Resurrection (2022) – Review – Rebecca Hall is the Best
Quick Thoughts – Grade B – Resurrection is an absorbing thriller that takes you to places you’d never expect (which is a good thing). Once again, Rebecca Hall proves that she’s absolutely fearless and isn’t afraid to tackle unique material that requires her to go through a wild amount of trauma and psychological horror.
Writing about Resurrection is tough because there’s so much that should be left unspoiled. I went into my screening with zero prior knowledge and only knew that Hall and Tim Roth were the stars. I’m glad I never watched a trailer for it because I really enjoyed the roller coaster of events and emotions that the movie creates. What I can say is that Hall plays a woman named Margaret, who starts to unravel when her abusive ex-boyfriend David (Tim Roth – with the creepiest toothy grin I’ve ever seen) begins stalking her after twenty-two years of separation. Before David messes up her world, we learn that Hall is a workaholic single mom who happily doles out advice to younger coworkers, and spends her free time running through a city that is loaded with brutalist architecture (the movie was filmed in New York City). Her daughter Abbie (Grace Kaufman) is a nice kid who is used to Margaret’s long hours and gives the snarkiest teenager responses to pretty much everything Margaret does. All in all, it’s not a bad life that Margaret has made for herself after the traumatizing relationship she had with David, a man who is 20+ years older than her and had no problem controlling her for many years. Since it’s a thriller, things begin to spiral when Margaret sees David at a business lecture and she’s forced to deal with some truly terrible memories and feelings.
The highlight of the film is a darkly funny monologue in which Margaret tells the story (in one long eight-minute take) of what happened between her and David to a co-worker named Gwyn (Angela Wong Carbone) who frequently asks her for advice. The story leaves Gwyn completely shocked and you can tell that she can’t handle what was just told to her because it was very irresponsible of Margaret to drop the insane tale of abuse on an intern. After a brief silence, the visibly shaking Gwyn responds with “Is this a joke?,” and she leaves the office mumbling to herself as she tries to process the heaviness of what Margaret just told her. Telling a young intern such a horrible story isn’t cool, but it makes you respect Margaret more because most people would be in a pit of depression if they experienced what she did. That’s why she controls her interactions with men, and has created a stable world in which she can survive.
The script by Andrew Semans (who also directed the movie) was on the 2019 Black List and it just makes total sense that it would be a popular script that nobody wanted to produce. Thinking about the movie makes me smile, and when I tried to explain it to my wife we both were left a bit confused. I don’t think that it totally earns the ending, but I’d happily watch the movie again to enjoy Hall’s committed performance. After being wasted in movies like Iron Man 3, I love that she’s directing popular movies like Passing and starring in critically adored horror films like The Night House. If you’re looking to watch an ambitious thriller that really goes for it, I totally recommend you watch Resurrection.
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MY CALL: Sorry, but this movie is little more than yet another boring slog lamely continuing the Amityville curse story. The effects are even more soporific than the story. MORE MOVIES LIKE Amityville: The Evil Escapes: Uhhhhhh, stick to Amityville II: The Possession (1982) and wander no further in terms of franchise sequels. Part II has all the dumb fun you’re looking for with great pacing, but Amityville 3-D (1983) is a boring slog. I haven’t yet seen Amityville Curse (1990), but it comes next in this sequence of non-sequels.
After the slaughter of now two different families and then a botched paranormal investigation transpired in the Amityville house built over the Native American burial ground, the “FOR SALE” sign is up yet again in front of the Amityville house that, for some reason, still hasn’t been burned to the ground. Instead of a few barrels of kerosene, the film opens with a team of priests arriving to exorcize the haunted house. We’ve clearly learned by now that two priests often just aren’t sufficient. The scene is a clunky maelstrom of weak haunted house effects as this film’s made-for-TV quality is worn plainly on its sleeve.
Just so we’re clear, this movie does everything in its power to make sure every member of the audience understands that all the evil of the Amityville house has now been channeled into a hideous antique lamp. And since, for some reason, folks saw fit to sell the contents of the most cursed house ever in a yard sale, someone of course buys this eyesore of a cursed lamp and ships it to California. And thus, “the evil escapes.”
Now you might be thinking, hold on, how could the ”evil” escape? Wasn’t the cause of everything in the first movie the angry Native American spirits (angry not evil) whose graves were desecrated by the building of the Amityville house? The answer is yes! But the first sequel decided it was instead some Biblical demon of sorts (for no reason at all) and the second sequel decided a Gateway to Hell was under the house. So now we have a feisty demon on our hands.
