The Head (2020)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Head (2020) – D. Pastor & A. Pastor

Six-episode miniseries set in Antarctica that plays like a classic whodunit, although with a bit more visceral violence than in the Hollywood fare of the thirties or forties.  This is an international co-production, although mostly in English.  Basically, a group of 7 or 8 scientists seeking a cure for global warming (in the form of a bacterium that absorbs CO₂) are isolated down there during the long dark winter.  Their radio goes dead and so a search party arrives to find out what has gone wrong, including the leader of the summer team who is married to one of the scientists on the winter team.  There is one survivor, Maggie Mitchell (Katharine O’Donnelly) and all of the rest of the crew are dead or missing – she is suffering from T3 and traumatic shock but gradually remembers the details of what happened (which we see in flashback from start to finish across the episodes).  At all times, she is treated as a potentially unreliable narrator, particularly when another survivor materialises and offers a conflicting story.  It is all very suspenseful, although like the serials of yore, there is a bit of a formula leading to cliffhanger endings for each episode or at least momentous discoveries just before the credits roll.  At the end of the first episode, in flashback, we see the crew discover that one of their members has been killed and decapitated (hence the series title), for example.  The backstory has a little to do with the politics of research but it’s only a backstory and the real plot unfolds as we learn about each character and their possible motives for wanting others dead. But the central protagonist here is probably the hostile environment, which dominates everything and provides constraints for everyone’s actions.  It all comes together rather predictably in the final episode (of course) but there are still twists to reckon with (of course).  In the end, I did feel compelled to watch and the conclusion is mostly satisfying – but perhaps it’s not much more than solid genre fare, which is something I certainly need during these challenging times.  

 

Extra Ordinary (2019)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Extra Ordinary (2019) – M. Ahern & E. Loughman

 I’m sure this Irish horror-comedy is a cult classic in-the-making, particularly because it eschews gore and has a tender feeling for its misfit characters.  The comedy is goofy, sometimes adult, and often pretty funny.  The horror is not really to be taken seriously either.  The plot, for all its ridiculousness, fits together very neatly.  Maeve Higgins plays a driving school instructor with the ability to contact and exorcise unruly ghosts (the kind who possess recycling bins, for example); however, she doesn’t want to use her powers due to a tragedy in her past.  Yet when poor Martin Martin (Barry Ward) requires her assistance, not to exorcise his nagging ex-wife’s ghost but to rescue his teen daughter from becoming a virgin sacrifice in the Satanic rites of pompous muso Christian Winter (hilarious Will Forte), she yields.  What follows is a silly set of anecdotes as they exorcise and collect ectoplasm from ghosts around their community (cue character actors).  The finale employs real special effects to hit things home, sealing the deal.  Often these sorts of genre offerings flop somewhere along the line but happily this one holds together all the way through.  Recommended!

The Sisters Brothers (2018)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Sisters Brothers (2018) – J. Audiard

The most immediately noticeable thing about The Sisters Brothers is the cinematography by Benoît Debie (who has worked with Gaspar Noe and Harmony Korine) – each shot seems to include possibly only natural light – patches of sunlight by day and candlelight and other time-period relevant sources by night (although this may be an illusion and not an record-breaking achievement like Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon). Beyond that, there is the powerhouse acting by John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Riz Ahmed – no slouches here – with Reilly getting the lion’s share of the run-time and the most well-rounded character.  He’s the older Sisters brother, an outlaw working for the Commodore with his violent younger brother (Phoenix), following tracker John Morris (Gyllenhaal) who is meant to capture chemist Herman Warm (Ahmed) who has devised a formula for making gold nuggets glow in the water for easy picking by prospectors.  The Commodore wants the brothers to torture Ahmed to get the secret formula but clearly Reilly’s character no longer has his heart in this work.  So, it’s a Western set on the Pacific coast, with its adventure moving from Oregon down to San Francisco.  The four men have their own psychological profiles (and goals) which director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet) provides time to explore while still keeping the action moving and the Western tropes alive.  It’s a good film, particularly with its final coda (shot miraculously in one continuous take), but somehow it doesn’t achieve maximum elevation.

