Gary Larson’s Tales From The Far Side

Title: Gary Larson’s Tales From The Far Side 
Director: Marv Newland
Released: 1994 / 1997
Starring: Kathleen Barr, Doug Parker, Lee Tockar, Dale Wilson

Plot: Animated adaptation of Gary Larson’s “The Far Side Gallery” comic strips presented as an animated collection of intertwining tales.  

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Review: Gary Larson’s The Far Side has been a newspaper staple since its creation in 1979 and despite the series officially coming to an end in 1995 when Larson retired as a cartoonist it has continued to be rerun while also being spun off into calendars, greeting cards and 23 compilation books. However before he revived the series on his website in 2020 we got these two animated offerings the first appearing as a Halloween special in 1994 with the second coming in 1997 were it was much like the first randomly dropped into the BBC2 Christmas schedule with no warning and little promotion and which is how I first discovered Larson’s chaotic and surreal world.

Directed by Marv Newland who made his debut with the legendary short Bambi Meets Godzila before going on to direct, design and animate TV commercials for Sesame Street before returning to directing animated shorts including Black Hula which would appear as part of Liquid Television which also provided an introduction to both Aeon Flux and Beavis and Butthead. Here though he keeps the familiar designs of Larson’s work while more impressivly finding a voice for creations which appeared as one panel comics. 

Volume one being originally produced as a Halloween special leans into a horror slant as it opens with a barnyard take on Frankenstein complete with an angry mob of torch welding sheep before it settles into a series of loosely connected shorts and throwaway shorts and its surprising just how well the material lends itself to the animated form much like the overlooked Dilbert cartoon series. Larson’s creations though rarely talk if at all and seeing how they work past the lack of language doesn’t surprisingly pose too many issues especially when Larson’s humour is so based on the visual joke rather than a snappy one liner. 

The other advantage here is the range of jokes being explored as one moment we get the simple observational of the kid bouncing on a trampoline next to an alligator pit to cutting to a plane of bug passengers which might be my favourite segment from the bees in business class to the bugs watching and applauding an inflight showing of The Fly. Throw in surreal moments like monsters pranking their friends with an exploding kid or anamorphic eggs being attacked by a hand mixer welding serial killer and it makes for a fun time which is only helped further by how quick fire the jokes are as there is always something new to enjoy coming up with the air of the unexpected only adding to the fun. Then there is the segment of a wolf watching home movies and drinking which might just rival the opening Up for its emotional impact.

Volume two not only adds a whole fifteen minutes to boost the runtime up to 45 mins but also dabbles in a semi live action segment featuring a cow playing a stampede video game what had the film been released now you could guarantee someone would have made an actual game. Still if someone made The Simpsons Waterworld game a reality why not stampede

Sadly this second crack at the material while highly anticipated when I saw they were finally making a sequel did fade however when I finally got to see it find the humour lacking the polish of the first film with many of the segments feeling overworked such as the scientist attempting time travel which despite having a couple of fun moments just felt it went on way too long. Equally there a feeling of unease that the film has many of the characters felt weirdly creepy at times despite the style not changing which was only added to by the fact that the characters speak even less this time

There are still a few standout sections such as the fantastic “Death Takes A Holiday” which sees the Grim Reaper taking a hotel only for everyone he encounters to die in ever more creative ways and this really could have stood on its own as a short film much like the history of the war between cats and dogs and the finale “Hooves of Fury” which sees a Deer taking his revenge on a hunting lodge complete with Bruce Lee gesturing. 