After the sudden death of her husband, Nancy (Patty Duke; Valley of the Dolls) brings her kids—Amanda (Zoe Trilling; Night of the Demons 2, The Borrower, Dr. Giggles), Brian and the youngest Jessica—to move in with her mother (Jane Wyatt; Star Trek IV) the very day of the arrival of the lamp.
Not surprisingly, this movie is awful. There’s a possessed chainsaw scene that is nothing short of boring; a garbage disposal scene that, despite the blood and screaming, was incredibly weak and showed nothing worthwhile; a sorry death-by-drowning in pipe sewage; strangulation by animated lamp cord… it’s all cheap and forgettable.
I’m sorry to say that director Sandor Stern (Pin) did not impress me here. In the final 30 minutes—which should arguably be the most exciting portion of the movie—I nodded off twice, clearly not very stimulated. The finale features a priest fighting an inanimate lamp and a floating homicidal child with a kitchen knife. It’s not good… like, at all.
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Mark and DJ Valentine (@TryingToBeDJV on Twitter) love The Batman (2022) so much that they decided to record a commentary for the 176-minute movie. During this commentary they talk about Frank Cold, penguins, and childlike villains. Enjoy
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 439: Get Smart, Yellow Cake, and Dwayne Johnson
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Mark and Erik discuss the 2008 comedy Get Smart. Directed by Peter Segal, and starring Anne Hathaway, Steve Carell, Dwayne Johnson, Alan Arkin and Terence Stamp (such a stacked cast), the movie focuses on what happens when Steve Carell is tasked with saving the world. In this episode, they also talk about TV adaptations, swordfish and walking into door frames. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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The Reef: Stalked (2022) – Review
Quick Thoughts – Grade – C+ – Directed by Andrew Traucki (The Reef, Black Water, Black Water: Abyss), The Reef: Stalked is a better-than-average survival thriller that eschews typical genre tropes and instead focuses on the relationship between four friends who are forced to deal with a hungry (and very jerky) great white shark.
What’s refreshing about The Reef: Stalked is how it relies on putting likable characters (who like each other) in a somewhat believable life or death situation. Director Andrew Traucki has made a name for himself by making grounded survival thrillers that feature actual shark/crocodile footage and actors who try their best to elevate the B-level material. The biggest issue with The Reef: Stalked is the laughable VFX that drags the film down and makes you remember that you’re watching a low-budget shark flick. However, the movie is aided by an on-location shoot in Australia that provides good looking production design and wide open spaces (via strategic camerawork to avoid the beaches they filmed on) that make it much better than movies like Great White, which was partially filmed on a soundstage.
The Reef: Stalked begins with a doozy of an opening that most audiences will never suspect (or have any reason to suspect). After a day of diving, Nic (Teressa Liane), Jodie (Ann Truong), Lisa (Kate Lister), and Cath (Bridget Burt) are interrupted by Greg (Tim Ross), Cath’s husband who is clearly a very angry man. Later on that day, Nic gets a call from Greg and when she comes over to his home, she finds Greg with scratches on his face, and Cath dead in a bathtub. It’s a horrible discovery that forces her to leave for India where she travels for nine months while her younger sister Annie (Saskia Archer) is forced to manage the funeral, take care of their depressed mother, and deal with her own demons. Annie and Nic are reunited when they join Jodie and Lisa for an island-hopping kayak trip to celebrate the memory of Cath. Since it’s a shark film, they are attacked almost immediately and they’re forced to keep traveling so they can save the life of a young girl who was also attacked by the jerky great white shark. What follows is a shark film that refreshingly doesn’t get as mean as movies like The Reef, Black Water, and Black Water: Abyss.
The movie isn’t always exciting, but after watching Great White and Shark Bait, I appreciated that Traucki tried to do something different with The Reef: Stalked. Having Nic be riddled with post-traumatic stress is a bold move, and I think Teressa Liane does a fine job of pulling off a character who is coping with the murder of her sister while having to deal with a shark who wants to eat her other sister. The performances are all-around solid, but they are let down by cheaply-staged action that changes the abilities of the shark for story needs. For instance, the shark can explode through pontoons, but it can’t tip over a kayak moments later. Also, even though the shark is capable of ripping people apart, it can’t bite through a life vest which must be made from the strongest material ever created. The biggest turnoff for people expecting shark mayhem is that The Reef: Stalked really isn’t about mayhem. Traucki has stated that he wasn’t interested in making another shark movie, but since they can get made easily he decided to lower the body count and focus more on sisterhood. I think Traucki’s ambition elevates the low-budget material, but it will turn off casual viewers looking for blood geysers. If you can wrap your head around the more nuanced plot (for a shark movie), you’ll find things to like.
