Month: August 2017

film

Review: High Tension (Switchblade Romance)

Posted on by spacecortez

Written by Grégory Levasseur and Alexandre Aja and directed by Aja, “High Tension” (also known in several formats as “Switchblade Romance”), is a French Horror/Slasher film that was suggested to me by a fellow film obsessive. While this isn’t really the type of film I gravitate towards, I thought I’d give it a shot anyways. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by so called Midnight Movies before, “Bucket of Blood” by Roger Corman in particular was a film that I found to have far more entertainment value that I would have initially expected. So, I recently popped in a copy of the foreign horror flick to see what the film had in store for me.

Admittedly, I didn’t realize this would be a slasher film at the outset, but it became clear to me once the villain entered the frame. Personally, I am not a fan of this sub-genre of the overarching horror aesthetic, I often find these kinds of stories to be predictable and overly gratuitous purely for the sake of shock and awe. This film definitely sends the violence into overdrive almost immediately. The rating on the copy I was watching was emblazoned with the studio-averse NC-17 rating, and they definitely owned that rating. The story is that of Marie (Cécile De France) and Alex (Maïwenn Le Besco), best friends getting ready to study together out at Alex’s parent’s farmhouse in the French countryside. As you can imagine, things go south fairly quickly once the young women arrive at the isolated house surrounded by fields of corn. Once everyone has headed to bed, a large and imposing figure comes knocking at the door and forces his way inside by stabbing the father figure in the head through an open window in the door. From there the film evolves into a cat and mouse scenario between Marie and this unnamed brute. The Oaf quickly works his way through the house killing everyone except Alex, whom he chains up and tosses in the back of his truck. Marie scrambles to keep up, but often seems one step behind the killer.

At a brisk hour and a half, the film realistically couldn’t go on for much longer than that, “High Tension” unceremoniously ends. While the film does harbor a twist, it throws the rest of the film into question and becomes ridiculously unbelievable because of it. Honestly, it failed to keep me engaged and it was essentially what I had hoped it wouldn’t be. Overly violent without remorse, but with no connection to anything worthwhile, with no payoff and no semblance of coherence. Now, if you’re the type of person that just loves a good gore-fest and cheesy storytelling, then you might find something to enjoy here. That’s completely fine, but this film just wasn’t for me.

Final Score: Two Girls, One Chainsaw

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film

Review: The Place Beyond the Pines

Posted on by spacecortez

Written by Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, and Darius Marder and directed by Cianfrance, “The Place Beyond the Pines” is a film about the mistakes a man can make and how those choices effect others over time. The film plays with the expectations ingrained in most audiences’ psyche as we follow several characters that interact by chance in Synecdoche New York. Now, due to the nature of this narrative, spoilers will be included in this review, but I do recommend this film- mainly for the cinematography and flow of the narrative.

We begin the story by following Ryan Gosling’s traveling motorcyclist Luke who essentially lives with a traveling carnival. After a show in Synecdoche Luke sees an old flame, Romina (Eva Mendes) and offers her a ride home. The next day he stops back at her house and is met by her mother holding a small blonde child, Luke’s son. Once he is met with the realization that he is a father he offers to help the best way he can. So he quits the carnival, meets some guy on a quad while out motocrossing through the woods (as you do), tries to work for that guy on his property through mechanic work, then starts robbing banks once he discovers that doesn’t pay well enough. Eventually things go awry, as bank robberies tend to do, and Luke gets into a chase sequence with a rookie cop that ends in a suburban house with Luke and the rookie cop both shooting each other and Luke falling to his death.

From that point on we follow the story of that cop, Avery (who also happens to be played by Bradley Cooper). He’s labeled a hero but is constantly fraught with guilt over Luke’s death as Avery also had a son roughly the same age. After some time he finds that he’s in a police department swarmed with corruption and fraud-which is where Ray Liotta turns up and gets to play his traditional gangster bit as a corrupt cop. Shortly after this we jump fifteen years forward in time to focus on both Luke and Avery’s sons and how they eventually interact and discover the truths surrounding their fathers’ lives.

What I enjoyed most about this film was the curvy path this narrative took. There are also some real emotional linchpins throughout that are visually compelling and thoughtfully acted by both Cooper and Gosling. Both are trying to make better lives for their sons, but both fail them in different ways. The story feels more cyclical than it may be, but while the film is unique in the way it tells its story, its themes and arcs feel familiar all the same. Possibly because stories about fathers and sons are as old as time itself, but also because it connects to universal goals of fatherhood and the anxieties that come from it. In any case, “The Place Beyond the Pines” is available on Netflix (at least at the time of writing this review) and I recommend giving it a watch.

Final Score: Two fathers, two sons

 

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film

Review: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Posted on by spacecortez

Written and directed by Luc Besson, “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” is an ambitious adaption of the French science fiction comic series “Valerian and Laureline”. Cited as one of the many inspirations for “Star Wars”, “Valerian and Laureline” adds another dimension to the complexity of adventuring through space-they often police the timeline as well. However here in this adaption we only get traditional sci-fi flair. Which in itself is fine, a script could easily get over complicated by adding time travel in the mix. Anyways, this film almost entirely takes place in Alpha, a gigantic space station initially built by humans then added onto over time by the inclusion of other alien species tech and starship capabilities. Fast forward roughly five hundred years into our future and you have a massive sprawling structure floating through space. Alpha contains each species contributions to this effort and because of this it contains many different kinds of environments and species thriving there.

That is what is best about this movie adaption, the spectacle of it all. The world that Valerian and Laureline live in and move through is fascinating, and the pace at which we are introduced and sped through it all is akin to a stellar theme park ride. However if you’re not the kind to be wowed at visually creative sci-fi ideas, costumes, alien designs etc etc-you may not find much to enjoy here. While I personally enjoyed this film for the all the visual treats, there is not much there when it comes to the characters or plot.

Let’s get to the elephant in the room; Dane DeHaan is a good actor, I’ve seen him perform quite competently in other films, but he is grossly miscast as Valerian-the atypical classical hero that gallivants the universe conquering evil while also adding a litany of names upon his wall of sexual conquests. Dane, I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you. Maybe in five or ten years once he grows out of his wiry build, maybe then-but not now. Cara Delevingne fairs better, she is more believable in her performance and she has vastly improved from her last role in the slogfest that was “Suicide Squad”. However, there is simply no chemistry between Laureline and Valerian. Maybe there is a different relationship between the two in the comics, but here the nonexistent chemistry is hard to ignore as the film wants you to believe in the love these two characters share, even while both of them vie for the role of charming rogue.

In the end this was a fairly enjoyable, if a bit predictable, sci-fi romp even amidst the visible issues at hand. It’s a solid film that may not receive sequels- but I hope it does, there’s room to improve so I would welcome another effort.

Final Score: Three Doghan Daguis

 

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