Ultimately the longer runtime doesn’t add anything to the film largely thanks to this not being the A-Material and you’d be forgiven for thinking this was outtakes from the first film were it not for the time between volumes. Sure it has its moments still but hardly anything that deserves giving it a rewatch compared to the first volume which could have been a pilot for a series which never happened as certainly laid out the blueprint for a show format that really could have worked especially with the wealth of material in the Far Side archive and something I still would love to see happen one day even though these films have largely slipped into obscurity outside of the memories of those of us who stumbled across them back in the day or Larson’s devoted fanbase. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Title: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Director: Gil Kenan
Released: 2024
Starring: Mckenna Grace, Emily Alyn Lind, Finn Wolfhard, Bill Murray, Carrie Coon, Gil Kenan, Paul Rudd, Ernie Hudson, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Acaster, Annie Potts, Kumail Nanjiani, William Atherton, Patton Oswalt,  

Plot: Three years after the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife the new Ghostbusters team have relocated to New York only to soon face Garraka, a demon set on bringing about a new Ice Age.

Review: With the franchise revived and the winey fanboys appeased by the previous film rehashing the first film but hey if it worked for Star Wars with The Force Awakens why not Ghostbusters. Still while Afterlife brought a fresh rural setting to the film Frozen Empire decides to move the team back to New York for no real explainable reason other than being a convenient way to work the original crew into the mix. 

Hitting the ground running we find the Spenglers and Paul Rudd’s former teacher long term Ghosterbuster groupie Gary still holding up grandpa Egon’s legacy as they continue to bust ghosts much to the ire of Mayor Walter Peck (a returning William Atherton) which soon sees Phoebe being benched. Elsewhere both Podcast and Lucky are also in the city thanks to convenient plotting with Podcast now hosting a youtube show about cursed objects with Ray while Lucky is now working at a Ghostbusting lab set up by Winston who provides the real backbone to the film by being able to link the various plots together and being the much needed voice of reason when everyone is so busy giddily running around the city having their own paranormal encounters. 

The film certainly starts off on a promising note in 1904 with the Manhattan Adventurers society unwittingly releasing the ice demon Garraka and while this is followed up by the current team chasing down a sewer dragon through Hell’s Kitchen showcasing some fun new pieces of kit like a drone trap the film soon begins to stumble as it tries to find something for this greatly expanded crew of Ghostbusters to do. If the film wasn’t already creaking under the weight of its cast it further adds to this mix with Comedian James Acaster’s paranormal researcher Dr. Pinfield who is a fun addition to the team while Patton Oswalt while enjoyable as always, is really only there to provide an infodump on the background of the film big bad who themselves only shows up at finale.

Frustratingly with every character having to have their moment we do get a lack of paranormal thrills even though Slimer is brought out once more to maximise the nostalgia dollar while the Mini Stay Puffs also make a return though the reasons why are as unexplained as the reason for many characters being worked into the plot. Sure there are some fun new ghosts showcased such as slime spewing spud on legs but in a film crying out for setpieces the film instead chooses to invest its energy into establishing Kumail Nanjiani’s Nadeem’s legacy as a “Fire Master” which only serves to provide a bail out for the team rather than getting to see that Ghostbusters creative problem solving

While it’s still a fun time I couldn’t help the whole time that the film was a mini series that had been edited down into a film version. Sure there are some fun ideas introduced like the Ghost lab that I’d love to see developed further in the next film. Hopefully this film was just the transition to the city and now the foundations have been laid the future instalments can focus more on the Busting and less on the group turmoil. 

Perhaps now the nostalgia has hopefully been tapped out of the franchise we can get back to having new adventures than rehashing the past for if the cartoon series can come up with seven seasons and a spin off worth of material surely the same inspiration can be found for the films aswell.

Baby Assassins

Title: Baby Assassins 
Director: Yugo Sakamoto
Released: 2021
Starring:  Akari Takaishi, Saori Izawa, Yasukaze Motomiya, Satoshi Uekiya, Mone Akitani , Tsubasa Tobinaga, Takashi Nishina, Yousuke Oomizu 

Plot: Chisato (Akari Takaishi) and Mahiro (Saori Izawa) are high school students and highly trained assassins. Now facing graduation they are tasked by their agency to get part time jobs to help them blend in further which might be their toughest assignment yet. 