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MY CALL: Like a piñata filled with cheesy guts and over-sized fangs, this was a pleasant surprise of slapstick horror comedy that spirals into silly nonsense. MORE MOVIES LIKE Children of the Night: Best match in tone and style might be things like Blood Diner (1987), The Granny (1995), Rabid Grannies (1988) and Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh (1991).
Okay, so the movie posters look lame. Really lame. But with a director like Tony Randel (Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Ticks) I sit back baffled as to how I somehow never heard of this movie. It’s not that I never got around to it, but that I truly never knew it existed until, well, this year!
As part of a local superstition, Cindy (Maya McLaughlin) and Lucy (Ami Dolenz; Ticks, Pumpkinhead II, Witchboard 2) visit a huge abandoned church to “swim the crypt” to wash themselves clean of their small town, which is about as religious and insulated as small towns get. I suppose the real horror here is the list of infections these girls would get from swimming in the historically stagnant flooded crypt. But also that the flooded crypt is still populated by dead bodies, some of them being submerged vampires.
The opening sequence is pretty good as far as low budget horror goes, and the awful storytelling is hilarious. Cindy and her mother Karen (Karen Black; It’s Alive III, House of 1000 Corpses, Mirror Mirror, Night Angel) become vampires held prisoner by a priest Father Frank (Evan MacKenzie; Ghoulies III, Scanner Cop II) who had an affair with Karen ten years ago. And while the budget is humble, we see every dollar on screen in Karen’s over-the-top claws, makeup and fangs, like something out of an inferior Night of the Demons sequel. It pains me to acknowledge this, but many of this movie’s vampires sleep submerged breathing through pairs of human lungs and esophagus fashioned into something of a snorkel!
Yup. This movie is a hokey cheesefest and it knows it. Much in the vein of The Granny (1995), we have a granny vampire unloading silly garbage dialogue. And these vampire fangs are so big you can hear the actors struggling to speak their semi-muffled lines through them. The hands down best special effect was when Karen orally “secreted” her sleeping chamber in the form of stop-motion wet cloth and regurgitated gel, and then flopping out her slimy lung snorkel… which I’m beginning to think is her own inside out esophagus and lungs!
Father Frank recruits schoolteacher Mark (Peter DeLuise) to help him with Karen, Cindy and Lucy. Meanwhile, whereas we began with more serious vamps, the entire town has become a comical Halloweentown of slapstick ghoulish vampires.
Somehow as the vampire population, action and the heart-stakings mount, things get even a little too stupid for me. It’s funny, but it’s stupid. These vampires are dumber the more we see them. Like, actually dumb… like a clumsy zombie or a spastic simple-minded deadites. Still, there’s a lot of hokey action, awful writing, a little story development, a few half decent gore gags—yeah, this is a great “so bad it’s good” watch for a group of friends to enjoy.
All told, this was okay—but I’d probably enjoy it a lot more had I watched it with company. I much preferred the moderately hokey first half to the extremely hokey second half. But for those of you who simply adore movies like Blood Diner (1987), this is probably your jam.
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In 2022, Mean Girls is still everywhere. The musical is touring, the movie is fetching huge numbers on Netflix, and there are loads of articles analyzing writer Tina Fey’s 2004 cult classic. It’s because of all the hype that I decided to watch it again because I remember really enjoying it when I watched it in 2004 (ESPN, Glen Coco, and the likable cast are the highlights for me). While watching the central characters being horrible to each other, I began to wonder which of the characters were the meanest. To do this, I rewatched the movie, counted every instance of characters being mean (mean comments, lying, manipulating, scheming, backstabbing, not keeping secrets), and then recorded the screen time of each character.
I knew Regina George would have the most mean moments, but I wanted to know who has the most mean moments per minute average. The results are fun.
Quick Note – I only have so much free time, so I counted screen time as any moment in which the characters are around to make a comment. For instance, during the big gymnasium scene, I counted that for every character (Regina, Karen, Gretchen, Jaius, Damian, Cady) because they are all in the gymnasium. Also, when Cady first meets the plastics, I recorded the time for every character since they are all in the cafeteria. Logging the individual frames would’ve sucked my soul from my body.
