Interview With The Vampire

Time to warm up for Abigail this Friday and I'll tell you now, never have I ever seen this movie all the way through.

Now I have seen bits, once upon a time as a youngin' channel surfing deep in the night and coming across some hey hey material which was...interesting to discover that's what is between a woman's legs but uhh, boy I put myself in a position just now. Movie sign!! Interview With The (not A) Vampire came out in a fairly popular decade for the genre in the 90s, recounting the life or erm, unlife of Louis who has been soaking up the nights from 1791 to the then present day of 1994 as he divulges major events of his existence. How he was made a vampire by a real sociopathic bloodsucker named Lestat, their differing opinions on hunting, a young girl named Claudia is thrown into the mix, and Louis seeks answers about his own kind. It's truly a novel story that does engage you and it was a bit of a shock to learn this was just the first book in a series of 12 novels by Anne Rice, and it seems she was quite pleased with the finished product. I have to agree, the sets and costumes alone are incredible wearing the period piece cinema style on it's sleeve for the vast majority of the runtime, the acting is good, the effects by Stan Winston though not in your face or bombastic are unique and pretty cool, you can tell this movie had a significant budget and used it wisely. I know people could make fun of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Antonio Banderas as nosferatus but in all seriousness they treat the material seriously and do convey emotion. Yet even I will admit the movie gets melodramatic at points, Louis is a very broody vampire having an existential/morality crisis, he wishes to feed on animals rather than humans no doubt setting the precedent for Stephanie Meyers years down the road, it's a whole thing but Brad does decent work. I still hold true to the fact that the older he gets the better acting he gives. Now it is kinda weird seeing Tom as this regally dressed, morally bankrupt, beast of the night and the whole relationship between Lestat and Louis easily can be seen as straight up husbands especially when Claudia is in the fray, but if the author herself signs off on the performance I'll take it. Kirsten Dunst as the bloodlusting chomper Claudia is a solid performance from her at just 11 years of age, she has big moments to sell the horror and rage at what she has been transformed into and I bought it, she has an arc to her and changes up the dynamic while still being her own character. I will not speak badly of Antonio Banderas, firstly because he did fine work and second I don't want Guillermo to throw shade at me, but I was taken aback how little screen presence he has really not until the 3rd act so it was short but decent. Fair and due props for two elements: the first being I like how the movie balances both classic and modern, it really sells that old world feeling while coming back to more contemporary periods. Second it kinda put back the horror into vampirism, it is ridiculously easy to potray it as more romantic and sexy than scary but it confronts that yeah it seems like those ladies are riding the orgasmatron ride when bitten but then it turns to blood and screams and it's disturbing! It really is fucked up! It shows that lives are being taken, and I just haven't seen that barely at all in these types of films. Even just a smidge of introspection in a vampire movie? Practically unheard of. So I applaud the movie on those two fronts strongly. I know it's one of the corner stones of this dark and blood soaked phenom which even in and of itself has layers to the mythos and powers of vampires, and while it's no grand film it's certainly a very good one. I'd give it a solid 3 stars, 7/10! What new spore of monstrosity will the ballerina vampire unleash? I will let you know!

Civil War

A24 man. It messes with you.

This is going to be a loaded review no doubt, and lightyears from the reasons most people would associate ie. politics. The first thing I gotta get out there is pretty pivotal to almost everything I gotta say so allow me to quote a passage that I think sums this movie up, "A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil.". Set in the alternate history of a not too distant future we follow a group of war photographers trekking to Washington D.C. to interview the president as, shock I know, a civil war has erupted with several states seceding from the US and it seems the combined forces of Texas and California are making the final push into the capital. The fact so many people I know who got hung up on this whole California×Texas alliance I feel is taking this too literal, and besides positions and politics evolve so it's not precisely in the realm of impossibility. I will admit I'm slightly upset they didn't give a backstory or reason as to why the war started, we're thrown literally at the tail end of this conflict with little information. How long has the war been raging? Why wage a war against the presidency? We certainly get no answers as to what could potentially happen after the end. Now maybe that wasn't truly the point, the film is wholly centered on the dehumanizing effects of war and almost a psychological study on war photographers which in and of itself is a pretty fucked profession. There's almost too much to talk about and I'd hate to forget everything so we may do a lightning round in a bit. First though, cast. I can easily see people criticize Kirsten Dunst as being very flat and monotone, but man if you've seen God knows how many battles and atrocities and war crimes trust me you get a bit friggin' desensitized and detached, she does fine work and it was nice seeing her in a new movie. Wagner Moura is her cohort and is the more aloof and passionate reporter on the matter, seeing it as just another day out in the field. Callie Spaeny plays a teenager who aspires to take up the same profession and tags along for the coverage, and I'll fully admit while I didn't hate it the execution and reasoning for her joining of the party isn't exactly smooth, I know it is to drive a point home but hey Callie killed it. Great as always to see Stephen McKinley Henderson again as the reasonable and cool headed news veteran who undoubtedly is the moral compass of this makeshift family unit essentially. Alright let's snap to and hit some bullet points. Speaking of bullets while far from spectacle or blood soaked this is a tense ass movie and if you see it in theaters I recommend earplugs because those gunshots are visceral and LOUD. You never quite know when the next attack will happen so you're always uneasy and nervous. Next up maybe it's because it's an A24 film but this film gets artsy, I mean black and white still photographs in the midst of gunfights, tranquil shots of nature, a rather mellow and contradictory soundtrack to the intense battlefield that is the States, it commits to that style. As you may know I am aware of next door to nothing about government or politics, so I can only see it as a war film and not some basis or platform to point at the other side in hate. Hell only yesterday did I read the Constitution, the Declaration, the Bill Of Rights, and pieces of the Federalist Papers not even really to get a grasp on this film but because I wanted to know. Could I easily see people point at this film as a massive what if and use it to fearmonger? Easily. But I view it as a cautionary tale, if it scares you it'll scare you to make a better future and world to avoid such an event. Conflict, battles, war, whatever damn name you have for it I find to be the most ineffectual and worthless gesture in the history of humanity. It does nothing and to give one more quote by my favorite Doctor Who, "Because it's always the same. When you fire the first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die. You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn. How many hearts will be broken. How many lives shattered! How much blood will spill before everybody does what they were always going to have to do from the very beginning! SIT DOWN AND TALK.". It's as simple as that. So view it as a tragedy, as a study into the mindset of people who document such heinous acts of cruelty, and not as some bullshit where a side is right or wrong. It's heavy, unapologetic, and does something no war film ever has that I've at least seen: it doesn't pick a side, it just shows what such a cataclysm does to people. Maybe more informed and knowledgable individuals on the sphere of politics can delve so much deeper into it, but perhaps the simple and unbiased lens is the right way to go. It's highly effective, well directed, maybe not as fleshed out as I would have liked, but a thought provoking and startling piece of cinema regardless. People will talk about it. That's all I really have to say about that. 3 stars, 7.5/10.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