Review: A unique film to say the least as while the film is bookended with a pair of blistering action sequences the film itself is much more of a mumblecore comedy following schoolgirl assassins Chisato and Mahiro who facing their impending graduation from High School find themselves thrust into adult life by their agency as the pair are forced to move into together as well as finding part time jobs to further their cover. 

It’s certainly a unique clash of styles that Sakamoto has chosen for the film and considering that Saori Izawa has a background in stunt work worked on both John Wick 4 were she doubled for Rina Sawayama and GI Joe prequel Snake Eyes it’s understandable why he would want to make full use of her skills. The fact that she’s an equally capable actress is only an added bonus as while the two big action sequences which open and close the film might be the draw its the relationship between Chisato and Mahiro that really keeps the film together. 

Chisato and Mahiro are in many ways the odd couple pairing as while Chisato is outgoing and confident, Mahiro is socially awkward and shy which certainly only further hampers her attempts to find a part time job even when she manages to follow Chisato into working in a maid cafe were she mumbles her way through the hyperactive greetings that Chisato attacks with gusto. But watching the pair playing house or more precisely spending more time lazing on the couch than finding jobs you really get a sense of the connection they share which goes deeper than just being paired together. Comedy wise though it’s an acquired taste and might come off more dry than laugh out loud with humour finding the situation rather than a series of intentionally humorous setups outside of Mahiro killing the washing machine when she washes her pistol with her clothes. 

To add some tension to the film we also have the sadistic and genuinely scary Yakuza boss Ippei (Motomiya) whose son and daughter prove that the crazy apple doesn’t fall far from the psychotic tree and who are soon trying to track down when they unwittingly kill his head drug dealer. This subplot really doesn’t add much to the film other than some moments of uncomfortable tension and the action packed finale. But till then it’s mainly just them going around the city and intimidating the locals rather than adding anything too substantial to the plot.

Thankfully the payoff is worth the wait especially when Izawa breaks out of her sloth mode and switches to fighting mode which really makes me hope that she gets a project to show off her incredible skills that we get a taste of here and while Takaishi might not have the same background she still shows off some impressive gun handling skills which add to the fun which only made me wish this there was more action in the film for them to shine and less weird yakuza family antics. Certainly it’s what raised my rating it half a star in much the same way as the finale of A Better Tommorow 2 
It’s not a film which is going to appeal to everyone especially with the dry humour and sedimentary plotting but there’s certainly something about the film whether it was the kick ass action set piece (all two of them) or just the Two Broke Girls esq relationship of Chisato and Mahiro that has me at least curious about the sequel.

8 1/2

Title: 8 1/2
Director: Federico Fellini
Released: 1963
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Anouk Aimee, Sandra Milo, Rossella Falk, Barbara Steele, Madeleine Lebeau, Eddra Gale, Guido Alberti, Mario Conocchia

Plot: Guido (Mastroianni) a director suffering from “directors block” while attempting to direct a science fiction film he battles studio pressure to finish the film while adding additional pressure by importing both his wife and his mistress while frequently being distracted by memories from his past. 

Review: Widely considered one of the greatest Italian films of all time and the winner of the academy award for best foreign film, Martin Scorcese also named it along with “Peeping Tom” as a film which showed everything you needed to know about film making. 

Taking its name from director Fellini’s count that at this point in his career he had directed 8 ½ movies though its working title was The Beautiful Confusion which feels like a more fitting title for the movie especially when the film so often feels like your watching the free flowing conscious of Guido (who himself is thinly veiled representation of Fellini.) as he struggles to gain control of his latest project which constantly threatens to derail itself under the pressures of the studio meddling, problematic leading ladies aswell as the myriad of issues that Guido creates from himself such importing his mistress who spends more time talking about her husband while he only doubles down by inviting his wife to the city which he’d originally planned to use to help him focus only for the production to follow him. 

