Wolf Man

Okay, decent start to the year!

Now am I just a little tiny bit of a Universal Monsters fan? Well I'm the only critic who actually liked Sofia Boutella's The Mummy so you could say mayyyyybe, but fanboy or not this was an interesting movie. I'm sure people will do what they do best on the internet, bitching and moaning, about how fundamentally different this iteration is but I got news for you nightshade if you want a classic werewolf movie I recommend gazing at the last 90 years of cinema! It's 2025 mothertruckers they gotta do something original, and original is what we got! Set in a remote area of Oregon a father, mother, and daughter traverse to a very isolated farm to gather and sort the effects of a dead relative, but on the way get thrashed by a rabid animal that stands on two legs and pretty soon poppa ain't looking so good. Now the crux of this movie believe it or not is a drama with horror elements, and if you can stretch your disbelief more it...actually kinda works. We spend enough time with this family unit to get to know them, their dynamic, and and their feelings before we even get to the mist filled forests of Oregon and the slow transformation of our main character takes the tragic lens of werewolves to a whole other level and area. And some would argue it takes away all the mysticism of werewolves, equating it more to a disease akin to zombies but I don't hold any grievances with that! There's no shot of the full moon, there's no full on transformation sequence, there is barely a body count, and yet! Despite it all is an enjoyable film. Now I had a smidge of faith due to the director Leigh Whannell who also helmed The Invisible Man which I loved to the moon and back, and that fluid tilting camera style mixed with some pretty slick cinematography especially when we get more or less "wolf vision" carries over. It's a very good looking yet seemingly low budget film, hell the vast majority of the movie takes place between three locations that are throwing distance from each other and a very minimal cast, so I feel it could potentially make some profit. Christopher Abbott and the relationship with the daughter played by Matilda Firth singlehandedly made me want to see everyone make it out, and God bless him for going through the painstaking process of prosthetics! Julia Gardner also nails the emotional state from grief stricken to survive no matter what, and you could make an argumemt the movie is more about her than Chris but I'll leave that for you to decide. The actors didn't slack, they commit and wanted to give some dimension to a monster movie and coupled with the script and direction, I feel they succeeded! It's a modern reimagining that doesn't look down on the original or try to surpass it, but take it down a different avenue with a unique story. I respect that, I can recommend it too. 3 stars, 7/10, thumbs up from me!

Poor Things

Boy do I feel like an utter asshole for missing this movie.

I saw the trailer, I was intrigued, and I'm not sure if either the movie didn't make it down here or I was just busy with other stuff but the fact I'm only just now getting to it is a crying shame in my eyes. Where the hell do I start?? I'd be amazed if there was any satisfactory synopsis of this picture but best I can describe it is, if you took elements of Frankenstein and combined it with essentially the story of a woman maturing, exploring, and finding her place set amidst this steampunk late 19th century world, and add a healthy dash of bizzare. It it unashamedly out there, with dry wit, great humor, and an expansive story that you have zero clue where it's going to go. Emma Stone is our lead as Bella Baxter and I think it's safe to say this is my favorite performance of hers bar none, to explain the character would pretty much involve me spelling out all the details of the story, so all I'll say is fantastic casting. Willem DaFoe plays her parental figure affectionately called God, I love the design of the character and the scientific bluntness of his lines, he's more prominent at the start but has a strong anchor that bookends the film. Ramy Youssef as young scientist Max has the most minor role of our main cast but still stands strong despite it, acting as a love interest for Bella who is not only accepting but passionate for her. Mark Ruffalo, again might honestly be my favorite role of his, he just gets to go out there and play this utter scoundrel of a foppish socialite but may be the funniest part of the movie, his performamce is grand in every sense and never failed to make me shake my head and quote Nandor The Relentless with "Fucking guy.". Those are the prominent main players but even the supporting cast down to even individuals you see in just one scene are great, all adding to this surreal fever dream of a world that we travel. I have never ever seen a movie pummeled with opulence, sweet Christmas these outfits, these sets, the sky itself is shocking to admire! I mean the phrase, spared no expense comes to mind, and my God what a delight it must have been to be a concept artist or set designer on this film. Phenomenal. I feel the movie has so much intelligence to it, heavy portions of commentary and flat out parodying are abound of the time period, the customs, specifically the relationship between man and woman, there is zero doubt this was completely intentional. With this and Lisa Frankenstein I hope the trend continues for quirky ass, slightly dark, romantic, reanimation type cinema! It's a bonkers movie but ceaselessly entertaining. Utterly fascinating though to view this from my perspective, cause I'll be upfront I'm autistic as fuck, I've never even came within a country mile of a relationship, and frankly speaking leaning into that asexual side of things, so to be on the outside looking in and having a disconnect from the sex and the complex emotions somewhat akin to our protagonist (whoring notwithstanding), I feel I got a lot out of this movie and deepened my perspective of women in a strange sense. It's probably the most feminist coded film I've ever seen without bashing you over the head with it, it's there but it's subtle. Yet can it be enjoyed just as a movie on it's own? Oh, absolutely! Well worth the time seeing even if it might not fully be up your alley, I'm accustomed to the strange and unusual so I was there pretty much from the word go. Great damn film in my estimation, 4 stars across the board, 9/10! And next time I'll be hitting up another modern movie that grabbed my attention.