Amount of Mean Moments
- Regina – 31
- All the other characters – 26
- Janis – 18
- Damian – 15
- Cady – 15
- Gretchen – 8
- Aaron – 3
- Karen – 2
There are 1.26 mean comments/actions every minute (118 total moments – 93 minute running time – I took out the 3 minutes of credits)
How Often Do They Say/Do Something Mean?
- Regina – 47.55 minutes of screen time – Does something mean every 1.53 minutes of screen time
- Janis – 28.7 minutes of screen time – Does something mean every 1.59 minutes
- Damian – 30 minutes of screen time – Does something mean every 2 minutes
- Cady – 82.3 minutes of screen time – Does something mean every 5.49 minutes
- Aaron – 17.68 minutes of screen time – Does something mean every 5.89 minutes
- Gretchen – 47.3 minutes of screen time – Does something mean every 6.75 minutes
- Karen – 44.65 minutes of screen time – Does something mean every 22.3 minutes
Conclusion – Regina is the worst, but she and Janis are almost tied when it comes to how often they say/ or do something mean.
Here are the moments and the timestamps. Pardon the vague writing. It makes sense to me. This is meant to let you know that I didn’t pull the moments out of thin air. I put the work in.
- Damian/Janis – Laugh at Cady – 2:23 – 2:55 – 2
- Janis/Damian – They have her skip a class and call themselves her friends – 6:50
- Janis – She everyone ignores the pronunciation of Cady – 7:20
- Janis/Damian – 8:11 – Dumb, Ho-Bag, Hair – 3
- Girl – Regina – She punched me in the face – 8:38
- Janie – 9:00 – You’ve out gayed yourself
- Janis / Tina Fey – 9:18 – Cafeteria Map
- Regina – 10:00 – Shakes a guy down – MAY COUNT
- Regina – 10:50 – Retarded
- Regina – 11:50 – She completely ignores Cady
- Damian – 12:11 – Danny DeVito
- Janis – 12:38 – Pushes Cady to spy on plastics
- Gretchen – 14:00 – Art Freaks insult
- Regina – 16:20 – Get in loser, we are going shopping
- Regina – 16:40 – Math Club – Social Suicide
- Regina – 17:25 – Sticks up for friend. Burns girl.
- Regina – 18:20 – I know right
- Regina – Please stop talking – 19:00
- Regina – 20:30 – Could you go fix your hair
- Mean Girls – 20:40 – Burn book
- Janis – 21:40 – She manipulates Cady
- Damian – 21:45 – Insults outfit
- Damian – 22:28 – mathletes insult
- Janis – 22:45 – That is bleak
- Janis – 22:50 – Keep spying on Regina
- Gretchen – 22:30 – Tells Regina about Aaron
- Regina – 23:10 – Sets up Cady
- Cady – 25:15 – She lies about practice
- Regina/Aaron – 27:12 – Regina manipulates
- Regina – 28:04 – Retarded
- Janis – 29:36 – Plans to take out the plastics
- Regina – 30:40 – Messes with Aaron’s hair
- Janis/Cady – 31:17 – Make face cream for Regina
- Janis – 31:50 – Cuts hole in shirt
- Janis – 32:30 – Crack Gretchen
- Regina – 33:04 – Makes a homophobic comment
- Regina – 33:45 – Retarded
- Regina – 33:54 – Mean about skirt (but makes person feel good)
- Cady – Crack Gretchen Weiners – 34:27 –
- Damian – None for Gretchen Weiners – 35:03
- Regina – Moves Gretchen – 37:20
- Regina – Lip gloss – 39:45
- Regina – Stop trying to make Fetch happen – 40:20
- Cady/Janis/Damian – They make Gretchen crack – 40:42
- Regina – 41:45 – Cheating
- Cady/Damian – 42:02 – Manipulating
- Damian/Janis/Cady – Bars – 42:36
- Regina – Shut up – 43:11
- Regina – 43:34 – Move Gretchen
- Janis – 44:51 – Baby Prostitute
- Cady/Aaron – 45:24 – Tutor behind back
- Cady/Aaron – She’s cheating on you – 46:31
- Janis/Damian/Cady – Cross off name – 46:35
- Regina – God Karen you are so stupid – 47:02
- Damian – Cheats – 48:14
- Cady – Army of Skanks – 48:20
- Cady – 49:19 – Lies
- Janis – scratch off – 49:46
- Cady – How do you know – 50:30
Cady – Queer – 50:50 - Cady – Lies – 51:30
- Regina – 52:15 – Such a slut
- Cady – 52:25 – Tricks Regina – three way call
- Karen – So annoying – 53:15
- Gretchen – Tells Karen about being a slut – 53:36
- Regina – 53:40 – Whore
- Regina – 54:10 – Disgusting vest
- Cady – 54”25 – Sits there while Regina is kicked out from table
- Janis 54:41 – Army of skanks – 54:41
- Cady – 55:03 – Cady Lies
- Cady – 55:22 – Control everyone around me
- Gretchen – Told guy about lie – 57:40
- Cady – 59:15 – I would never lie to you
- Cady – 1:01:15 – In love with me or something
- Regina – 1:03:06 – Writes in book to trick people
- Regina – 01:05:32 – She puts the copies all over the school
- Gretchen – Lies – 01:05:33
- Tina Fey – 01:06:13 – Writing