Shot with a style which feels largely improvised Fellini constantly switches between the present while also flashing back to key moments from Fellini’s childhood such as his obsession with the prostitute from the small town he grew up in. Added to this are the frequent flights of fantasy which often play into his personal fears from the opening shot of being trapped in traffic to his dead parents disapproval of their son’s chosen career path while the narrative might not always be clear the visuals are certainly memorable while the fact that the film is so free flowing with its ideas is frequently addressed by the critic that Guido hires to review his ideas and frequently serves to provide the much needed anchor to reality especially when one flight of fantasy sees Guido as the head of a house filled with his harem of ideal women. 

While Fellini might have shot the film as a comedy, the humour is left for the audience to find in the chaos and confusion especially the more exasperated that Guido feels about the films production he now finds himself chained to while battling his own creative block.  Marcello Mastroianni though as Guido is an engaging lead effortlessly cool in appearance, never without a cigarette between his fingers or his sunglasses yet beneath this visage a crumbling mess of insecurities and anxiety 

A stunningly shot film filled with inventive imagery as Fellini blends reality and fantasy to memorable effect. Yes it can at times be confusing in places while at the same time proving to be rewarding experience in learning how to read it.

The Kid Detective

Title: The Kid Detective 
Director: Evan Morgan
Released: 2020
Starring: Adam Brody, Sophie Nelisse, Tzi Ma, Peter MacNeill, Maurice Dean Wint, Jonathan Whittaker, Wendy Crewson, Sarah Sutherland

Plot: Abe (Brody) was once a celebrated kid detective until he was unable to solve the disappearance of his assistant. Now 31 and racked with bouts of self loathing when not hungover he finds a chance for redemption when he gets his first adult case. 

Review: Adam Brody has constantly been the victim of his own success starting with his breakout role as the geeky Seth on The O.C. were he was set to be the sidekick till the showrunners pushed him to be the lead and inturn ran those once run quirks into the ground. Since then he might have continued to find roles but something always felt off about his performances that something wasn’t quite right but here playing a faded Kid Detective he really seems to have finally found his groove. 

Embracing the same small town noir as Brick  we are introduced to Abe’s legacy as from an early age he shows keen detective skills which he is soon putting into practice for 50 cents a case while operating out of his tree house office (till it’s cut down) and proving himself so capable that he soon become a local celebrity to the residents of Willowbrook even getting his own office from the Mayor. But when his friend and receptionist Gracie disappeared it took his confidence with her too as he’s never been able to solve the mystery of her disappearance. Now living life one hangover to the next he hopes that his first adult case to solve the murder of high school student Patrick Chang will provide him and his failing business the boost it needs. 

Tapping into the small town darkness director Evan Morgan manages to bring together a cast of colourful characters to inhabit the world hidden below the faded visage of the once idyllic small town which like Abe is also a shell of its former self. It also provides a great backdrop for Abe’s case as he mixes with bikers, high school drug dealers, jealous nerds and grudge holding former classmates all while being assisted by Patrick’s girlfriend Caroline whose keen to know who murdered her boyfriend. 

Brody unquestionably embodies the character of Abe, perfectly selling this fallen small town hero while thankfully avoiding the cliché quirks of the genre to create something as refreshing as Brick which always felt like it deserved a follow up only to never get one with Rian Johnson choosing to craft other stories till recently with his Benoit Blanc mysteries. Abe though is a much less polished detective as he constantly bumbles elements of the case while thinking nothing of beating up kid drug dealers while at the same time carrying with him the air of a faded child star or a one hit wonder still hanging onto their past glories while the town has moved on even if he clearly can’t give up on his PI dream and working the same tricks as he hides in cupboards and tries to work his ability to spot the crook and both often ending badly with the results being as cringy as they are funny. 

