Watched this to prep for the feature version later this month, and oh man, it’d have been real awkward if this obvious proof-of-concept/walking cliffhanger didn’t get expanded into anything! But it did, so I’m excited to see where Carlson Young goes with this idea.
post-Sundance update: oh no. oh nooooooo
At its best when it throws cohesion to the wind and focuses on pure scenario—the most memorable of these segments are the most plotless, where the characters are vessels for the scares above all else. That’s why I’m not sure why Shimizu ends the film on such an expository note. It’s like he doesn’t understand what worked in the movie he made. The misstep would be more forgivable in a more polished product, but the only real way to spin Ju-on‘s…
The camerawork is pretty obviously the main attraction here, but I was also surprisingly down with the Cremator-esque monologuing throughout, even though both largely serve as a smokescreen for the overall insubstantiality of the affair. You may have noticed that I’ve been watching my way through Gaspar Noé’s VHS collection as depicted in Climax (the things I do for him!), and after making my way through all but two of them, this is easily the film from which his work draws…
Gets half a star for the very end—the townsfolk tossing down their own patches to Whitey would be an inspired choice in most any other movie, and it's startling to see something so heartfelt in this acrid context. Everything else ranges from run-of-the-mill to morally abhorrent. And people think Jack & Jill is worse than this? I'll tell you what, that's the dumbest fuckin' take I ever heard of.
Not the worst Romeo and Juliet adaptation I’ve watched in the past week, but not the best Romeo and Juliet adaptation featuring the voice of Dame (you’re welcome Evan) Maggie Smith I’ve watched tonight. This would’ve been perfectly inoffensive as a 45-minute animated special, but it’s a tough watch at feature length. No wonder Disney didn’t want the company name on it.
And with that, I have completed my rather stupid goal of watching every “major” cinematic Romeo and Juliet to prep for…
It’s easy to see why people vehemently hate this one, and easier to see why others swear by it; with a film as holistic in its goals as Only God Forgives, you’re either with it or you ain’t. As is the case with most works that fall into this category, I am with it to a healthy degree, but not to the point of uncritical adoration. This was exactly the movie I expected it to be. Why was everyone comparing You Were Never Really Here to Taxi Driver last year when Only God Forgives existed that whole time?
Embarrassing blind spot. The concept alone would have been enough to cement this as a classic, and that's…most of what Nightmare's script has going for it, to be honest. Nothing wrong with the dialogue or anything; I just wish Craven and crew had leaned further into the dream logic—ironically, it only ever shows up in full force when Freddy manifests in the real world. (I have it on good authority that the sequels play this up more.) Otherwise, though, the…