BJ Colangelo’s short permits us to join Jill (Madison Woods) and Leenie (Venchise Glenn) as they traverse the awkward ground of a first date. Compounding the nervous energy they share are the eyes of the final punter in the bar and the barmaid. Having to overcome the close-minded bullshit is just another hurdle that could scupper their date entirely.
What’s striking about Labrys is the power we see in the two queer characters. I’m not just talking about the Sci-Fi element that comes in left of field toward the end. It’s their honesty with one another, their resilience to the offensive crap they endure and their kick-ass final exchange.
Upon a re-watch, it was lovely to see the brief exchanges of dialogue between Jill and Leenie take on a stronger meaning. There’s a power and an honesty to their date that felt potent and genuine in spite of the shocking awesomeness of the conclusion.
Perhaps that physical manifestation of empowerment may seem silly or overblown to some but I got a real kick out of the Buffy’esque tone which throws back lovingly to genre film and television.
The sign of a good short is one that leaves the audience wishing they had more time with the characters. Deliciously horrific, violent catharsis aside, Labrys made me wish there was a second and third act to follow.
Dark Whispers: Volume One is an Australian horror anthology featuring ten short films directed by women. Clara (Andrea Demetriades) comes home to her mother’s house and finds she has inherited a book which she is instructed to read and become the keeper of the book.
While flicking through the pages, Clara soon finds lots of short stories and despite her deepening fear of what she reads, she finds it hard to put it down – especially after trying to destroy the book only means that the book returns, enticing her to read more.
The collection of short horror films is carefully selected so there is bound to be something for every type of horror fan. There are short films from all walks of life, some of which cross more than one plain of existence. There are more conventional horror films set to thrill because of the things we all recognise and yet there are short films for the more discerning horror fan who likes their stories to be a bit more artistic and open to interpretation.
Dark Whispers: Volume One has a wide variety of films that shows exactly what horror can do for all people and shows the range that it can reach and the stories it can tell.
From the old and the young, the everyday to the more supernatural, Dark Whispers has it all covered and may even open up new styles in the horror genre that may catch the interest of those who have never seen anything like it before. Everybody will recognise something in the short films within the evil book that Clara is forced to read and will delight in the stories about the monsters from beyond and the monsters that lie within ourselves. However, what really sets this horror anthology apart is what pulls it all together.
So many horror anthologies have some kind of framing device where a person or group of people sit down telling stories or simply read from a book while a camera fades in and out to the next story. What makes Dark Whispers: Volume One so clever though is that Clara’s experiences involve her in the stories that she reads. As fiction starts to seep into reality the audience may start to be as intrigued about what is going to happen to Clara as to what’s going to happen to the people in the stories she reads.
So, even if the audience may not find themselves interested in all the stories it tells, they may want to stick around to see what happens to Clara. Dark Whispers: Volume One is a great anthology that shows what great talent there is in filmmaking, I just can’t wait for Volume Two.
There’s a prevailing sense of otherness in the establishing scenes of Audrey Rosenberg’s Skin. It could be any family dinner table dynamic with internalised struggles buried deep so as not to disturb the mundanity.
Charlie (Rhys Fehrenbacher) feels trapped in a body that doesn’t reflect who they are. Imprisoned by physiological design, Charlie is bullied and tormented for not fitting into the analogue imposition with the other teens in school.
Just at the point where the viewer may feel as though this is something they’ve seen a version of before, Rosenberg’s film briefly takes a turn for the otherworldly. What we are privy to is less body horror than body fascination as Charlie is given the opportunity to wear a new, more fitting skin.
The scene has a touch of the fantastical. Visually, it (briefly) reminded me of David McKean and Neil Gaiman’s MirrorMask and left me blindsided by the tender moments that were to follow.
The fractured family unit that bookends this short form feature seems to subtly evolve in a way that feels hopeful. While Skin may be guilty of falling back on overused narrative shorthand in places, it ventures into its own thought-provoking nook with an excellent central performance from Fehrenbacher.
Skin is the sort of film I wish we screened in schools as it conveys a considerable amount within such a meagre runtime. It is both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant in a way that should be readily available to teenagers and adults alike.