The real strength of the film though can be found in the relationship between Abe and Caroline who might be one of the few people in the town who believes in Abe she’s equally his cheerleader as she is the sidekick for this misadventure as she buys into every theory with wide eyed astonishment which only pays off more when she is faced with the harsh reality of the world she’s clearly been sheltered from. 

Director Evan Morgan here constructs a mystery that is frequently surprising as Abe and Caroline uncover each new twist and clue in the case which continues to take them deeper into the underbelly before finally uncovering the dark truth. It just makes it a shame that the concept is so one and done especially when it feels like Brody has finally found a character to truly make his own.

Save Yourselves!

Title: Save Yourselves! 
Director: Elenor Wilson, Alex Huston Fischer
Released: 2020
Starring: Sunita Mani, John Reynolds, Ben Sinclair, John Early, Jo Firestone, Gary Richardson, Johanna Day, Stephen Koepfer, Zenobia Shroff, Amy Sedaris

Plot: When hipster couple Jack and Su head to the country to unplug and reconnect with each other only to not realise that the film is under attack from alien invasion. 

Review: As someone who constantly finds myself wondering how some people survive day to day life with their shopping list of requirements for every aspect of their lives Save Yourselves! Seemingly also shares this curiosity and then raises it one more level by throwing them into the midst of an alien invasion by small fuzzy aliens which are essentially Tribbles from Star Trek.

Jack (Reynolds) and Su (Mani) are the hipster couple at the centre of this story who spend their lives living on their phones and laptops were the biggest issue in their lives seems to be that Jack closed Su’s tabs with Jack’s sole focus being to amass skills that are of no actual use let alone in an alien invasion by arguably the least threatening alien invasion ever with thier situation being perfectly layed out in the opening which itself would have made a great little short film on its own and really proved to be the high point for the film which at this point is only about 15 mins into its runtime and a bar the film struggles to really recapture.

Depending on your personal feelings towards hipster culture will play into your enjoyment of the film as this bumbling duo are pretty much the only people we get to see with the isolation of their cabin meaning that interactions with their fellow survivors are rare and when they do stumble into their vicinity they are usually too caught up in their own things to even notice them. Still while John Reynold’s Jack is easily the most hopeless of the two even at one point lamenting the lack of actual skills he has compared to his father and brother, its Su who really stops the irritation from overwhelming the film especially when it becomes clear that it’s more than being disconnected from technology that’s hindering the survival chances of this duo as Jack is more concerned over the gun safety statistics when they find a rifle than celebrating the fact they’ve improved their survival chances…..against small fluffy aliens. 

The likeability of our leads really does mean that the film faces an uphill struggle as certainly it has its humorous moments throughout, the film is also having to battle the personality of these characters as how are we supposed to concern ourselves over their chances of survival when we can’t care about them as characters? The film does take an adventurous turn into survival territory as the duo hit the road and thrown unwillingingly into adopted parenthood when they they find themselves lumbered with a baby to take care of. Perhaps this would be thing that give them the kick they need to refocus themselves but instead the film kind of just ends with the hipsters being returned to the comfort of a bubble. 

Whether the ending was a result of budget or just not knowing how to end the film is unclear much like how you will take it as will its an ending it just kind of left me asking but what of it. Still for those of you who’ve been waiting for an alien invasion episode of Portlandia might find much to enjoy here especially as it works in jokes about mason jars and making sourdough but then it never feels like the sort of film which is trying to carve out new ground but instead pose a what if.

Polite Society

Title: Polite Society 
Director: Nida Manzoor
Released: 2023
Starring: Rita Arya, Priya Kansara, Nimra Bucha, Eunice Huthart, Ella Buccoleri, Akshay Khanna, Shobu Kapoor, Seraphina Beh

Plot: Teenager Ria (Kansara) has aspirations of becoming a stuntwoman but when her sister an art school drop out, decides to get married she sets out to save her sister from her potential future husband. 

