movieswithmitch
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movieswithmitch's rating
The found footage horror genre feels like a train that should have left the station a long time ago but sticks around waiting to see who else they can cram on board so they can squeeze a couple more bucks out of. Well, I'm glad that train stuck around to let "Creep" in, proving the genre isn't quite out of steam yet.
It's not so much the found footage aspect that makes "Creep" successful but the creative infusion of the mumblecore genre that breathes some life and/or scary death into the film. "Creep" is a two-hander that is co-written and co-acted by Patrick Brice (who also serves as director) and mumblecore king Mark Duplass. Brice and Duplass are able to funnel the mumblecore's priority of character development and use of a more natural dialogue, or in this case, a very naturally unnerving dialogue, into the staples of a Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity) produced horror film. The combination of these three's efforts make for one, well, creepy film.
Brice plays Aaron, a normal guy looking to make a little extra cash when he answers a craigslist ad that will pay him $1,000 for a days work to videotape a day in the life of Josef, played by Duplass. The shoot has Aaron driving to Josef's family cabin at a remote mountain town where instantly both we the audience and Aaron feel things aren't right. Josef greets Aaron with a loud sneaky surprise hello, and then, foregoing a handshake, straight to a stranger hug. That last sentence pretty much captures the film experience as you go back and forth from shocking jump scares and very unsettling interactions between the vulnerable Aaron and the assertively goofy Josef.
Kudos to Mark Duplass for creating a character that is thoroughly terrifying but relatable enough and more importantly sympathetic enough to believably keep Aaron in a situation that just gets weirder and dangerously weirder. Scenes that include a naked bathing Josef giving a mimed bath to his unborn son, which he calls "tubby time", will long stay in my memory banks under the title 'frightening'. "Creep" excels by shifting gears from hilarious, to sad, to scary, to sometimes all of that at the same time. And to each their own, in the SXSW Q & A after the screening Duplass said it was great to watch as some of the audience would laugh at one part but others in the audience would wince in terror.
While Duplass and Brice heaped praises on horror guru Blum, saying they helped them achieve effectiveness in a genre they've never attempted, I still had my qualms. The jump scares become all too repetitive hitting a mathematical equation that Duplass said Blum taught them. "One jump scare every 10 minutes to keep them in the mood." Another one of my horror pet peeves is when the holder of the hand held camera in a found footage film only see's what the lense sees. So when in an open room and the camera moves left so does the character's vision which results to something surprising them by jumping out to us on screen when all that character has to do is move their own head back and forth to keep informed on what's around them (thanks for letting me rant).
The end which I won't get into has a few moments of 'you should have called the cops so much sooner', but that can't take away from intense ominous vibe that permeates. I dug "Creep", it's a film that is greatly helped by a very good actor who taps into his inner creep and gets under your skin.
"This" gets under your skin.
1 Timothy 4:1
It's not so much the found footage aspect that makes "Creep" successful but the creative infusion of the mumblecore genre that breathes some life and/or scary death into the film. "Creep" is a two-hander that is co-written and co-acted by Patrick Brice (who also serves as director) and mumblecore king Mark Duplass. Brice and Duplass are able to funnel the mumblecore's priority of character development and use of a more natural dialogue, or in this case, a very naturally unnerving dialogue, into the staples of a Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity) produced horror film. The combination of these three's efforts make for one, well, creepy film.
Brice plays Aaron, a normal guy looking to make a little extra cash when he answers a craigslist ad that will pay him $1,000 for a days work to videotape a day in the life of Josef, played by Duplass. The shoot has Aaron driving to Josef's family cabin at a remote mountain town where instantly both we the audience and Aaron feel things aren't right. Josef greets Aaron with a loud sneaky surprise hello, and then, foregoing a handshake, straight to a stranger hug. That last sentence pretty much captures the film experience as you go back and forth from shocking jump scares and very unsettling interactions between the vulnerable Aaron and the assertively goofy Josef.
Kudos to Mark Duplass for creating a character that is thoroughly terrifying but relatable enough and more importantly sympathetic enough to believably keep Aaron in a situation that just gets weirder and dangerously weirder. Scenes that include a naked bathing Josef giving a mimed bath to his unborn son, which he calls "tubby time", will long stay in my memory banks under the title 'frightening'. "Creep" excels by shifting gears from hilarious, to sad, to scary, to sometimes all of that at the same time. And to each their own, in the SXSW Q & A after the screening Duplass said it was great to watch as some of the audience would laugh at one part but others in the audience would wince in terror.
While Duplass and Brice heaped praises on horror guru Blum, saying they helped them achieve effectiveness in a genre they've never attempted, I still had my qualms. The jump scares become all too repetitive hitting a mathematical equation that Duplass said Blum taught them. "One jump scare every 10 minutes to keep them in the mood." Another one of my horror pet peeves is when the holder of the hand held camera in a found footage film only see's what the lense sees. So when in an open room and the camera moves left so does the character's vision which results to something surprising them by jumping out to us on screen when all that character has to do is move their own head back and forth to keep informed on what's around them (thanks for letting me rant).
