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Reviews
Mandy (2018)
I should have loved this movie!
I approached "Mandy" with an expectation that did not live up to the final movie. This usually does not matter to me, because I like weird sh*t and I am adaptable, if it is a different kind of weird sh*t as expected.
"Nicolas Cage butchering demons with chainsaw and self-forged axe in a visually fascinating flood of images." That was burned into my brain after the trailer and so I prepared myself to exactly that, as I put "Mandy" into the Blu-ray player.
Now everyone who has seen the movie thinks I would hate the movie because of its first half. Since this is the opposite of everything from my "expectation phrase". But the first hour of the movie convinced me of a movie that is so different from the trailer and the second half. An interesting art-house movie about Mandy. She has an interest in everything extraterrestrial and lives with her husband, played by Nicolas Cage, in a secluded cabin. Her special aura attracts the attention of an egomaniac and cult leader.
The clashing ideologies are really fascinating. Andrea Riseborough gives Mandy so much fragility, personality and strength. Visually, the film is intoxicating, albeit with some annoying Speckling and lens flares. The story seems innovative.
But then comes the revenge film in between, which one expects from the trailers. Nicolas Cage, who did not experience any characterization in the first hour, goes for a bloody streak of revenge, which instead of interesting continuation of the thoughts on religion, determination, love and egoism offers blood and brutality.
Do not get me wrong, when Nic Cage lights his cigarette on a burning severed head, I'm the first one in line in front of the cinema. But here, after a long and slow hour of arthouse mania, I could not get involved in the blood-soaked revenge movie that was actually expected. At a certain point, all I wanted was for it to be over. After all, the principle of vendetta is always the same and thus predictable and not very exciting. The viewer has no relation to the Nic Cage's character, since the first half was focused only on Mandy. Thus, it is a visually stunning string of brutal fights and kills that should give me cinematic goose bumps in theory, but left me cold in practice. The animated acid-trips were a standout of course, but all good ideas were ultimately trapped in an unfocused Revengemovie.
Maybe I need a few more sessions, until I understand the deeper meaning of "Mandy", if it exists at all. After my first round, but I have to say that it couldn't really convince me and in the end even annoyed me. And that should not really happen with a weird revenge movie with Nic Cage equipped with a self-forged axe.
Mowgli (2018)
When "Darker Spin" means "Make Baloo the most terrifying thing you've seen 2018. The year where Hereditary was released."
I don't know what it is these days, but to think gritty equals better, certainly doesn't take the right lesson away from "The Dark Knight".
The whole selling point (before they realized that noone would spent another 15 Dollars on a Jungle Book Adaptation two years after the great Remake from Disney and sold this atrocity to Netflix) was that "Mowgli - Legend Of Tue Jungle" would be darker than all the other Jungle Book Movies. Despite that nobody asked for that, "darker" doesn't mean that everybody is a mean a-hole and every character is f@#$ing terrifying to look at.
I don't know the book, as most People don't, so the common perception of Baloo is that of a laidback, chill and very empathetic bear. Here Baloo is "gritty"/"edgy" as hell. He looks creepy like no other character in the whole movie. Is mean, loud, british, has scars and blood on his face. The realtionship between him and Mowgli seems to be motivated by fear instead of empathy. That's what I was missing in the other adaptations.
Almost every animals looks unrealistic. Not that the animation is bad, but it just isn't good enough. Its terrifying to look at. Bagheera is the only one that made me go "that looks pretty good".
Shere-Khan looks ridiculous. His eyes are too far on the outside of his small head, but he is the only character besides Bagheera who isn't full-on Nightmare-Fuel.
Mowgli... what a f-ing a-hole. He is mean-spirited. Thinks he's better than everyone else and is a brutal Killer himself. He doesn't really learn to be a better self. He kills the one with very valid points why Mowgli shouldn't be in the Jungle, Shere-Khan. And lets the man who hunts the same Tiger be killed for being a killer. Well, I guess he was mad at the hunter for killing his albino-friend which Mowgli pushed away in a moment of self-loathing. What a prick.
I like Andy Serkis and most of The Stuff he makes, but "Mowgli" made me angry. Not because it destroyed and betrayed characters that are loveable and iconic, but because it is such a wrong way to think about stories. "Make everything darker than it will be better." In a time where pessimism lurks behind every corner, this movie sends the wrong messages. It is a negative downer-experience with unlikeable characters and terrifying animation. Unlike the inspiring animated classic, nobody will have a good time and it will do no good for anyone. Dark in all the wrong places!