Review: Having broke out with the series We Are Lady Parts following an all Muslim female punk band which memorably featured songs like Nobody’s Gonna Honour Kill My Sister But Me director Nida Manzoor set out to prove that Muslim women should be restricted to the traditional stereotypes which inturn saw her receiving both critical acclaim and backlash in equal doses leading her to cancelling her social media accounts. Thankfully this did not lead to her giving up on her storytelling vision as making her feature debut here with a tale of two British Pakistani sisters living in London with the feisty driven Ria wanting to be a stuntwoman like her hero Eunice Huthart (a fun throwback for us Brits who remember watching Gladiators in the 90’s) who she continually emails over the course of the film hoping for career guidance while making martial arts demos. Meanwhile her older sister the art school dropout and pot smoking Lena (Arya) helps reinforce her belief in this dream especially when her family and teachers feel she should just become a doctor.

Priya Kansara certainly marks herself out here as a name to watch in the role of Ria who while her skills might frequently match up to her ambition as seen with the repeatedly fails attempts to pull off a backwards spin kick and generally losing every fight she gets into each of them opening with a fun Street Fighter esq Vs. card. She is joined in her quest to find out the truth about her sister’s fiancé the handsome geneticist Salim (Khanna) by her best friends Clara (Beh) and Alba (Bruccoleri) who make for an amusing double act often providing commentary on whatever the latest situation Ria has gotten herself into. 

Shot with high energy and rapid fire quips it comes as little surprise to learn that Manzoor cites Edgar Wright as one of her inspirations as the film certainly feels like it exists in the same surreal world as Hot Fuzz especially once it enters into it’s second half and the plot starts feeling more like an Alex Ryder plot than what it initially appeared to be setting up with cloning plots and kung fu beauticians all being thrown into the mix which builds to a deliriously silly wedding showdown. It is however this second half were the film really feels like it looses the momentum of the first half as the cultural commentary of Bend It Like Beckham starts turning into a kung fu James Bond Jr. with a similar style to how Hot Fuzz blended village life with an action movie here Manzoor attempts to blend the colour and fashion of a Muslim wedding with the wire work and fight choreography inspired by Yeun Woo Ping though ultimately lacking the finesse of the choreography master and instead providing some entertaining fights shot largely in slow motion and often verging into slack fu territory than perhaps was initially envisioned though in the second half this also seems to be a world where anyone can suddenly be a kung fu master on a whim. 

Which the second half might lack the polish and flow of the first half of the film, this is still an enjoyable experience from start to finish and one which thankfully manages to avoid the kitchen sink drama which plagues so many British comedies (See the wife beating scene of East is East) and certainly I’m interested to see were Manzoor chooses to focus next especially having already toyed with both punk rock and kung fu to great effect what other genres can she make us rethink the limitations of?

Daria: Is It College Yet?

Title: Daria: Is It College Yet?
Director: Karen Disher
Released: 2002
Starring: Tracy Grandstaff, Wendy Hoopes, Russell Hankin, Alvaro J. Gonzalez, Nora Laudani, Marc Thompson, Sarah Drew, Janie Mertz, Jessica Cydnee Jackson, Julian Rebolledo, Amir Williams, Geoffrey Arend, Jessica Hardin

Plot: With graduation fast approaching Daria and her fellow Lawndale classmates are faced with figuring out what life after high school holds for them. 

Review: With Daria having come to a close with Season 5’s “Boxing Daria” possibly one of the most devastating TV episodes ever and which showed a suprisingly more vulnerable side to the character of Daria who had herself gone from a supporting character on Beavis and Butthead to an era defining character in her own right with her own show which embraced like the show she debuted on the 90’s MTV era. Still believing there was another season to be wrought out of the show which creator Glenn Eichler felt had run its course he pushed for a second feature film to bring the story to close.