I don't even know what to say!

What the f***, why was that so good??! I loved it! My brain can't form cohesive words right now except I love it! This is pure Kino if I have ever damn well seen it, this movie has zero right being as good as it is and I consider it a new age masterpiece. I don't even think this movie can be properly conveyed and summarized, I'd have to go almost scene by scene but that would ruin the effect and you need to get your ass out there and watch it. Okay, gotta be calm. So the movie basically is about this couple Joel and Clementine, played by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet, who just sort of meet and odd people make odd couples, yet the movie takes a hard right straight into...I don't even know how to properly describe it. It's like Inception before Inception, and had touches of Memento, and it gets butt wild and I for one love everything about this movie. It honestly looks like an independent film that could have been released in 2019, the cinematography is a masterclass in it's own style and never for a microsecond is boring to the eye. Jim Carrey gives the zenith of his acting skills here, I know Truman Show was the peak for me but naw man, not after this movie. Best performance of Jim Carrey ever. Kate Winslet is a weird girl in this movie and I treasure her to the moon and back, she's so out there and so vocally transparent, and both of them are so undeniablly human in all their bizzare faults and mannerisms, it's brilliant. For years I thought Eternal Sunshine was more a movie of romantic depression, no idea why though cause honestly the movie is really friggin' funny. I was cracking up often throughout, because this cast is such a weird collection of people and as you watch them you just start laughing at the odd stuff they do. Marvel alumni Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst are in this movie as work colleagues/dating couple and you are witness to some mad shit with them two interacting on screen and by God is it fun. The soundtrack is perfect for the movie, very quiet, bit jazzy bit almost dream like music, and I find that apt because it's a dream like movie. From the visuals, to the editing, to the character interactions, to the plot itself. How....the f***....have I slept on this? I mean you could no doubt read into this movie until the cows come home, maybe it's a giant metaphor or allegorical interpretation of Alzheimer's as you fight for your memories, maybe it's a statement on how memories are what defines you as an individual and is the core basis of your mind and how you can play around with memories inside your head, I don't know. I just know I loved everything about it, this is going right up there with Lost In Translation and Her and you know what that means. 4 stars! 10/10! Goddamn this was a great movie! Happy Valentine's Day to me and do yourself a favor and watch it today.

Kiki's Delivery Service

Oh wow, I just realized there's two movies reviewed this week that involve witches. Didn't even think about it.

You know it's funny, I've heard about this particular Studio Ghibli movie more than any other for the longest time. They had a little trailer for it on one of my old tapes, can't quite remember which one but for a good 15 years or more I've heard about this film. And only just until today I haven't seen it! I've heard some people say it's one of Studio Ghibli's lesser quality productions but I could not disagree more. Kiki's Delivery Service is such a quaint, charming, and lovely film that centers around the life of a young witch setting out from home and living a life of her own independently at the age of just 13. And that's kinda it for basic plot but it's such an interesting idea I don't even care. Not every film needs to have a complex or serious plot, it just shows the life of this young witch! That's interesting, that's cool, I greatly enjoy this movie just for that fact! It's just a sweet little film, with the same quality animation and voice acting as the other films Disney has brought over to the States from Japan. That's Kirsten Dunst as Kiki and she is a joy to watch, one thing Studio Ghibli never fails to achieve is the emotions and personality of children. She is such a nice kid, though she has moments of disappointment, attitude, and even, kinda for lack of a better word depressed. But she pulls through and still has confidence and love in her heart. Gah, the more I think about this movie the more I just friggin' love it. The animation especially during flight is amazing, I have no idea how they did it but they simulated such fluent and natural flying for a girl on a broom and I've just never seen that anywhere as good as it is here. I'm so happy I went out on a limb and bought this movie, it was completely worth it and I could not urge you more to see this movie even if I bought you a copy and watched it with you, snacks and all. Hell it even got me choked up at the end, though nothing really sad or anything happened. I'm pretty sure that's called Miyazaki Syndrome. But anyway, excellent film, 4 stars check it out, and before the week is out we go a little...darker.