The Rat is about a young woman who is picked up by a young man on their way to a Halloween party. On the way there, the young man tells her he has a surprise for her. They pull up to an abandoned house where they both go to have a bit of fun, if you catch the meaning. At least, that was the plan until the young man realizes he left his protection in the car. Once he leaves to fetch said protection however, it becomes clear to the woman that she is not alone in the abandoned house.
Before I say anything about The Rat, I really need to ask this question. Why, in horror films, do all these abandoned houses look the same? Seriously, every film I see with an abandoned house in it – in fact, in films like Halloween 2018 and the first two Conjuring films, they aren’t even abandoned – why do they all look like Freddy Kruger’s house from Dream Warriors! I swear that they must have used the same set from the It films, as the interior looks very similar.
Anyway, that out of the way, while I was a bit put off by the final note – although that feels like a personal preference on my part – I really enjoyed The Rat. The actors are likeable and somewhat relatable with little effort, all the while sticking to the typical horror character tropes. You know the ones, the smart, timid virgin and the somewhat hotheaded, horny jock who is actually fairly kind in his own little way. Again, likable and fun to watch.
But what really won me over was the atmosphere. As soon as we hear the first ringing sound in the house, I was on edge. It’s dark, with the only light being the dim orange one coming from the windows. The title makes you think of the rodent – which, for the record, I hate with a passion anyway – so your eye will constantly be going to the walls and corners.
Which you can’t see! All the while, the woman is practically naked, she is in the most vulnerable state you can be in. It’s genius! It has been a long time since I watched something that made me want to hit the pause button just to ease the tension for a bit. Well, okay, maybe since Crawl. And when the presence is revealed, I practically jumped out of my seat. Without spoiling, it does look a little goofy and looking at a still image may get a laugh out of you. But it’s used just right here, making it so effective.
Regarding the ending – again, without wishing to spoil it – we get a subversion of the horror tropes with it, which is welcomed. The issue I have is, after the tension is broken the film carries on and something that happens after (nothing gruesome or particularly nasty) had me feeling a little dirty and uncomfortable. I’m sure that that was the intention, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Again, personal preference there.
I also think that, despite this being a short film, it went on longer than it probably should. I feel that cutting the last couple minutes might have been of benefit. But I suppose that’s easy to say just watching it.
So, while I wasn’t fond of the finish, I can’t ignore how excellent everything before it was. I think a number of bigger horror directors could take a few pointers from this for how to do atmosphere right – it’d certainly make films like Birdbox, It Chapter 2 and The Grudge more tolerable if they had this films skill. It gets a high recommendation – although the more faint-hearted may want to keep the lights on.
Birds Of Prey: The BRWC Review. It’s open season on Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) when her explosive breakup with the Joker puts a big fat target on her back. Unprotected and on the run, Quinn faces the wrath of narcissistic crime boss Black Mask (Ewan McGregor), his right-hand man, Victor Zsasz (Chris Messina), and every other thug in the city. But things soon even out for Harley when she becomes unexpected allies with three deadly women — Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez).
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is not only one mouthful of a movie title, but it was one of my most anticipated movies in years. It was most certainly my most anticipated comic book related film since last year’s Avengers: Endgame, which I ended up really adoring. I know that later on in the year, May to be specific, we are getting the new Black Widow movie which many Marvel fans have been waiting years to see, myself included, and while I am definitely excited for that, Birds of Prey just seemed more enticing to me.
The eighth film in the long-spanning DC Extended Universe (DCEU), Birds of Prey truly looked like completely different from any other installment in the franchise to date. Not only that, but it looked like it could be one of the most unique comic book films of all time.
It may be a controversial opinion, in fact, I am sure it is, but I truthfully enjoy every single DCEU movie to date. For the most part, people enjoyed Man of Steel, but on the other hand, its sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, not so much. I personally loved it. However, the film in the franchise that perhaps gets the most hate, is none other than David Ayer’s 2016 feature Suicide Squad. Many people watched the trailer and got extremely excited and ended up being incredibly disappointed in the final product. While I certainly agree that the film could definitely have been better, overall, I had more positives with that movie than I did negatives.
