Oct 9 - Oct 15
The Boogeyman, The Swerve, The Boy Behind the Door, The Cat and the Moon, The Pink Cloud, Makeup, Robocop
- The Boogeyman [2023] - 65
Not every movie has to have a message or be clever to be “good”, sometimes they can just be simple, effective monster movies. While The Boogeyman has a few too many “What!?” moments regarding circumstances that make no sense, it still definitely falls into the “effective” category. The monster scenes in this adaption of Stephen King’s short story are absolutely excellent and feature some truly chilling moments — often reminding me of my favorite parts of 2018’s Annihilation. The film falls a little short of certain goals by trying too hard to squeeze in King’s patented supernatural flair rather than keeping to a simple monster story, but viewers who are simply in for some masterful chills are sure to be satisfied.
- The Swerve [2018] - 88
The Swerve is one of those movies that I really loved, but won’t often be suggesting to people. Similar to 2008’s Martyrs, it’s not necessarily a film that I want people associating me with. That said, it’s very, very good. Following Holly down a rabbit-hole of depression, anxiety, gaslighting, and some bullying from her sister, we end up following a plot that is almost entirely transparent… and made all the more horrifying because of it. There’s a lot going on in this film and it’s mostly held up by Azura Skye’s excellent performance. This movie is dark and depraved, unflinching in its view of someone hitting rock bottom and then continuing to fall. The only place the film really falters is that, beyond Azura, most of the acting is pretty wooden, bordering on terrible at times. It’s not that distracting, but it is worth docking a few points.
- The Boy Behind the Door [2021] - 22
As of this week, I’ve watched 212 movies this year alone and 529 that I’ve tracked over the last couple. I’m sure with some scouring of that list and my own memory I could probably find something that was outright stupider than this film… but it would be difficult. The Boy Behind the Door is just an incredibly unintelligent and poorly conceptualized movie. The plot is fine — two boys get kidnapped and one escapes to try and free his friend — but the way literally every scene is portrayed in this “film” is so entirely out of touch with reality that it makes me wonder if this wasn’t written by aliens. It’s almost so bad it’s good… except that you can very clearly tell that wasn’t the intent. I don’t know, get drunk with some friends and throw this trash on or something. I guess I wasn’t bored.
- The Cat and the Moon [2019] - 82
Rebounding off of a really stupid movie, here’s a really smart one. The Cat and the Moon is the debut work of Alex Wolff, who most of us know from Hereditary. Here, instead of an angsty, disturbed teen plagued by the ever looming shadow of his family history, Alex plays… oh wait a minute… an angsty, disturbed young adult plagued by the ever looming shadow of his family history. Look, the point is, this is a wholly mundane, intimate, and engaging drama that I really enjoyed. With the recent death of his jazz-pianist father and his mother in rehab, Nick [Wolff] spends some time living with his dad’s old music partner. There he meets new friends, faces some of his demons, falls in love, and is forced to leave everything behind just as soon as he’s found it. This film is a simple “slice of life” journey that I think is well worth it’s runtime.
- A Million Miles Away [2023] - 78
Similar to the above, A Million Miles Away is a simple story told well. An underdog tale of a migrant worker turned astronaut, it’s a great tale… that we’ve seen a million times before. This one is based on a true story [which is great] and it’s almost certainly embellished in some places and glossed over in others [which is to be expected]. I wouldn’t really say there’s anything wrong with the film [except that it’s entirely too long], it’s just that this is something we’ve seen. Don’t get me wrong, it had me all in my feelings multiple times, but it isn’t one I’m likely to recommend or rewatch. I have a tendency to feel pretty “mid” [as the kids say] about docudramas, because I just want to know the truth, not a fanciful version of it… and this one is about A Million Miles Away from satisfying that want. Not bad, not great, just “good”.
- The Pink Cloud [2021] - DNF
The only movie I didn’t finish this week… and not necessarily because it was bad. It was just really boring. When a pink cloud descends upon the world and kills anyone it touches within 10-seconds, the planet is forced indoors with governments reeling and trying to figure out ways to support their people. Sound familiar? This movie is well acted and has interesting moments, but is otherwise so flat and bland that anyone who experienced 2020 will just roll their eyes and say, “yep, you got it,” before moving on. I only got about 45-minutes in before wanting to find literally anything else to do, so it’s possible things pick up or become interesting… but I wasn’t willing to wait another hour to find out.
- Makeup [2019] - 82
A coming of age, drama, thriller, suspense; Makeup is a really interesting ride that I think has a few too many moving parts. I really enjoyed this by the end, but there’s definitely some logic leaps one has to make to get there, though those leaps are intentional and not due to lazy writing. Excellently told, shot, and performed, Makeup follows Ruth as she moves to a beachside mobile resort as it closes down for the season. She comes to be with her boyfriend, Tom, to take care of the various residences over the winter. While there, however, she begins to pick up that maybe Tom hasn’t been as faithful as he says… and the local outcast, Jade, may not be all she claims. While not perfect, this is a story we’ve seen before told in an entirely different way, and one that I really appreciate. I would compare this to a weird combo of Saint Maud and Two For Joy, without it being a horror like Maud or as strictly drama as Joy. It’s a weird amalgam, but it works.
- Robocop [1987] - 90
After talking about it with a friend, I realized that I was familiar with this film in concept, but had never actually sat down and watched it through. So, we did and uh… it’s really good. I’d love to have seen this when it first came out and heard people’s thoughts on its social narrative at the time because, here in 2023, it’s frighteningly prescient. Corporate greed, police forces outfitted like militaries, complete disregard for human life or morality… Robocop has it all. Perhaps unsurprising coming from Paul Verhoeven, who’s films have a habit of being unfortunately accurate, this manages to be both a satire and an action film that satisfies both genres in their entirety. There’s a few elements that I think could have either been better fleshed out/ utilized or left out entirely, but this is really an excellent film with absolutely stunning production value to boot. If you’ve never seen this, or just haven’t seen it recently, make the time.