Set in the lead up to graduation which for many of the cast creates a sense of uncertainty as they attempt to figure out which college they will be applying to with Daria aiming for the prestigious Bromwell along with boyfriend Tom (yes he’s still there) who has the advantage of his family’s legacy status. Jane meanwhile is also in an uncharacteristically state of disarray as they stresses over submitting her portfolio to Boston Fine Arts College. 

Much like the previous feature Is It Fall Yet Daria and Jane are on separate plot paths though thankfully brought back together frequently to trade quips and deadpan observations which made their friendship the heartbeat of the show and certainly helps provide a break from the universally despised Tom who continues to be his middle of the road self. 

Younger sister Quinn also finds herself on her own journey of self discovery as she is forced to get a job and soon begins hanging out with college student Lindy whose drinking soon begins to provide a dilemma for Quinn. Certainly it’s a unique choice to make her the voice of reason rather than shallow popularity but thankfully works well here and provides her with some growth and direction as the show heads into the sunset which in turn filters into her beloved Fashion Club who have the more minor issue of Stacey believing that she’s cursed Sandi.

Going out strong it captures everything which was great about the show even if its a plotline we have seen so many times before in other shows it equally proves to be the right way to bring the journey to close with all of the extended cast getting their moments to shine especially with the plotline and uncertainty of what the future holds for them which are balanced out by the hijinks of the adults with Jake on spectacularly neurotic form and Mr. O’Neil tries to get out of an unplanned proposal to Ms. Barch. Elsewhere the stabs at social class certain add an unexpected twist to things and provide the film with an depth that might have left aside in favour of a nostalgic race to the finish. 

In many ways this was the perfect ending for the show with the closing credits montage revealing what happened next to the cast giving it really a sense of finality even though I would have liked to have seen how the next chapter unfolded for Daria and Jane even though this sort of wish fulfilment usually leading to diminishing returns for once beloved characters.

Bottoms

Title: Bottoms
Director: Emma Seligman
Released: 2023
Starring: Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Nicolas Galitzine, Dagmara Dominczyk, Marshawn Lynch, Ruby Cruz, Miles Fowler, Punkie Johnson, Lacey Dover, Zamani Wilder

Plot: PJ (Sennot) and Josie (Edebiri), lesbians and best friends since childhood while currently struggling to survive High School and secretly pineing after the popular cheerleaders Isabel and Britney. Between them they construct a plan to set up a Feminist Self Defence Club hoping that it will help further their goal of hooking up with the school’s attractive girls.

Review: Following on from the dry humour of her debut Shiva Baby director Emma Seligman goes almost in the opposite direction for her follow up as she leans into the absurd with this tale of two high school lesbians and best friends PJ and Josie as they try and fail to find hook up with the girls they lust after and with fears of heading to college as virgins they concoct a scheme to create situations to improve their chances via a female Fight Club.

Reteaming with Rachel Sennott who previously had headed up Shiva Baby and here much like her director proves that she is far from a one trick pony while sharing fantastic chemistry with Ayo Edebiri who brings her anxious yet fiery energy from The Bear into her role as best friend / partner in crime Josie. It’s also the kind of female double act that certainly feels is lacking in its representation as other than Ghost World’s Enid and Rebecca or Booksmart’s Amy and Molly I struggled to find another pair who shared the chemistry and Sennott and Edebiri bring to this film and which also makes the first 30 minutes a succession of quick fire quips and memorable lines as the jokes come quick and fast. It does however mean that when Seligman decides to slow things down around this midway point it does feel alittle jarring to have characters dealing with setbacks and fallouts when it should be falling in the third act before the triumphant comeback. 

While a female fight club might not seem like the most obvious way to pick up girls here it does help provide plenty of bloody and funny moments as PJ and Josie’s dedicated small group of brawlers set about beating the tar out of each other while at the same time learning about each others insecurities which soon like Fincher’s Fight Club soon has them embarking on their own version of Project Mayhem when they launch a prank raid on the house of school’s star football player with spectacularly chaotic results like seemingly anything these two do. Backed up by a colourful group of followers which include a paint huffer, a bomb maker and a girl who wants to reverse stalk her stalker they only add to the fun here especially as they slowly become a tighter knit group only making the finale all the more of a thrill to watch even if it ultimately makes zero sense. 

