{ "items": [ { "type": [ "h-entry" ], "properties": { "_id": [ 16066 ], "url": [ "https://macdaraconroy.com/2019/04/my-letterboxd-reviews-for-december-2018-january-2019/" ], "uid": [ "https://macdaraconroy.com/2019/04/my-letterboxd-reviews-for-december-2018-january-2019/" ], "author": [ { "type": "MacDara Conroy", "properties": { "name": [ "MacDara Conroy" ], "url": [ "https://macdaraconroy.com/author/macdara/" ], "photo": [ "http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/37167652532c121404900106c4b087d9?s=96&d=mm&r=g" ] } } ], "published": [ "2019-04-05T10:16:44+01:00" ], "updated": [ "2019-07-20T10:13:13+01:00" ], "content": [ { "html": "Mostly Netflix originals fare in December and January, and not a standout among them. The best film I saw in this period was, and I\u2019m happy to say this, a new Ben Wheatley film. Because I really didn\u2019t get on with Free Fire, but Happy New Year, Colin Burstead \u2014 which screened on the BBC to ring in 2019 \u2014 is for me his best since A Field in England. Apparently his next project is a new adaptation of Rebecca, but seeing as the Hitchcock original is unimpeachable, I can\u2019t see what else he can bring to the table. It\u2019s repeating a mantra for many a film fan but still: more original stuff, please. \n\nThe Predator:\n\n
\n It\u2019s notable how utterly distracted I was by this film. Distracted by the constant meta-references in the script: riffs on dialogue in the 1987 original, character names, Shane Black\u2019s Iron Man travesty. Distracted by the needlessly convoluted story, heaping on plot contrivances that necessitate the awkward tonal shifts into family comedy-drama and so on while failing to explain other things, even in a throwaway line, that might have bolstered the narrative. Distracted by its seeming compulsion to avoid building or sustaining anything approaching tension. Distracted by Alfie Allen\u2019s inexcusably bad Irish accent (we\u2019re only over here, like). Distracted, too, and frankly insulted by its hamfisted crypto-misogyny (don\u2019t think I didn\u2019t notice Olivia Munn\u2019s character default to the motherly figure in the third act) and calculatedly ignorant portrayal of neurological difference, from autism to Tourette\u2019s (and that blatant \u2018retarded\u2019 joke). This isn\u2019t a case of being sore it isn\u2019t the movie I would\u2019ve wanted; this is, all things considered, just a bad one.\n\n\nInferno:\n\n
\n Why is this movie so damn long?\n\n\nCabin Boy:\n\n
\n I can see why this is considered a cult classic, even though it barely made me crack a smile, let alone laugh.\n\n\nZ Storm:\n\n
\n I\u2019m under no illusions as to the propaganda purposes of such films as this, but I\u2019ll be damned if they aren\u2019t fun to watch.\n\n\nBird Box:\n\n
\n This is very much a personal bugbear but anyway: if the villain of your story is a Lovecraftian entity so incomprehensible that to glimpse it induces instant madness, perhaps don\u2019t fill out more than half of your interminable two-hour running time teasing the audience with its appearance \u2014 and the notion of a purpose to its machinations \u2014 with no follow-through. And maybe lay off the \u2018stranger knocking on the door\u2019 trope while you\u2019re at it.\n\n\nThe Endless:\n\n
\n A time-bending sci-fi drama whose reach exceeds its grasp.\n\n\nBlack Mirror: Bandersnatch:\n\n
\n This was going quite well, until it was clear the creative direction was \u2014 for lack of a better term but let\u2019s be direct about it \u2014 up its own hole. As in, first-year philosophy free will vs determinism, meta-narrative cynicism, the joke\u2019s on the viewer \u2014 that kind of bullshit. I\u2019d rather play Dragon\u2019s Lair. (In all seriousness, though, there\u2019s potential for this kind of interactivity, if better written.)\n\n\n\n\nHappy New Year, Colin Burstead:\n\n
\n I was beginning to think Ben Wheatley had lost the plot. But I\u2019ll forgive him the damp squib that was Free Fire for this firecracker.\n\n\nSplit:\n\n
\n It\u2019s longer than it needs to be, which is ironic as the parts it\u2019s missing \u2014 the usual conventions of kidnapping thrillers, or filters on what\u2019s fodder for cinematic exploitation \u2014 are what make it so interesting.\n\n\nGlass:\n\n
