It Follows

David Robert Mitchell, 2015

3/5

It Follows is one of those films that upon describing it to someone you get a response that sounds something like "that sounds like a stupid idea for a film." "Cant they come up with anything better than that nowadays?". "Sounds like another cheesy horror premise."

In reality, if you were to describe a film that is basically like a ghost STD chasing around the cursed victim, you might spark a lot of interest. Especially with movie snobs. And a film with that premise could easily be a pile of shit in the wrong hands. But fortunately, it's in the right hands here. Mitchell is able to create an interesting film that pays tribute to the genre with a retro late 70's campy feel with fresh touches. High school heartbreak in a crummy horror hipster town. The creepy elements in pursuit of main character Jay Height (Maika Monroe) make an impression. Sort of like in Gregory Hoblit's 1998 film Fallen (that starred Denzel Washington and John Goodman), they can change form. In fact, the film is basically a hybrid creation of Fallen and Romero's Night of the Living Dead. There are a handful of the forms that are bound to be stuck in your brain for a little while. The synthwave score (provided by Disasterpeace) only adds to the tension, and you spend the duration of the film wondering if Jay is going to be able to pass this curse on to another unlucky victim or perish herself.

Mitchell proves that you can still put a creative story on the screen with a limited budget ($2M here) and keep it interesting. The small budget certainly adds to the feel of the movie. A big budget with a ton of CGI would have homogenized the movie to the point it would lose all of it's grittiness. Using the backdrop of the slummy Detroit suburbs only added to the charm of the film. The city itself basically becomes a character here. One of the only complaints is that Mitchell chooses to go in a direction toward the end of the film that seems to pay tribute to Let the Right One In in terms of setting but it doesn't have nearly the same impact. But overall Mitchell manages to make an engaging film with limited resources. Let's just hope the big studios don't get a hold of this and churn out two or three awful sequels.

Ex Machina

Alex Garland, 2015

IMDB

4/5

Anyone familiar with Alex Garland's previous work is aware of the fact that he is a great writer. Responsible for writing the novel The Beach (which eventually would become the not-as-good film adaptation directed by Danny Boyle), the still under-rated 28 Days Later, the almost-amazing space-thriller Sunshine, and the also quite good 2012 stylistic action film Dredd. He's sort of gone all over the place, from one side of the planet to the other and then all way to space.

Ex Machina is a thriller, set mostly inside the elaborate contemporary home of Silicon Valley Elon Musk / Tony Stark / Steve Jobs archetype Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Nathan creates a contest where a random employee of his will get the opportunity to stay with him for a week, basically a mentor retreat type of thing. Coder employee Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins the competition and the film quickly jumps to him arriving at the estate, which is a seemingly endless island that Nathan owns. Picture someone owning the entire Isla Nublar island from Jurassic Park sans dinosaurs. Caleb soon discovers that Nathan is actually working on an A.I. prototype that he wants to show off. Gleeson is really fit for the Caleb role, serving as sort of a quirky nerdy type that contrasts well with Isaac's eccentric billionaire role. Isaac is able to bring a lot more illustration to his character, and is able to pull off a nice progression going from a friendly beer-drinking health fanatic to a deviously manipulative genius.

The film becomes a blend of elements ranging from Spielberg's AI to Spike Jonze's Her to the genre-spawning Terminator films. It becomes a philosophical experiement, examining what makes us human and challenging the idea of conciousness. The well-paced story builds into a extraordinary climax that will have you playing out scenarios in your head for hours after viewing. The story is unpredictable, the characters are engaging, and the film itself is really nice to look at. The effects are subtle, the electronic score (provided by Portishead's Geoff Barrow and composer Ben Salisbury) is very present. Ex Machina marks his directorial debut, and he certainly proves that he's good controlling the camera as well as creating what's in front of it. It will be interesting to now see what happens with Garland's career, seeing as he is a proven one-stop-shop for great film-making.

Preservation

Christopher Denham, 2015

IMDB

3/5

Denham succeeds with this indie horror/thriller by purposefully not trying to reinvent the wheel. He knows what the film is, and doesn't try to break any new ground. He makes his mark through a very John Carpenter-esque score, and through some really artful camera work. The film is more of an homage to the 80's slasher films with the killer in the woods like Friday the 13th and Evil Dead. The film also largely works because of the acting work by Wrenn Schmidt (Our Idiot Brother), Pablo Schreiber (The Wire, Orange is the New Black) and Aaron Staton (Mad Men).

