NateWatchesCoolMovies
Joined Feb 2008
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What makes a mystery really, truly work? In this day and age of meticulous internet dissection and buzz generated months before a film's release it can be tough to genuinely keep the diabolical secrets of a horror film well kept, let alone tell your story in a way that isn't predictable for the audience given the level of saturation accumulated over the sheer amount of years this genre has been at the game. Zach Cregger achieves resounding, nerve eviscerating success with his new original film Weapons, a horror epic that feels like a nesting doll smashed to smithereens, then carefully stitched into a wonderfully cohesive mosaic quilt by mad scientist hands. The same kind of brick by my brick story structure that doubles back on itself employed in classics like Sin City and Pulp Fiction is used here in telling the sprawling, unsettling tale wherein an entire classroom of elementary school students run out of their homes one night at 2:17am, en masse, and are never seen again. It's an unfathomable mystery that nobody seems to have any answers to, not their teacher (Julia Garner) who many are suspicious of, a parent (Josh Brolin) hellbent on finding his son, the effortlessly diplomatic school principal (Benedict Wong) or even the authorities represented by a useless beat cop (Alden Ehrenreich) wrapped up in his own petty, pathetic issues. This is a mystery for the audience to solve alongside its characters as the episodic chapters unfold, overlap and run relays around each other in a fashion that is never confusing, always succinct and doesn't feel like a haphazard gimmick but rather and essential and earned storytelling format. It's scary as all hell, darkly funny in all the right subtle ways, ingeniously structured and has a Hail Mary performance from one unrecognizable veteran actress who isn't in much these days but just about brings down the house here. A horror classic in the making.
Mike Flanagan's The Life Of Chuck is an admirably optimistic effort based on a Stephen King short story but unfortunately 'short story' is the operative term here and despite a languid runtime and an absolute barn full of cast members (many appearing in frustratingly fleeting cameos) it still all only comes across as a vaguely whimsical footnote rather than the fibrous celestial profundity attempted. Still, I always appreciate a kindhearted, uplifting thematic undertaking in this age of woe and want and while the end product ultimately falls off the proverbial ladder whilst trying to reach for the stars, it isn't without its minimal charms. In episodic fashion we learn of Charles 'Chuck' Krantz, a middle aged accountant with a fascinating life story that plays into various cosmic concepts and allows a veritable parade of actors, Flanagan mainstays and newcomers alike, to offer up philosophical platitudes and endearing verbal affirmations. I won't name them all here but some that stood out include Mark Hamill as Chuck's wisened grandfather, Samantha Sloyan cast against evil type as a compassionate dance teacher, Mia Sara (nice to see her again!), scene stealing Matthew Lillard, the always luminescent Annalise Basso and others. I get what the story is going for here, but there are several issues; the stark episodic fashion in how we're presented this material is jarring, disjointed and untethered from cohesion, the usually stellar way Flanagan adapts King's typically tough to film cerebral gimmicks isn't as concise or innovative as it was in stuff like Gerald's Game and Doctor Sleep. Also, this just feels too much like a short story stretched out into nearly two hours and we notice it. The once in a lifetime ensemble cast is great but most of them only get a meagre thirty seconds of screen time that barely registers as cameo before they are gone again. This is something of a tragedy for me as Flanagan in my eyes has a perfect track record and while this one is just good enough to not be considered a mark against him, I can't say I emerged ready to give it the glowing treatment. Maybe you will fare better.
Mitzi Peirone's Saint Clare is the type of moody, atmospheric, not always coherent yet always fascinating fright flick we might have seen crop up in the 90's, an in the vein of Dean Koontz type ethereal-pulp good time at the horror movies that, sadly yet a bit understandably, has been getting some bad reviews. Bella Thorne is Clare, a young woman born with a sort of divine clairvoyance that allows her to keenly identify predators, serial killers and evil folks of the same rotten pedigree, and viciously dispatch them with some sort of spiritual impunity ordained just on her. She's like an angelic vigilante and has focused her energy on the small town she lives in where apparent human trafficking murderers have been operating freely for decades with little investigation by the local cops. The film tries this "darkly whimsical" energy that doesn't always flow, but is an interesting aesthetic choice and Thorne, who has seemed in the past incapable of a performance that registers beyond a placid stare and not able to annunciate her lines any other way than a stoned valley girl, is actually pretty engaging and seems to have taken some actual acting classes, I quite enjoyed her character work here. She's joined by some yesteryear familiar faces including a weirdly intense Rebecca DeMornay as her anxious stepmother, Ryan Phillippe as a useless police detective and scene stealing Frank Whaley as the ghost of a distraught mailman she once tried to help and accidentally killed, who now benignly haunts her offering kindly advice and moral support. It's in these narratively kitschy, lovably kooky moments that the film truly shines and displays something memorable. This is after all a pretty straightforward supernatural detective story given the otherworldly arthouse treatment by filmmaker Peirone and while some elements skirt the silly and terminally unfocused, Thorne's winning performance, her lovely oddball chemistry with Whaley and a positively gorgeous, super eerie musical score by Zola Jesus/Phillip Klein make this well worth a look.