But the thing that critics and audiences all around the world seemed to agree upon with that movie was that Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was absolutely amazing. She embodied the character perfectly, and so many people were excited to see what adventures her character would go on in the future. The character is without a doubt one of the most beloved in all of comics, and has been featured in many different forms of media.
Now, let’s go back to Birds of Prey. I vividly remember watching that first official “See You Soon” teaser trailer that was released over a year ago and getting extremely giddy over seeing the return of Robbie’s Harley Quinn and the introduction to plenty of new faces such as Huntress and Black Canary. Plus Ewan McGregor as the villanious Roman Sionis / Black Mask sounded like an absolute dream. Honestly, all of the promotional material for this film was top notch, and I’d even argue that the film was marketed better than its predecessor too, which was hailed for its posters and trailers even though many did not like the final product as I mentioned earlier.
If anybody knows me, you know that I greatly enjoy comic book movies. I have been an avid comic book and superhero fan ever since I was a young kid, and so getting to see all these characters that I grew up loving on the big screen in live-action format is always a ton of fun to see. However, as a film critic, I have to make sure to never go into any movie with bias. I couldn’t just walk into Birds of Prey and say it was amazing simply because I love Harley Quinn or something like that. I have to watch this film, and every film, with a critical viewpoint. I have to look out for things that just don’t work. Plot holes, continuity errors, script problems, etc.
Now that all of that is out of the way, let me say what I have been wanting to say for a long time now. Birds of Prey is one of the best comic book films of all time. I would even argue that it is top three of all time. This is a movie that is so bold and in your face and so unapologetically weird and it is all the better for it.
From the opening scene alone it is evident that director Cathy Yan had an extraordinarily fresh and exciting vision for this film. She was not setting out to make just another generic and forgettable superhero story. She does things with these characters that we have truly never seen done before and she ensures that there is always something exciting happening on screen whether it is character wise or visually.
Her direction is some of the best there is to be found in the genre. The way she crafted Birds of Prey is honestly inspiring, especially considering that she is a woman. Not too many superhero/comic book movies are directed by women, which is a shame. But Yan has a powerful voice and she uses it with this film.
Birds of Prey‘s script is written by Christina Hodson, who previously wrote the screenplay for the 2018 Transformers spinoff Bumblebee, another movie that I ended up greatly enjoying. The thing that Bumblebee did the best was show its heart. It proved that even a Transformersmovie could make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, and Birds of Prey made me feel the same way. Hodson’s script here is so wild and insane that it is actually kind of interesting to think how she went about writing this movie. There is truly never a wasted moment here. There’s never a scene where there is a bit of down time. Every single scene has something of meat and interest happening, and the dialogue is pitch perfect, too.
She writes the character of Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn in a way that has never been done before. Harley Quinn has always been a character that has primarily been seen as the Joker’s girlfriend. His sidekick. The Clown Prince of Crime and the Cupid of Crime. Even in the aforementioned Suicide Squad, Harley was almost always involved with Jared Leto’s Joker in one way or another. But Hodson aimed to change that seemingly for good in this cinematic universe, and it worked tremendously well.
Never did I ever think that the character of Harley Quinn would make me emotional and almost inspired. She is a character that does a lot of crazy things and she is not typically seen as a hero or anything. She is a villain by nature. She even does some villainous things in this movie. But Hodson’s script gave her such a great character arc and developed her as a character so much. She actually found a way to bring Harley Quinn down to Earth and make her relatable to us all. Like I said, yes, she does do villainous things in the film. But she also does some great heroic stuff too, and by the end of the story, you are rooting for her all the way.
Speaking of this character, Margot Robbie yet again delivers an absolutely show-stopping performance. Robbie was born to play this beautifully chaotic character, and after watching Birds of Prey, I truly cannot see another actress playing the role as well as she does. Whether it is dancing around, doing crazy acrobatics or even bringing a tear to our eyes, Margot is one of the biggest reasons why Harley Quinn is so lovable this time around. She genuinely delivers in my opinion, her greatest performance of all time and this film further cements her as one of the most talented actresses not only of this generation, but of all time.