The end which I won't get into has a few moments of 'you should have called the cops so much sooner', but that can't take away from intense ominous vibe that permeates. I dug "Creep", it's a film that is greatly helped by a very good actor who taps into his inner creep and gets under your skin.
"This" gets under your skin.
1 Timothy 4:1
You know that famous line from, Almost Famous, "I am a golden god!"? That quote pretty much sums up the life and times of Shep Gordon, a would be prison guard turned drug dealer turned one of the most famous managers to some of the biggest musicians of their day. You know that scene from Almost Famous where the plane is going down, and the bandmates blurt out confessions? Shep Gordon was on that plane and so was Cameron Crowe, when he put that true outrageous moment into the movie. Shep Gordon's life is one very outrageous movie and now Mike Myers, in his directorial debut, turns it into a good time love letter and at times, moving documentary movie.
More than outrageous, Shep is a legend in his excess of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Not one to miss an opportunity with the ladies, he would wear a t-shirt on tour that said, "No head, no backstage pass". But the magic of this film, something that Myers didn't craft on accident, is that the biggest legend of Shep's excess was the capacity of his heart. A kind and very generous man, Shep was every famous person's best friend because, unlike 99% of the music managers with their slimy reputation, he had the biggest heart in the room.
After being ostrasized by the fellow prison guards because of his big unkempt hairstyle, Shep found himself holed up in a Hollywood hotel. That hotel turned out to be the infamous Landmark Motor Hotel selling drugs to none other than Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix. When Shep knew the heat would catch up to him sooner than later, he stepped away from dealing and got the idea from Hendrix to start managing music. "You're a Jew aren't you? You should manage music", and that's how it all started. Shep's first client was Alice Cooper, and they've been inseparable since. Even many, many, years and famous clients later, when Shep decided to retire he didn't retire from his best friend Cooper.
It was with Cooper that Shep improvised press out of thin air turning Cooper into a star. Shep was a very adaptable manager who had a diversity of clients that spanned the hard rock stylings of Cooper, to the R&B Teddy Pendergrass, to the Canadian country good girl Anne Murray. He reached beyond music with many film producing credits, and when he became infatuated with the culinary arts, he represented the greatest chef's in the world, inventing the celebrity chef (Emeril Legasse among many others). The insight into each of these clients is truly wild and usually ended up with a happy ending; Pendergrass ending up a mixed bag tale.
And while we could listen to Shep's wild tales and conquests forever, Myer's gets us deep access into his personal life, never letting us forget that this is a good human being who really made a difference in so many lives. His want for offspring keeps surfacing throughout. The mix of his earlier promiscuous life with his self sacrificial motivation to bring all of his clients everything they could ever want has left him without an heir to the Gordon empire. Shep gets closest to being a dad when tragedy strikes as an old girlfriend's grandchildren lose their mother and he comes to the rescue not only wildly financially but also as a loving father figure. That selfless deed is where the true legend of Shep Gordon lies, a supermensch, aka a superman.
"this" selfless deed is where the true legend of Shep Gordon lies, a supermensch, aka a superman.
Matthew 7:12
More than outrageous, Shep is a legend in his excess of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Not one to miss an opportunity with the ladies, he would wear a t-shirt on tour that said, "No head, no backstage pass". But the magic of this film, something that Myers didn't craft on accident, is that the biggest legend of Shep's excess was the capacity of his heart. A kind and very generous man, Shep was every famous person's best friend because, unlike 99% of the music managers with their slimy reputation, he had the biggest heart in the room.
After being ostrasized by the fellow prison guards because of his big unkempt hairstyle, Shep found himself holed up in a Hollywood hotel. That hotel turned out to be the infamous Landmark Motor Hotel selling drugs to none other than Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix. When Shep knew the heat would catch up to him sooner than later, he stepped away from dealing and got the idea from Hendrix to start managing music. "You're a Jew aren't you? You should manage music", and that's how it all started. Shep's first client was Alice Cooper, and they've been inseparable since. Even many, many, years and famous clients later, when Shep decided to retire he didn't retire from his best friend Cooper.
It was with Cooper that Shep improvised press out of thin air turning Cooper into a star. Shep was a very adaptable manager who had a diversity of clients that spanned the hard rock stylings of Cooper, to the R&B Teddy Pendergrass, to the Canadian country good girl Anne Murray. He reached beyond music with many film producing credits, and when he became infatuated with the culinary arts, he represented the greatest chef's in the world, inventing the celebrity chef (Emeril Legasse among many others). The insight into each of these clients is truly wild and usually ended up with a happy ending; Pendergrass ending up a mixed bag tale.
And while we could listen to Shep's wild tales and conquests forever, Myer's gets us deep access into his personal life, never letting us forget that this is a good human being who really made a difference in so many lives. His want for offspring keeps surfacing throughout. The mix of his earlier promiscuous life with his self sacrificial motivation to bring all of his clients everything they could ever want has left him without an heir to the Gordon empire. Shep gets closest to being a dad when tragedy strikes as an old girlfriend's grandchildren lose their mother and he comes to the rescue not only wildly financially but also as a loving father figure. That selfless deed is where the true legend of Shep Gordon lies, a supermensch, aka a superman.
