Boy Kills World

Title: Boy Kills World
Director: Moritz Mohr
Released: 2023
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Michelle Dockery, Jessica Rothe, Brett Gelman, Isaiah Mustafa, Yayan Ruhian, Andrew Koji, Sharlto Copley, H. Jon Benjamin, Famke Janssen

Plot: As a child Boy (Skarsgård) saw his mother and sister being murdered by the state as part of thier yearly execution known as the Culling organised by the ruling Van Der Koy family. Now fully grown he returns to the city to seek revenge on on the Van Der Koy’s

Review: Setting out to create a comic book movie without there actually being a comic book writer, director Moritz Mohr brings a hyper kinetic energy to this revenge flick which opens to the young Boy being buried in the woods as the instantly recognisable droll tones of H. Jon Benjamin provides his inner monologue which we are told is not his actual voice but instead taken from the announcer on a video game he remembers playing with his child. It’s a unique choice but just one of many which really makes the film stand out especially when we have already numerous films attempting (and failing) to capture the lightning in a bottle energy which made Deadpool so memorable. 

These unique creative choices though the film manages to deliver in spades as Mohr seems to constantly find a way to surprise the audience be it through a plot device or the engrossing shooting style. Added to that list is certainly his choice in leading man with Skarsgård not bulking up for the role and as such is only the more fascinating to see him playing the action hero especially with his long limbs only adding and arresting element to the fight scenes much like the continuing narration of his inner voice due to being a deaf mute his thoughts are all consuming which isn’t a bad thing when Benjamin’s inner voice is so much fun to hear spike with gusto when Boy is winning or confused panic when faced with public execution by cereal mascots or finding himself constantly outgunned by his often heavily armoured foes. The original cut of the film had Skarsgård providing the inner voice which I doubt would be as fun much like the script version which had him finding his voice from a cigarette commercial and would have sounded more like Sam Elliot which while an interesting choice would have been wrong for the high energy of this character. 

Still this is a world where the ruling family maintains their stranglehold over the city by picking 12 citizens each year for execution, an event known as the Culling and what provides the catalyst for Boy’s journey of revenge when his sister and mother are killed as part of this state approved execution. At the same time Mohr blends a cyberpunk aesthetic to the city while surrounding the city with lust jungle to provide the backdrop for Boy’s training sequences with Yayan Ruhian’s Shaman who continues his run of surprising roles here while also providing another stand out and highly energetic fight sequence for the finale like he did for The Raid. It’s a highly personal creation and as such one where you never know what your going to get next like the dual hatchet wielding enforcer June 27 (Rothe) who communicates through the images projected on her Daft Punk esq mask this is very much a world of Mohr’s creation were characters engage in hyper-kinetic shootout and stylised brawls and were if something can be turned into a weapon you can guarantee it will be. 

As the villains of the Van Der Roy’s are certainly a colourful bunch with Melanie as concerned with the rating for the Culling as she is about herself, while her husband Glen is all about the dramatic flair which makes him a perfect fit for Sharlto Copley. His brother in law Gideon (Gelman) meanwhile sees the Culling as an extension of his love of the theatrical while constantly frustrated by how underappreciated he feels his art is especially in the hands of his family whose scripts he provides. Heading up the motley bunch though is Hilda (Janssen) who Mohr teases as being the both the ruthless leader as much as a clueless face for her family’s scheming only adding to the twists that come quick and fast the closer Boy gets to his goal. 

Blending a sarcastic sense of humour with a satirical edge alongside some memorable and energetic action sequences which show a real confidence and clarity of vision that Mohr has for the film and while its unlikely to make the end of year lists it has all the making of a future cult classic.

MoviePass, MovieCrash

Title: MoviePass, MovieCrash
Director: Muta’Ali Muhammad
Released: 2024
Plot: Documentary charting the rise and the implosion which killed the subscription service when it was taken over by outside investors.

Review: Moviepass never came over to the UK but certainly it made enough of an impact with moviegoers that we certainly heard about it while left to look on with envious eyes as our American counterparts were enjoying unlimited movies. As such the HBO Max documentary helps to capture this moment in time as well as how it went so spectacularly wrong and how the issue went a lot deeper than worrying how a $9.95 subscription model would be maintained.