- Gretchen – Brat – 01:40:30
- Janis – 01:15:20 – Talks about Regina
- Regina – 01:16:14 – Mean
- Cady – 01:17:44 – Cady lies
- Damian/Janis – Move her seat – 01:18:40
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 438: Annihilation, Screaming Bears, and Alex Garland
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
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Mark and Nick Rehak (@TheRehak on Twitter) discuss the 2018 science fiction psychological horror film Annihilation. Directed by Alex Garland, and starring Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Oscar Issac and a screaming bear (and a mutated alligator), the movie focuses on what happens when four scientists enter a death void known as Area X. In this episode, they also talk about Stargate: Atlantis, canoe talk, and Patrick Wilson. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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Quick Thoughts – Grade – A – The Phil Tippett directed Mad God is a visual masterpiece that features an insane amount of memorable monsters. You won’t want to blink while watching because there’s so much to look at.
After 30 years of work, it’s cool that Phil Tippett was able to finally complete Mad God and get a big push from Shudder. If you’re not familiar with the name, You’ve definitely seen Tippett’s work on movies like Jurassic Park, Robocop, Starship Troopers, Willow, Piranha, and Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. He’s an absolute master who created the holochess board in A New Hope, and the Rancor in Return of the Jedi (my all-time favorite monster). If you’re looking for a visual masterpiece (I feel comfortable using that word) that is loaded with slightly horrifying visuals, bloody entrails, monster babies, and a bunch of mud people being squished, you will love this film. I have a feeling that there are several visuals (a tiny santa claus being squashed under a boot) that will live long in my memory.
Mad God revolves around a steampunk-esque character named The Assassin being dropped into a hellscape where nobody is safe, and there is always a monster around the corner who will drag you to a place where you are dissected alive. The narrative is extremely loose, but the main goal of The Assassin is to deliver an explosive world-destroying suitcase deep into the bowels of the dangerous wasteland that is filled with deadly battlefields, dangerous alleys, and dungeons filled with pain and terror. While on the mission, the Assassin comes across minotaurs, witches, alchemists, floating creatures, torture victims, and a hospital where cruel tortuers dissect their victims in front of large crowds. It’s an absolutely insane world, and of all the horrible cinematic creations ever created, it’s the place where I would never want to find myself exploring (Freddy’s Kreuger’s boiler room seems chill in comparison).
What’s great about Mad God is that it feels handmade, and that’s because Tippett painstakingly molded it over 30 years. He worked so hard for each frame that toward the end of the project he had a psychotic snap which forced him to stay at a psych ward while he recovered from the stress of the project. In an interview with Inverse, Tippett explained the film by saing “If Mad God is about anything, it’s about scale and process. That’s the backbone. It’s much more pictorially and sound-art-oriented than a typical Hollywood theatrical feature.” This quote is spot-on as Mad God is a sensory blasting experience that relies on sights and sounds to wow the viewer. I hate that Tippett went through some rough times to create his passion project, but I’m glad his obsessive nature allowed to make this unique visual experience.
Final thoughts – If you are into sensory blasting experiences that showcase absolute brutality, you will love this movie.
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Welcome to Con Air – The Podcast! On this show we will fly you through the 1997 prisoners-on-a-plane masterpiece Con Air one scene at a time with some incredible guests along the way. For the first episode, we brought in Nicholas Rehak (@TheRehak on Twitter) to discuss boat trips, LeAnn Rimes, and the excellence of Nicolas Cage. This will be a 40-episode exploration of one of my favorite movies and I hope you enjoy it!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
Movies, Films & Flix 