Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) – J. F. Daley & J. Goldstein

I played D&D with friends in the early ‘80s and then encouraged my kids to play (with me as Dungeon Master) over the last few years, though never quite fanatically in either era. So, although we approached the film with trepidation (as one must when you smell that “new franchise” smell), we were also curious.  As it turns out, the film is not bad – a fun fantasy epic full of references to the game (is that a “gelatinous cube”?) and with a plot that contains enough drama (emotional and physical) to hold one’s attention.  But it doesn’t really attain full lift-off and this could be because: 1) we’ve lost patience with the full CGI treatment, wondering openly whether all backdrops were really greenscreens; 2) I personally have had it with the wisecracking hero, played this time by Chris Pine; 3) at 129 minutes, the film feels bloated and, at times, indulgent.  These drawbacks are compensated by many enjoyable moments (such as fighting the fat CGI dragon, wicked Hugh Grant, the bit with the bird man, the hither-thither magic portal, and more).  So, things do balance out, more or less.  I understand that this was not a box-office success, so perhaps that’s it for the franchise.

 

November (2017)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

November (2017) – R. Sarnet

In search of folk horror (an eerie subgenre focused on the supernatural and pagan beliefs/rituals), I stumbled across this Estonian concoction.  Lensed in beautiful rich black & white by Mart Taniel, the film has the look and feel of a Béla Tarr production (although not nearly so slow). In other words, we are in Eastern Europe in the 18^th century, dealing with many peasants (well cast for their seedy looks), who believe in magic, witchcraft, dealings with the Devil and the like – which all turns out to be true, treated as matter-of-fact.  Indeed, the film opens with shots of a “kratt” which appears to be a bunch of inanimate tools that are somehow animated, serving as a slave for a local farmer.  That farmer is the father of the main character, Liina (Rea Lest), who has fallen in love with Hans (Jörgen Liik) who in turn has fallen for the daughter of the local Baron (held in contempt by most locals due to his German origins). Although you could argue that Liina’s pursuit of Hans is the central thread of the plot, the film meanders casually through all sorts of rituals and folk horror episodes – overall, it has the flavour of a fairy tale (romantic and mysterious).  Worth a look just for the visual presentation alone but also if you want to dream along with the story.  Directed by Rainer Sarnet whose latest film seems to be an Estonian Heavy Metal Kung Fu Comedy.

 

Cocaine Bear (2023)

 ☆ ☆ ½

Cocaine Bear (2023) – E. Banks

Well, the title says it all.  More comedy than horror – although there is plenty of gross-out gore – based on the ridiculous effects of the title drug on the (CGI) animal that eats it (after it is dropped from a plane in a smuggling operation gone wrong).  This was Ray Liotta’s last film and he doesn’t actually make a fool of himself, he’s the head drug dealer played straight (so to speak), not for laughs.  Director Elizabeth Banks (an actress in her own right but not in this film) keeps things moving briskly, as the drug dealers seek to find the missing drugs in a national park (“Blood Mountain”) in Georgia USA, and the plot holds together pretty well across the 90 minutes (unlike other “exploitation” films).  I suppose we might draw some parallels between mom Keri Russell searching for her lost daughter and the protective mother bear looking after her cubs, but it would be a stretch to search this movie for themes.  That said, the man vs. nature plot line (with nature out of control) might allude to the world’s climate emergency and our inability to cope with it but then we’ve really gone too far. Much like the bear in this film.  

 

Beau is Afraid (2023)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

Beau is Afraid (2023) – A. Aster

After the excitement that accompanied director Ari Aster’s first two features (Hereditary, 2018, and Midsommar, 2019), Beau is Afraid is something of an inevitable letdown. The excess that marked those earlier efforts in the horror genre seems misjudged here, asking fans to come along for a long (3-hour) idiosyncratic journey that is so determined to defy expectations that it often doesn’t make sense. Or more specifically, it accepts nonsensical events as reality and moves on, which is intriguing if not exactly coherent. That said, I suspect if you watched this very closely and took notes about things going on in the background or present in the (busy) set-design, you just might understand the film better.  I think there is a very likely possibility that the events we see are either a paranoid fantasy or a trip through the protagonist’s unconscious.  That protagonist, Beau (played by Joaquin Phoenix, who is in every scene), is a passive figure, full of neuroses, who is presented as the end-result of the stereotypical guilt-inducing Jewish mother.  In that respect, the film plays like one long anxiety dream presented as a bad joke, things are so insanely awful that this can only be comedy. But how and whether all the anecdotal bits and pieces fit together is a matter for Ari Aster scholars of the future, because the average cinemagoer probably won’t be bothered. (This is not to say that there aren’t moments of supreme creativity and talent here, there are). I’m holding out for his comeback film now.