It does however feel kind of strange to have the school football team being the antagonists of the film who here are viewed as the untouchable heroes of the school while at one point even showing as having their own last supper style set up in the school cafeteria. Their dedication to exposing PJ and Josie’s plan coming from a place of just because they are the token bad guys than any real motivation to their plotting which comes to a head when they bring in the schools boxer to fight one of their members in a fight which highly uncomfortable to watch (because male beating the crap out of women is so funny right) does also provide a brief glimmer of hope that the group might best these dumb jocks only for it to ultimately end in crushing defeat. 

While the film does have a couple of lulls its still one of the better films of the year while the pitiful distribution really means that this has all the makings of being a cult favourite once it reaches streaming and a larger audience can finally discover this comedy which like its central group doesn’t hold its punches and makes for a bloody fun time.

Spontaneous

Title: Spontaneous
Director: Brian Duffield
Released: 2020
Starring: Katherine Langford, Charlie Plummer, Hayley Law, Piper Perabo, Rob Huebel and Yvonne Orji

Plot: High school senior Mara (Langford), just wants to make it through her last year at school with best friend Tess (Law) only for her fellow students to start inexplicably exploding. 

Review: While they say never to judge a book by its cover the same could certainly be said about a film and its poster especially as the poster for this film hardly gave me much hope for this film which you’d be forgiven for mistaking as another twee teen romance rather than a sharp black comedy.

The directorial debut of Brian Duffield who despite getting his break with Divergent: Insurgent has since gone on to craft some great original scripts including The Babysitter and Love and Monsters for Netflix as well as the much overlooked aquatic horror Underwater and here brings a fun twist to the teen romance genre with the addition of randomly exploding high school seniors. 

Mara is a great character reminiscent of Ghost World’s Enid as while her fellow students are making plans for life outside of high school the only dream she seems to have is to become a pot smoking granny with childhood best friend Tess. However when one of her fellow students randomly explodes in class one day it soon makes her and her fellow students start reassessing what’s important to them and leading fellow classmate Dylan (Plummer) to reveal he has a crush on her leading the pair on a less than conventional path of growing feelings much like the paranoia about what is causing their fellow students to keep exploding at any given moment. 

Duffield here delivers a fresh script which is full of whitty banter between the leads while straying away from the traditional high school romcom tropes as Mara and Dylan are a charming couple whose relationship is more about having fun even when their class is put into quarantine by the government baffled by the situation soon referred to as the Covington Curse. Because the film isn’t just fixated with creating cute postcard moments for the couple especially with the unique backdrop to their relationship it never really loses focus on the fact that students are randomly exploding much like their shared quirky sense of humour which keeps things light and breezy. Add into the mix a great selection of supporting characters like best friend Tess and the brother sister twin drug dealers.

The fact that in the third quarter the film throws in a surprising twist which could threaten to derail the film with it’s shift in town and somehow doesn’t really is more of a credit to Duffield and in fact only strengthens the film as Mara is forced to face up to the situation rather than escape into the comfort blanket of her friends and Dylan as the situation builds to its reflective monologue which forms its finale which almost feels cathartic in a sequence which sees her having fantasy visions of becoming president while also finding a way to work in a tirade against Trump.

Carefully blending the splatter with the laughs, while managing to still engross us as much in a geeky pop culture infused romance as in the hunt for the cure while only further added to by strong performances throughout from the cast in particular Katherine Langford who only continues to add interesting roles to her resume after her breakout in the first two seasons of 13 Reasons Why while Hayley Law as the hip best friend Tess equally marks herself out much like her director as a talent to watch.