 

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) – J. J. Abrams

It is tempting to compare what director J. J. Abrams has delivered in this final instalment of the Star Wars saga to what could have been – and you would invariably be disappointed (as many or most viewers were).  Instead, it may be more fruitful to think about the pleasures that the film does offer.  So, if, like me, you saw the first Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) when you were 9 or 10 years old, what would you be hoping for now? If you were the director, what would you include?  Abrams (born 1966) probably found himself exactly in this situation.  So, when he directed Episode VII: The Force Awakens, he set about recreating the plot of the 1977 film, albeit with new protagonists (Daisy Ridley as Rey is the new Luke etc.) but also bringing back the original actors from the first trilogy to play key cameo roles in the new film.  I enjoyed that “remake” myself.  But now, in his second go at Star Wars, could Abrams really use the same formula again?  The answer is yes.  So, we do see some older actors returning to reprise their roles (surprises included) and we get some nods to the past (Luke lifts his x-wing out of the swamp…finally) and some retreads (what! Another bar with aliens in it?).  The Rebels have to fight the Empire/First Order/Final Order all over again – and guess what? They win.  (Sorry for the spoiler).  As in the earlier films, generational conflict is the main subtext – we know that Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is the son of Han Solo (Harrison Ford, appearing as a force ghost) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher appearing in footage found on the cutting room floor from Episode VII sadly repurposed).  He’s turned to the dark side and wants to take Rey with him – but will he prevail?  And what about Rey’s own family tree?  In this film, we do discover her lineage.  However, and here’s where we shouldn’t be tempted, not much tension or even exploration is made about these discoveries and conflicts.  They are just another cog in the plot mechanics, which, it must be said, move swiftly from one action sequence to another.  Truly, the art direction and special effects look amazing (the wreckage of the original Death Star!).  But, but, but, the result feels hollow inside (nowhere worse than the nonresponsive Carrie Fisher slotted into interactions with live actors), with the schematic plot structure designed only to connect the action sequences and to allow Abrams and his team to slot in the various required memes (“I’ve got a bad feeling about this”, death of pivotal characters, etc.).  I say this as someone for whom the original trilogy was something special (and who mostly skipped the prequel trilogy or forgot about it) – but how would children growing up now feel about these films? Would they love the new characters played by Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, and Daisy Ridley, as much as we loved Han, Leia, and Luke? I suspect not, but hey, it’s Disney’s franchise now and they certainly know how to make a buck.

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

An American Werewolf in London (1981) – J. Landis

Although there is seemingly an endless supply of 21^st century horror films, reading the reviews suggests that there are few diamonds in the mine (and I’ve watched them already – but please, tell me if I’m wrong).  So, I’ve returned to the past, to a film I vaguely remember.  As it turns out, it is only average (an easy watch) but notable for blending horror with light comedy, I guess (director John Landis made his mark in that other genre).  David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) are hiking in northern England when they are attacked by a wolf creature and Jack is killed.  Predictably, David shows some unusual symptoms and when the full moon arrives, we get some Rick Baker special make-up effects.  For 1981, these are pretty good.  But the plot has nowhere to turn, as love interest Jenny Agutter tries helplessly to save David.  One interesting angle not found in other films in this genre: when innocents are killed by a werewolf, they must forever walk the Earth in limbo, gradually decomposing, and visible only to the werewolf (and each other). But I still prefer the Lon Chaney Jr. film.

  

Searching (2018)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Searching (2018) – A. Chaganty

In fact, the gimmick here works pretty smoothly – all images are mediated through computer screens (that is, social media, facetime, news broadcasts, security cameras, etc.).  Director Aneesh Chaganty (in his feature debut) keeps things moving along with one clue to the disappearance of teenager Margot Kim (Michelle La) after another in reasonably rapid succession and through a variety of different online methods.  John Cho plays the distraught dad, who hasn’t kept up with his daughter’s activities as well as he could, after his wife/her mum died of cancer.  Debra Messing is the police detective assigned to the case.  I wasn’t bored but after all was said and done, perhaps this is just an enjoyable thriller and nothing deeper (the fact that we all engage in so much screen time now and leave so many traces of ourselves is hardly surprising). Interestingly, only a couple of years later, the technology already feels a bit out-of-date – but I’m not an Apple person, so perhaps that’s it. 

Panic in the Streets (1950)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Panic in the Streets (1950) – E. Kazan

Richard Widmark is the Public Health Service doctor who discovers a case of Pneumonic Plague (cousin of the Bubonic variety but sounding a lot like Coronavirus – it’s transmitted through the air) in a murder victim in New Orleans. The next step is contact tracing – which is hard because the body has not been identified (and is immediately cremated). Widmark contacts the Mayor who orders the police (led by Paul Douglas) to start a search.  Of course, WE know that the victim was an illegal immigrant who arrived by ship, because we see him lose a poker game, flee and get killed by Blackie (Jack Palance in his frightening debut) and his simpering flunky (Zero Mostel).  To avoid panic (and those contagious fleeing to other parts of the USA), Widmark advises the city to keep the presence of the virus under wraps.  The result, as directed by Elia Kazan, is one pulse-pounding night as the heroes desperately track the killers before it’s too late. Any similarities to present day events stop short because they have a vaccine for the plague in this movie and simply give everyone exposed a quick hypodermic.  Also, they manage to avoid hundreds of thousands of deaths – a consequence mentioned explicitly.  But otherwise, yeah, it’s pretty scary.