\n I meant to write this up Thumped, but other things got in the way, and as the release date drew closer the hot takes were already everywhere, and adding my own felt more and more a futile gesture. But for completion\u2019s sake \u2014 what a waste. M Night Shyamalan simply doesn\u2019t have it in him to do the \u2018epic trilogy\u2019 he pretends to present here. Pretends in that it\u2019s not really a trilogy (Glass is a sequel to both Unbreakable and Split, but Split is not a sequel to Unbreakable, which does not a trilogy make) and very self-consciously not an epic, making the lack of a budget to fulfil its ambitions painfully obvious. It\u2019s almost not worth pointing out the clash of performances veering wildly from stilted to overegged, and the inevitability of The Twist that renders the plot all too predictable (I was on the right track before the movie was half-way done). I imagine it will be re-evaluated to some degree as a cult classic in years hence, as it\u2019s not without a certain amount of incongruous charm (James McEvoy\u2019s unnerving multiple personalities role from Split being more or less played for laughs here, for one) but still. Also, seriously, what is it with Shyamalan and distractingly wobbly tracking shots?\n\n\nRoad House:\n\n
\n Needed more Terry Funk.\n\n\nMiss Sloane:\n\n
\n Slick political machinations? Jessica Chastain as a man-eating power player on the verge of cracking? In a word, watchable. Shame about the pipe dream liberal wish fulfilment climax (and I\u2019m a leftie!).\n\n\nIO:\n\n
\n There\u2019s no getting past the fact that IO is pretty much a rejig of Z for Zachariah mashed up with Silent Running, with bits \u2019n\u2019 bobs from Blade Runner, The Martian and others, some smatterings of cod philosophy, and an unearned ambiguous ending. Its execution screams \u2018too many cooks\u2019 \u2014 the distraction of disembodied voices throughout the first act; the bluntness of its references: the bee/hive metaphor, the characters named \u2018Elon\u2019 and \u2018Walden\u2019, the target marketing (STEM is hot, tattoos are in \u2014 let\u2019s slap \u2018em together!).\n \n More subtle is its underlying theme of toxic patriarchy: the young woman protagonist (Margaret Qualley, daughter of Andie MacDowell) whose fate is tied up in the hands of a distant lover (an unseen Tom Payne) who demands her presence yet puts his own destiny first, and the mysterious stranger (Anthony Mackie) whose actions, while apparently well-meaning, still condescend and reinforce the saviour-victim dynamic. It\u2019s this that sets it apart from the usual straight-to-Netflix movie fare even when, on the whole, it\u2019s not entirely convincing.\n\n\nFyre:\n\n
\n Baudrillard would\u2019ve had a field day with this.\n\n\nPolar:\n\n
\n This one\u2019s convinced me: highly stylised comic book series/graphic novels simply don\u2019t translate to the screen.\n\n\nSkyscraper:\n\n
\n Exactly what you\u2019d expect, nothing more or less. Considering the disappointment that was The Rock\u2019s previous disaster epic Rampage, that\u2019s just fine.\n", "value": "Mostly Netflix originals fare in December and January, and not a standout among them. The best film I saw in this period was, and I\u2019m happy to say this, a new Ben Wheatley film. Because I really didn\u2019t get on with Free Fire, but Happy New Year, Colin Burstead \u2014 which screened on the BBC to ring in 2019 \u2014 is for me his best since A Field in England. Apparently his next project is a new adaptation of Rebecca, but seeing as the Hitchcock original is unimpeachable, I can\u2019t see what else he can bring to the table. It\u2019s repeating a mantra for many a film fan but still: more original stuff, please. \n\nThe Predator:\n\n\n It\u2019s notable how utterly distracted I was by this film. Distracted by the constant meta-references in the script: riffs on dialogue in the 1987 original, character names, Shane Black\u2019s Iron Man travesty. Distracted by the needlessly convoluted story, heaping on plot contrivances that necessitate the awkward tonal shifts into family comedy-drama and so on while failing to explain other things, even in a throwaway line, that might have bolstered the narrative. Distracted by its seeming compulsion to avoid building or sustaining anything approaching tension. Distracted by Alfie Allen\u2019s inexcusably bad Irish accent (we\u2019re only over here, like). Distracted, too, and frankly insulted by its hamfisted crypto-misogyny (don\u2019t think I didn\u2019t notice Olivia Munn\u2019s character default to the motherly figure in the third act) and calculatedly ignorant portrayal of neurological difference, from autism to Tourette\u2019s (and that blatant \u2018retarded\u2019 joke). This isn\u2019t a case of being sore it isn\u2019t the movie I would\u2019ve wanted; this is, all things considered, just a bad one.\n\n\nInferno:\n\n\n Why is this movie so damn long?\n\n\nCabin Boy:\n\n\n I can see why this is considered a cult classic, even though it barely made me crack a smile, let alone laugh.\n\n\nZ Storm:\n\n\n I\u2019m under no illusions as to the propaganda purposes of such films as this, but I\u2019ll be damned if they aren\u2019t fun to watch.