 

The Kid Detective (2020)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Kid Detective (2020) – E. Morgan

As a big fan of the private detective genre, I love a film that knowingly tweaks genre conventions.  There are a lot of misfires out there but fortunately The Kid Detective is a winner. Even if, in the story, he’s actually a bit of a loser.  Adam Brody (who I did not know because I did not watch the O. C.) is all grown up, early 30s, but still living with the repercussions of his successful childhood role as a self-styled “kid detective” who solved crimes for the principal and other local adults, not to mention other kids.  However, he couldn’t solve the mystery of the abducted girl from his class – and this is where the movie proves to be a dark comedy.  Abe Applebaum (Brody) is giving it a go as a private detective, but in reality, he’s not very good and his life is sort of falling apart.  He’s haunted by the signs of his earlier and current failure.  So, when a teen girl shows up asking him to solve the murder of her boyfriend, an actual murder, he takes the case and is forced to go back to his high school (and his high school memories) to try to crack the case.  His methods prove unfortunate (including an arrest) but it is all played for comedy, but unsettling comedy (not for kids) even if you guffaw.  Remarkably, writer-director Evan Morgan (who hasn’t done anything since), manages to keep the story going and even drops hints that would allow you to solve the case (or not, but in retrospect, these are cool).  And there’s a pay-off at the end and some emotional release.  Not a masterpiece but a fun genre film (by someone who loves the form) with something extra for the fans.

 

The Serpent’s Egg (1977)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

The Serpent’s Egg (1977) – I. Bergman

Ingmar Bergman’s first film shot outside of Sweden (and second in English, after 1971’s The Touch).  This stars David Carradine (selected based on his work on the Woody Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory, 1976) and Bergman’s muse Liv Ullmann. It takes place in 1923 Berlin where inflation has made the Deutschmark completely worthless. Carradine is a former trapeze artist now out of work and a Jew.  The latter is significant because Bergman seems to want to say something about the factors that led to Hitler’s rise and the Holocaust. But he takes a long time to get to the point (and to reveal the meaning of the title).  So, for most of the film, we are treated to Carradine (as Abel Rosenberg) wandering Berlin, often drunk, in and out of the cabaret where his ex-sister-in-law (played by Ullmann) works.  He is frequently interviewed by the police (led by Goldfinger’s Gert Fröbe) who seem supportive but overly interested in his whereabouts and doings (based on his brother’s suicide and his proximity to other recent victims, murders or suicides).  It seems as though we may get a murder mystery from Bergman but it doesn’t really end up that way – instead, we are treated to a sort of twist ending, meant to foreshadow later Nazi experimentation on humans (even as Hitler’s short-lived Munich Putsch is ironically used to suggest he has no future as a leader in Germany).  Bergman does establish a compelling time and place here (with his biggest budget yet) but Carradine is an odd fit for the role and the looseness of the screenplay leaves viewers wondering too much of the time.      

The Hot Spot (1990)

 ☆ ☆ ☆

The Hot Spot (1990) – D. Hopper

Apparently, this neo-noir was actually made from a script originally written for Robert Mitchum and you can imagine his sullen cool working perfectly for the amoral drifter who idles into town, finds himself caught between two women (one bad, one good), and thinks himself up an easy bank robbery.  But instead, director Dennis Hopper wound up with Miami Vice star Don Johnson. He isn’t bad and he isn’t good – but he’s not Mitchum.  Virginia Madsen plays the bad girl, wife of the boss (when Johnson takes a gig selling cars or mostly loafing), and she chews the scenery wildly but is the best thing about the picture. Jennifer Connelly is the good girl but isn’t given much to do.  Hopper manages to create a good deal of atmosphere here in this dead-end Texas town. It feels noir and it feels hot and, yes, steamy (Madsen seems to spend much of the picture nude).  Think they were aiming for The Postman Always Rings Twice (and this might actually be better than Rafelson’s remake). Once the plot decides to get going, it meanders its way to the finish line, where everyone gets what they deserve, even if it isn’t exactly what they want.