But let’s take a moment to talk about the other members of this team. Huntress is a character that was deeply funny at times, but also had a tragic and depressing backstory that makes you feel for her and understand her plight. She wants to set out and do something and you understand why completely. Mary Elizabeth Winstead does a terrific job in this role and she gets plenty of scenes to truly shine.
Another excellent addition to this cast was Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance / Black Canary. She is probably one of the characters that gets the most screen time, besides Harley Quinn. Canary is fleshed out perfectly here, just like the aforementioned Huntress. We always understand what her mission is, what she wants to do, and why she wants to do it. There is also one scene involving her that honestly left me with my mouth dropped in complete shock. It was such an amazing scene.
In addition, Rosie Perez portrays Renee Montoya, one of the lead protagonists in the story. Her character was one that seemed fairly normal at first. But as the film progressed, the more lovable and hilarious she became too. This is without a doubt one of the best performances of Perez’s career. Finally, Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain is brilliant. Her character is absolutely pivotal to the overall storyline here, and so casting the right child actress for the part was surely a hard task. The casting team did a great job at picking an amazing Cain. Basco has not acted in much as of now, but with this great performance now under her belt, I expect that to change soon.
Throughout the course of the past decade, ever since the release of Man of Steel, one of the biggest complaints with the DCEU is its color palette. Many people have complained that almost all of the movies look extremely bland and watered down, with the exception of the excellent Wonder Woman. Even though I do enjoy these movies like I said, I have to agree that the previous films in the franchise look quite dull. Luckily, the same cannot be said about Birds of Prey. This is without a doubt one of the most colorful and visually eye-pleasing comic book movies of all time. Every single frame is bursting with beautiful colors with many of diverse colors in the palette being used. There was truly never a scene that looked ugly or boring.
What also helps these colors shine through is the superb cinematography by Matthew Libatique, who has previously served as the director of photography on other superhero films such as Iron Man 2 and Venom. This is definitely Libatique’s best work in the comic book world to date. The way he frames certain shots was utterly brilliant and is one of the most well shot films in the genre.
Something that I have seen a lot of people take issue with in Birds of Prey is its editing style, with many comparing it to Greta Gerwig’s Little Women. Both films have had many people complain and say that the storyline is hard to follow and is incredibly confusing because of its editing, but I have to disagree completely. Actually, I found the editing to be extremely fresh and exciting, with many of the edits being fascinating.
As this is a comic book movie, I expected Birds of Prey to contain some wild and intense action sequences, but even still, I was blown away by how well done the action and fight choreography was handled here. Chad Stahelski, director of the John Wick franchise, served as a stunt coordinator on this film, and it is so easy to tell. All of the action scenes look beautifully crafted. All of the fight sequences are in camera and there is no shaky cam utilized. We can always tell who is fighting who. The entire stunt team found ways to do some incredibly impressive things here and their work needs to be praised.
Birds of Prey is going to get some comparisons to Tim Miller’s 2016 Marvel feature Deadpool. In fact, I have already seen the comparisons. But, truthfully, I enjoyed Birds of Prey a whole lot more than I did Deadpool. Keep in mind that Deadpool is a movie that I adore. The main reason why these two films are getting compared to one another is due to its wacky sense of humor and its use of fourth wall breaking. Deadpool constantly talks to the camera in his film, and Harley does the same in this film and even narrates the entire story.
But like I said, I think that Birds of Prey handled its humor and self-awareness better. The humor here is gut-bustingly hilarious with every single joke landing flawlessly. I kept waiting for a joke to come and fall flat, but that never happened. It is one of the funniest movies in years which is all the more impressive when you consider that it is a superhero movie.
As a whole, this movie floored me. Rarely do I get this giddy to talk about a film, but when a movie like this comes around, that excitement happens. This is the type of film that will inspire me and many others around the world to make movies. It’s a movie that means something to me and I cannot wait to see it a second time. Then a third time. Then a fourth time.
Birds of Prey is an unapologetically bonkers and beautifully colorful comic book adventure and is one of the genre’s all-time best. It also boasts stellar performances all across the board, namely from Margot Robbie who perfectly encapsulates Harley Quinn.