\n\n\nBird Box:\n\n\n This is very much a personal bugbear but anyway: if the villain of your story is a Lovecraftian entity so incomprehensible that to glimpse it induces instant madness, perhaps don\u2019t fill out more than half of your interminable two-hour running time teasing the audience with its appearance \u2014 and the notion of a purpose to its machinations \u2014 with no follow-through. And maybe lay off the \u2018stranger knocking on the door\u2019 trope while you\u2019re at it.\n\n\nThe Endless:\n\n\n A time-bending sci-fi drama whose reach exceeds its grasp.\n\n\nBlack Mirror: Bandersnatch:\n\n\n This was going quite well, until it was clear the creative direction was \u2014 for lack of a better term but let\u2019s be direct about it \u2014 up its own hole. As in, first-year philosophy free will vs determinism, meta-narrative cynicism, the joke\u2019s on the viewer \u2014 that kind of bullshit. I\u2019d rather play Dragon\u2019s Lair. (In all seriousness, though, there\u2019s potential for this kind of interactivity, if better written.)\n\n\n\n\nHappy New Year, Colin Burstead:\n\n\n I was beginning to think Ben Wheatley had lost the plot. But I\u2019ll forgive him the damp squib that was Free Fire for this firecracker.\n\n\nSplit:\n\n\n It\u2019s longer than it needs to be, which is ironic as the parts it\u2019s missing \u2014 the usual conventions of kidnapping thrillers, or filters on what\u2019s fodder for cinematic exploitation \u2014 are what make it so interesting.\n\n\nGlass:\n\n\n I meant to write this up Thumped, but other things got in the way, and as the release date drew closer the hot takes were already everywhere, and adding my own felt more and more a futile gesture. But for completion\u2019s sake \u2014 what a waste. M Night Shyamalan simply doesn\u2019t have it in him to do the \u2018epic trilogy\u2019 he pretends to present here. Pretends in that it\u2019s not really a trilogy (Glass is a sequel to both Unbreakable and Split, but Split is not a sequel to Unbreakable, which does not a trilogy make) and very self-consciously not an epic, making the lack of a budget to fulfil its ambitions painfully obvious. It\u2019s almost not worth pointing out the clash of performances veering wildly from stilted to overegged, and the inevitability of The Twist that renders the plot all too predictable (I was on the right track before the movie was half-way done). I imagine it will be re-evaluated to some degree as a cult classic in years hence, as it\u2019s not without a certain amount of incongruous charm (James McEvoy\u2019s unnerving multiple personalities role from Split being more or less played for laughs here, for one) but still. Also, seriously, what is it with Shyamalan and distractingly wobbly tracking shots?\n\n\nRoad House:\n\n\n Needed more Terry Funk.\n\n\nMiss Sloane:\n\n\n Slick political machinations? Jessica Chastain as a man-eating power player on the verge of cracking? In a word, watchable. Shame about the pipe dream liberal wish fulfilment climax (and I\u2019m a leftie!).\n\n\nIO:\n\n\n There\u2019s no getting past the fact that IO is pretty much a rejig of Z for Zachariah mashed up with Silent Running, with bits \u2019n\u2019 bobs from Blade Runner, The Martian and others, some smatterings of cod philosophy, and an unearned ambiguous ending. Its execution screams \u2018too many cooks\u2019 \u2014 the distraction of disembodied voices throughout the first act; the bluntness of its references: the bee/hive metaphor, the characters named \u2018Elon\u2019 and \u2018Walden\u2019, the target marketing (STEM is hot, tattoos are in \u2014 let\u2019s slap \u2018em together!).\n \n More subtle is its underlying theme of toxic patriarchy: the young woman protagonist (Margaret Qualley, daughter of Andie MacDowell) whose fate is tied up in the hands of a distant lover (an unseen Tom Payne) who demands her presence yet puts his own destiny first, and the mysterious stranger (Anthony Mackie) whose actions, while apparently well-meaning, still condescend and reinforce the saviour-victim dynamic. It\u2019s this that sets it apart from the usual straight-to-Netflix movie fare even when, on the whole, it\u2019s not entirely convincing.\n\n\nFyre:\n\n\n Baudrillard would\u2019ve had a field day with this.\n\n\nPolar:\n\n\n This one\u2019s convinced me: highly stylised comic book series/graphic novels simply don\u2019t translate to the screen.\n\n\nSkyscraper:\n\n\n Exactly what you\u2019d expect, nothing more or less. Considering the disappointment that was The Rock\u2019s previous disaster epic Rampage, that\u2019s just fine." } ], "summary": [ "Mostly Netflix originals fare in December and January, and not a standout among them. The best film I saw in this period was, and I\u2019m happy to say this, a new Ben Wheatley film. Because I really didn\u2019t get on with Free Fire, but Happy New Year, Colin Burstead \u2014 which screened on the BBC […]" ], "category": [ "Screen", "film", "Letterboxd", "offsite", "reviews" ] } } ] }