"this" selfless deed is where the true legend of Shep Gordon lies, a supermensch, aka a superman.
Matthew 7:12
Mitch Hansch/ movieswithmitch.com
Don't see it again for the very first time...
Let me ask you a couple of questions. Did you like the original "The Hangover"? Did you ever wonder what it would be like if you took that film and put a Bangkok, Thailand green screen over it? If you answered yes to both of these questions, well stranger, boy do I have a film for you. If you realized my second question was sarcastic than goooooood for yoooooooooou (it's hard to write sarcasm).
I answered yes to that first question but not so much to the second, and as I feared "The Hangover Part ll" is nothing more than an unimaginative carbon copy to Todd Phillip's wildly successful 2009 original. By no means is the original a masterpiece, but it was a lot of fun. That fun came from the films mystery element of being right there with the three bewildered men's night of debauchery and trying to figure where the story was going to take you next. This time around the notorious Wolf Pack's ride is raunchier and it's not that you won't laugh, and it's not that you won't cringe from time to time but all of that devious mystery is gone as beat by beat it's paint by numbers in this numbing sequel.
Wanter of the quiet life, Stu (Ed Helms), is getting married to a very nice Thai girl named Lauren (don't look for more female development than that- not one of Todd Phillips strong suits). Making their trip to Thailand for the wedding is the morally challenged Phil (Bradley Cooper), the perpetual bi@%# of the group Doug (Justin Bartha) who's 15 minutes on screen is used for nothing more than to tell us the other guys have done wrong, and the reluctantly invited, socially handicapped Alan (Zach Galifianakis). After almost a shot for shot recreation of the celebration toast, things once again go very awry, as they wake up in a gritty and dirty Bangkok hotel with no recollection of how they got there. Only this time they lost Lauren's 17-year old brother Teddy played by Mason Lee (director Ang Lee's son) with only one of his severed fingers remaining in the room.
Todd Phillip's and crew try to push the envelope as much as they can, which includes Stu and a Thai prostitute. Oh wait, didn't Stu have an encounter with a Vegas prostitute played by Heather Graham in the first film- SO LAZY! Phillip's might see all these recurrences as a love letter to the first film, but to me it appears as much more of a love letter to making money. These are talented actors who have an excellent rapport together. Galifinakas has the funny one-liners for the most part and Ken Jeong makes a hilarious return as Mr. Chow the Chinese gangster.
Phillip is on record saying that he imagines the series ending as a trilogy, let's just hope for the finale he can change things up more than just the location. Lets just hope for the finale he can change things up more than just the location. (get it)
(get "this")
Ephesians 5:18
Don't see it again for the very first time...
Let me ask you a couple of questions. Did you like the original "The Hangover"? Did you ever wonder what it would be like if you took that film and put a Bangkok, Thailand green screen over it? If you answered yes to both of these questions, well stranger, boy do I have a film for you. If you realized my second question was sarcastic than goooooood for yoooooooooou (it's hard to write sarcasm).
I answered yes to that first question but not so much to the second, and as I feared "The Hangover Part ll" is nothing more than an unimaginative carbon copy to Todd Phillip's wildly successful 2009 original. By no means is the original a masterpiece, but it was a lot of fun. That fun came from the films mystery element of being right there with the three bewildered men's night of debauchery and trying to figure where the story was going to take you next. This time around the notorious Wolf Pack's ride is raunchier and it's not that you won't laugh, and it's not that you won't cringe from time to time but all of that devious mystery is gone as beat by beat it's paint by numbers in this numbing sequel.
Wanter of the quiet life, Stu (Ed Helms), is getting married to a very nice Thai girl named Lauren (don't look for more female development than that- not one of Todd Phillips strong suits). Making their trip to Thailand for the wedding is the morally challenged Phil (Bradley Cooper), the perpetual bi@%# of the group Doug (Justin Bartha) who's 15 minutes on screen is used for nothing more than to tell us the other guys have done wrong, and the reluctantly invited, socially handicapped Alan (Zach Galifianakis). After almost a shot for shot recreation of the celebration toast, things once again go very awry, as they wake up in a gritty and dirty Bangkok hotel with no recollection of how they got there. Only this time they lost Lauren's 17-year old brother Teddy played by Mason Lee (director Ang Lee's son) with only one of his severed fingers remaining in the room.
Todd Phillip's and crew try to push the envelope as much as they can, which includes Stu and a Thai prostitute. Oh wait, didn't Stu have an encounter with a Vegas prostitute played by Heather Graham in the first film- SO LAZY! Phillip's might see all these recurrences as a love letter to the first film, but to me it appears as much more of a love letter to making money. These are talented actors who have an excellent rapport together. Galifinakas has the funny one-liners for the most part and Ken Jeong makes a hilarious return as Mr. Chow the Chinese gangster.
Phillip is on record saying that he imagines the series ending as a trilogy, let's just hope for the finale he can change things up more than just the location. Lets just hope for the finale he can change things up more than just the location. (get it)
(get "this")
Ephesians 5:18