Bright (2017)
Interesting ideas wasted in an uninteresting movie
I have strong feelings when it comes to 'Suicide Squad', which I absolutely hate, due to its embarassing tone changes between the first twenty minutes and the rest of the flick. I would have liked to see David Ayer's original cut. But after 'Bright' I'm pretty sure, 'Suicide Squad' wouldn't be better in its proper form.
'Bright' is filmed in a grim an dark way, which is cool in the sense, that it's a fantasy world, but with realism. And for David Ayer that means, that Orcs don't represent Orcs, but other real life stereotypes, which is laughable as soon, as you see all these Orcs with hoodies and s*it. But adding to the ghetto-lifestyle, they're still having magical rituals. Do one of both (pls the magic thing) or let it be.
The Elves were pretty f*cking cool. They represented the rich people and elvtown reminded me of the capitol in 'The Hunger Games'-Saga.
The strongest aspects of 'Bright' is the super interesting worldbuilding (at one time you can see a dragon in the background, but it's still the gritty modern city - awesome) and the fantastic costumes and make-up work.
The world building is present in just the perfect portion. Sadly the main pretentious story about racism and police violence (while being the most gun-porn you can be) just falls flat. With another story to introduce the viewer to this wolrd and other characters, it would have worked much better. Will Smith's character is somewhat likeable, but I think just because it's Will Smith looking very Will Smith all the time. Joel Edgerton's orc is pretty awesome, but he also makes dumb decissions. And you are stuck with these two characters, who change their opinion on each other after every scene, but it's a buddy cop movie of some sorts, so they gotta become friends along the way, right?
I think, and that is pure speculation, David Ayer just really loves cops shooting more than necessary and so the interesting story of an orc cop in a modern city with fantastic creatures gets minimized to gun porn with racism and a slight mystical background story.
Joel Edgerton's Orc looks very stunned and not happy about his first murder, but after that he just shoots people left and right, so what is the point of even setting up that 'I don't like to kill'-vibe, when nothing comes with it. At the end there is even an embarassing scene were all the other orcs finally accept him as a cop and it's bad and cringey. So it's supposed "arc" is bulls*it, but we obviously like him, beacause people treat him bad and he's ultimately has a good heart.
For people who think, that an orc-cop movie can only be a comedy: you will be vastly diasappointed and embarassed for the attempts at humour put to screen in 'Bright'. Only after the big end fight there are some good lines and even a little bit of chemistry between the main duo.
So in the end I think the world of 'Bright' has potential, but only if in the hands of another director, who has more heart for the fantasy part of this movie and less for the non-entertaining violence. And maybe with other protagonists, but with the predictable revelation at the end, they will stick with Will Smith an his Orc-friend (?).
Lake Mungo (2008)
Scary Pixels And Annoying Sound ( + some deep themes)
This Australian picture is without a doubt a scary flick. It is a difficult movie to sell, because it doesn't work in conventional horror movie ethics like the popular horror movies nowadays, which make bank in 2017. And also "Paranormal Activity" is an easy comparison, because of its found footage approach, "Lake Mungo" is pretty different in what it's trying to accomplish. "Lake Mungo" depicts grief. Grief of parents, trying to figure out if or why her daughter suddenly died. Grief of the older brother, who's stuck with his mourning mom and dad. The scariness doesn't (only) lie within the supernatural, but mostly within the effect, such tragedies have on the family members. But the ones who like their ghost stories won't be disappointed, for there is some creepy home-video footage and very unsettling pixelated imagery. The movie doesn't tell you everything, so your mind will have to do the work, what makes the end product a lot more scary than over-explaining the background story or the mythology of something.
I am someone who is easily frightened by a found footage movie. I love "The Blair Witch Project" and some "Paranormal Activity"-movies (especially the first one) and "Unfriended" and "Rec", because you are engaged in those movies in a very different way, than in conventional horror flicks. And "Lake Mungo" is a perfect addition to the found footage movies, who use the technique the right way. It uses all kinds of amateur formats, from camcorder to mobile-phone-camera and perfectly uses the low definition to create some of the most unsettling images you've seen.
Sadly the audio suffers from the absolute dedication to only amateur and documentary filmmaking. The music and the background sound is always louder as the people speaking, which is not very pleasant and pretty disturbing (which should be a good thing in a horror movie).
Also you really have to be in the mood for this movie and ready to let you creep out by low definition photographs and the unsettling meaning behind them, instead of demon faces and loud jump scares. If not, you could be annoyed or bored.
But if you can ignore the very weak audio mixing and you can get into the experience, you're in for a treat. A very slow-burn horror story, with some very terrifying themes and haunting images.