texshelters

In the obligatory Christmas episode, not much happens and there are no surprises, except perhaps one. It's "touching", sure, but that's not why I watch Inside No. 9. If I wanted a heart-warming Christmas tale, I could watch dozens of other shows. Inside No. 9 can do better and have until this tepid episode.

You can skip this one and not miss a thing.

Scared Deer Goes Wrong when the Main Character, Like the Director, Can't Decide How to End it.

"The Killing of a Sacred Deer" is from the director of "The Lobster." Like "The Lobster", the film had a promising premise that failed in the end. Perhaps director and writer Yorgos Lanthimos needs to bring in some other writers and directors to give him a reality check on his next film ending. And he isn't the first auteur who needed help. Lynch and Trier come to mind with some of their incomprehensible films. I don't mind the incomprehensible, it's stupidity I can't abide.

The film is too drawn out and too predictable for all its length. Once the main premise was revealed, there were few surprises left in the film. What was a surprise was just how predictable the ending was. There were several ways the film could have gone that would have been more interesting, compelling and surprising. However, the film chose the easy ending by not deciding and leaving the ending to chance. Literally.

The motivations of the father in the film, surgeon Steven Murphy, played dully by Colin Farrell, were unclear. Moreover, his ability to make simple decisions had been long damaged by an apparent, unproven mistake, made in his past. And it is that mistake, one that is pivotal to the plot, that moves the story. If you are going to use an event as a driver of action, it better make sense within the narrative. And it better be clearly true. We needed more detail on that event, but why make it easy for your audience to understand your film?

Steven is haunted by Martin, the teenage son of a former patient. It makes no sense that Steven would keep him around and allow Martin to harass him. The script lacks the clues to Steven's motivations, perhaps empathy, perhaps guilt, and even if it did, I don't think Farrell could have pulled it off.

The film plays like an episode of Black Mirror, minus a focus on technology that is a hallmark of the television series. The problem was that it wasn't as good as a Black Mirror episode and it was much more predicable. That's too bad, because the first act of 'Sacred Deer' was compelling.

Things happen in 'Sacred Deer' without a reason. There is no underlying motive for too many of the key actions in the story. We are supposed to take it on faith the way the characters act. Only Martin's motivations are clear within the film. As long as critics tout films that have incomplete scripts full of cracks, characters with unclear motivations and endings that certainly fit with the narrative but offer no surprises, films such as "The Killing of a Sacred Deer" will be touted as great cinema. And we can expect more mediocrity.

Certainly, with a slew of mindless block busters on screens, superhero films, robots, Star Wars and horrors film, critics clamor for more art films. But that doesn't mean we have to cheer mediocre ones.

Rating: Rent it. We shouldn't reward lazy story telling. See 'Lady Bird' again instead or for a laugh you want to avert your eyes from, see 'The Disaster Artist.' If you want a good creep fest, I recommend "Borgman", the Japanese film "Creepy" or last years "Split."

Peace, Tex Shelters

The Disaster Artist: Bringing Back the Satire

The Disaster Artist is about the making of "the Citizen Kane of bad films," 'The Room.' It's also about its director, writer, star and producer, Tommy Wiseau. It's the most loving, hilarious tribute to an artistic misfit since Spinal Tap. The difference is, Wiseau is incredibly enough, not a fictional character.

Star James Franco will tell you that the film is about the making of 'The Room', but every scene of the film is infused with Mr. Wiseau's essence. Franco embodies him fully. Franco calls upon his own challenges as a successful creative artist and twists it to show us how it would affect him if he had failed. Wiseau is as lovingly portrayed as this man "from another planet," Tommy's planet, could be. Franco was the man to tell the story.

Greg, Dave Franco (yes, James Franco's brother), is Wiseau's supportive best friend. I never fully understood why he stuck it out with Wiseau. But in the end, Greg saves Wiseau from complete despair. The rest of the cast is good. In fact, not even the underwhelming, one joke wonder Seth Rogen annoyed me in this one.

The film follows Tommy's journey from obscurity to obscurity as he takes wrong turns. Even his good looking friend Greg can't get an audition in Los Angeles. Then Greg says, "Let's make our own movie," as a joke. "Yeah!" says Tommy, and The Room is born.

It's hard to imagine that 'The Room' was an attempt at serious film making. It plays that way in "The Disaster Artist," however. Every directorial, acting, and script decision is off the mark. It's a master course in what not to do when making a film. Or is it genius satire? Not according to Franco's film. This tragic comedy is a small contained slice of life that doesn't try to me more than a hilarious and entertaining tribute.

Rating: Pay Full Price The film works and will make you laugh and cringe.

Peace, Tex Shelters