Aaron has a history with the town and his work in law enforcement hasn’t made him any friends. However, when Gerry (Bruce Spence) and Barb Handler (Julia Blake) tell Aaron that they don’t believe their son would have been capable of murdering anyone, he decides to investigate the case.

    During his investigation, things start to remind him of a similar case that happened during his childhood and what with his home town being as secretive now as they were back then, Aaron starts to find it hard to uncover the truth.

    The Dry is a drama directed and co-written by Robert Connelly with Harry Crips, based on the novel by Jane Harper. With its police procedural format, it’s the performances from Bana and Genevieve O’Reilly as Aaron’s childhood friend that drive the film.

    Set during a drought in Aaron’s home town, the setting is simplistic, quiet and untouched, but as Aaron digs further, he finds more than first impressions allow.

    Going back to his memories through flashbacks, The Dry shows Aaron’s younger days and the toxicity of adolescence and his regrets that things should have gone differently. However, Connelly’s retelling of Harper’s novel never sensationalises the content for thrills and spectacle, instead making the facts as plain as the landscape that surrounds the town.

    The Dry feels like a film for adults and so it never embellishes on the events, it just tells it as it is. So, for those looking for an action packed, gun totting melodrama may want to look elsewhere. However, audiences who want a contemplative story of regret and loss that never treats them like attention deficient children, then The Dry may be a good antidote to cinematic mayhem.

    Bana is also similarly stoic and contemplative, putting in a great performance and never heightening the drama above where it needs to be. The story may be somewhat formulaic and the ending tied up rather neatly, but it’s an enjoyable film for those bored with overblown visual effects and needless violence.

  • The Force Awakens From Its Nap: Disney+ Talk

    The Force Awakens From Its Nap: Disney+ Talk

    Disney+ Talk With Megan Williams: Maggie Simpson in: The Force Awakens From Its Nap (2021)

    It feels like I haven’t covered any ‘Star Wars’ material in a long time. I, admittedly, didn’t watch Season 2 of ‘The Mandolarian’ and I was disappointed by ‘The Rise of Skywalker’. But, with the release of the series ‘The Bad Batch’ on Disney+, I can see if I like that…but I haven’t watched it. I, instead, watched the latest Simpsons short ‘The Force Awakens From Its Nap’.

    This 3-minute short follows Maggie Simpson as she is dropped off at a Jedi day-care centre and, upon losing her pacifier, goes on a search to find it.

    This is, essentially, 3 minutes of Star Wars references. Firstly, I love the idea of a daycare in the Star Wars universe; it’s silly but fun to see what the writers can come up with in terms of staff and activities. An example of this being the Time Out Area…which is actually the toddlers getting frozen, like Han Solo in Episode V. They’re fun ideas and it makes me want more shorts revolving around the Simpsons in this world. I also like the animation. I haven’t watched The Simpsons in a very long time; the last time I did, the animation wasn’t as fluid as this and modern technology, like smartphones, weren’t featured. So, it was amazing to see the high-quality animation here even if it’s a regular style now.

    And, once again, the references are aplenty here: BB-8 helps Maggie find her pacifier, she engages in a lightsaber battle with a Darth Maul baby, and a General Grievous-type droid is a staff member of the day care. It’s silly but it, strangely, works. It can be argued that the short includes too many references, but I would disagree. This short deliberately has a basic story outline in order to build a small part of this world and that’s something I appreciate. Hopefully, there’ll be more Star Wars/Simpsons shorts like this, depicting a certain character’s life within this world. I think it would be interesting, and funny, to see each Simpson character interact with this world.

  • Nomadland: Another Review

    Nomadland: Another Review

    Nomadland: Another Review. By Nick Boyd.

    “Nomadland” is about a strongly independent and resourceful woman named Fern (played by Frances McDormand, in an Oscar-winning performance) who, after the plant where she worked in Empire, Nevada closes down, leaving the entire town empty, decides to reject mainstream society by living out of her van.  After Fern’s husband dies, she packs the few possessions she has and hits the road in search of any work she can find, first as a seasonal employee for Amazon.  There, one of her coworkers, Linda May, tells her about the Rubber Trap Rendezvous in Quartzite, Arizona, which consists of similar iconoclastic individuals as Fern, and is run by a man named Bob Wells.  Bob is an older, soft-spoken man, focused on anti-government ideology and self-sufficiency.  After completing her stint at Amazon, Fern continues wandering the American landscape, living ‘houseless’ rather than ‘homeless’ as she says, and comes across the RTR. 

    With this group of like-minded people, Fern is able to find a sense of belonging and there is even some sparks between her and a man named Dave (David Strathairn), who are able to bond on a deep level.  When his son visits, revealing that he recently had a child, Fern encourages Dave to spend more time with him, and Dave sees this as an opportunity to make up for lost time, as he says that he was not much of a father to his son.

    A poignant encounter for Fern takes place when she reconnects with her sister and her family in their quaint home in California.  When one of the men criticizes Fern’s way of life, implying that she could do better for herself, her sister stands up for her.  Fern and her sister also have an emotional heart-to-heart talk about the past and express their love for each other.

    While its leisurely pace may put off viewers (though not me), it serves to accentuate the laid-back and gentle approach these van dwellers have.  For them, the great outdoors is to be embraced and revered.  For these nomads, it’s about supporting each other and never saying goodbye, but instead promising to see each other again down the road.

    The movie has a docudrama feel to it as it looks at those who have decided to live an alternative lifestyle, with many of the people appearing in the film as actual nomads.  It is in the tradition of similar find-yourself movies as “Into the Wild,” “Captain Fantastic,” “Leave No Trace,” and “Wild.”  While lacking a traditional narrative, the film connects on an emotional level with those we encounter and the stories they tell.  McDormand is excellent, giving a vulnerable performance that conveys so much in its understated quality.  The cinematography beautifully captures the desolate landscapes and the wide-open terrain of this country.