The first half hour or so of the film is dedicated to introducing the three main characters. Brothers Sean (Schreiber) and Mike (Staton) bring along Mike's wife Wit (Schmidt) on a camping trip. The brothers are clearly veteran campers, with an edge going to Sean because he is a an actual military veteran where he was able to perfect a lot of survival skills. Sean also suffers with PTSD sustained during his tours abroad. Because of this there is an obvious divide between the two brothers, with Mike sort of unsure of Sean's unpredictable actions and mood swings. There's also marital trouble between Mike and Wit. They don't have a really intimate relationship, and Mike is mostly conducting business on his cell-phone. So it's not just three innocent happy-go-lucky people venturing into the woods together. There is tension from the start, some ambiguity as to who the people really are and what we will learn about them when things start heading south. Actually the most pure character from the get-go is probably Sean's loyal and intelligent German Shepherd.

When the film makes it's inevitable shift, things turn from tense to brutal as the three campers are preyed upon by merciless forces. There's something interesting about the true display of who you are as a person when you are put in a situation like this, where you are thrown into the wilderness with nothing but your wits. It's been done before in The Blair Witch Project, where you see humans stripped down to nothing but weepy, desperate shells. Preservation manages to take a stale premise and repackages it with fresh visual elements. That might not be enough to please everyone but it was enough to satisfy me.

Danny Collins

Dan Fogelman, 2015

IMDB

4/5

Danny Collins is a fictional story based one really interesting real life story. In real life a folk singer named Steve Tilston gave an interview to ZigZag magazine where he described his fear of wealth and the effect it can have on your artistry. John Lennon and Yoko Ono responded to the interview with a handwritten letter where they said "Being rich doesn't change your experience in the way you think”. Tilston was never aware of the letter until a collector approached him with it in 2005. Instead of Fogelman basing the entire movie off of this letter, which some filmmakers would certainly attempt to do, he uses it as a platform for the whole Danny Collins story. It's interesting to think of how influential receiving that letter would have been to Steve Tilston. The letter was written in 1971, during the peak time of Lennon's influence. A musician receiving a letter from him back then would have probably been as inspring as being handed a letter from the President. Maybe more inspiring, seeing as there is an actual connection. Lennon read the interview and felt motivated, obligated to provide a response. The culprit guilty of hoarding the letter is fittingly played by comedian Nick Offerman, who comes off as a snarky beat writer with an annoying chuckle.

Al Pacino has unarguably and notoriously reached a point in his career where he is often a working caricature of himself. The whole "hoo hah" Pacino, the guy with the raspy screaming, the unpredictable octave and decibel changes. It's all kind of excusable, being one of the few actors who get a pass because they have long ago cemented their legacy. But Danny Collins is kind of perfect for the modern day Pacino. He is able to channel that caricature Pacino into his Danny character. Danny is a tired man, past his prime, at a reflective point in his career. He realizes that he himself has become a caricature of his former self, almost like Elvis in the latter years. The Danny Collins character is clearly a nod to Neil Diamond with more anguish. Pacino probably won't get much attention Oscar-time, but he is the perfect guy for the Collins role. Slightly overweight, ridiculous attire. It's actually kind of hard to picture anyone else playing him. The Danny Collins character is not necessarily a "good guy". He's a complicated character. He's selfish but self-conscious. Charming but lonely. Prosperous but generous. Inebriated but trying to kick the habits.

There are moments in the film that clutch your heart. The family conflict feels authentic. Bobby Cannavale is really responsible for the weight of all of the family moments, and continues to prove he's one of the more talented working actors out there. Even though he appears to let Danny off the hook a bit easily, his character keeps the story moving forward and continues to be conflicted with his father up until the final moments of the film. Cannavale and Jennifer Garner have chemistry, and the whole dynamic with their hyperactive daughter works really well. The film could definitely be considered a character study but it's also a breakdown story. Danny has been ignoring real life problems for a very long time. He realizes that no matter how much he insulates himself with wealth and material objects, at some point he's going to have to pay the piper.  He is able to gain a moment of clarity and realize how alone he actually is at his age, even with all of the hanger-onners and leaches that surround him. Nothing is more scary than growing elderly and dying alone. And it doesn't matter how much money you have.