Following the company from its early beginning as the vision of Stacy Spikes, a former executive at Miramax, founder of the Urbanworld Film Festival and Rush cover band guitarist who along with Hamet Watt established the company only to run foul of AMC who were more interested in creating their own subscription service than a partnership. It’s at this point with the pair losing backers that they bring in CEO Mitch Lowe and later Ted Farnsmouth of the data analytics firm  Helios and Matheson Analytics (HMNY) which is also when things start to go off the rails. 

The introduction of Lowe and Farnsmouth into the company is a big focus for the documentary which runs a second track about the difficulty that minorities have in finding venture capital, something that a pair of middle aged white guys wouldn’t even if the pair were bolstering their own backstories as the documentary reveals with Lowe selling himself as a key founder in Netflix when he was just the one able to obtain thousands of blank DVD’s for the company. Farnsmouth meanwhile is shown to have more interest in the value of the stock than the product as seen when the pair push the founders out of the company and embark on a campaign of burning through money being pumped into the company holding lavish parties and publicity stunts while the company was losing millions of dollars with no clear sign of how they were going to turn a profit.

Both Spikes and Watt come off well in their interview segments especially with Spikes coming off as a down to earth guy who genuinely loved the company and movies. Lowe meanwhile shows no remorse for his actions in the company and continues to believe he’s projecting himself as a titan of industry even though he is still much like the noticeably absent Farnsmouth awaiting trial for how they mislead investors. Rounding things out are of course the interviews with the subscribers who as to be expected are the usual collection of oddballs whose own abuse of the system such as the guy who used his movie pass to watch The Avengers in instalments being almost perfectly represented by the gif of the fat guy shoveling handfuls of popcorn into his face while reminding the viewer as to why we can’t have nice things especially when there a flawed system to abuse. 

The other less obvious issue with the documentary while certainly entertaining is how it never follows the money trail or even answer if it was ultimatly an exercise in pumping the stock than actually providing a sustainable subscription. None more than when it reveals investment by the Hedge Fund Hudson Bay Capital who were funneling money into company with the documentary instead more focused on highlighting Lowe and Farnsmouth as a pair of bad apples as though they want to ensure the viewer the rot has been cut from the company which come the end of the film has been revived by Spikes with a new business model. Equally if your expecting the answer to how Moviepass will bring folks back to the cinema when Netflix and the like have created the culture of home streaming then you will be disappointed only further. 

An entertaining documentary which manages to capture the essence of this moment in time for movie fan culture while avoiding some of the bigger questions be it for time or just not being the concern of their subject who are proudly encouraging their subscribers to watch the documentary it’s unclear much like if the company can ever have the same impact as before but like them it’s fun while it lasts.

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.

Jug Face

Title: Jug Face
Director: Chad Crawford Kinkle
Released: 2013
Starring: Lauren Ashley Carter, Sean Bridgers, Larry Fessenden, Scott Hodges, Sean Young, Katie Groshong

Plot: A backwoods cult worship a pit with healing powers and sacrificing members of their group to the monster which lives in the pit. Ada (Carter) upon finding she has been chosen as the next sacrifice attempts to save herself but what will be the cost when the monster doesn’t receive it’s sacrifice. 

Review: As I’ve previously mentioned there is something about a rural childhood which makes Folk Horror less of a thrilling prospect especially when watching a bunch of villagers freaking out the townies with their backwoods ways is essentially a daily occurrence than having any real mystique. Jug Face however really manages to tap into something by featuring an isolated small community living out in the woods and following their own set of mystical beliefs around a healing mud pit while still maintaining a connection to the modern world.

With the group the potter Dawai (Bridgers) makes Jug Faces while in a trance like state with the villager whose face looks like one of these jugs being the next person to be sacrificed to the pit a fate which Ada (Carter) suffers when her face is amongst the latest batch of Jugs. However, choosing to hide the jug than face being sacrificed to the pit soon throws the community into chaos especially when the monster which lives in the pit starts killing members of her family. 

Initially starting life as a winning entry in 2011 Slamdance Screenwriting Competition by writer director Chad Kinkle with the film being announced the following year. Considering how unique a vision that Kinkle has with this film it’s easy to see why as he plays into the tropes of folk horror while removing the element of the outsiders to instead focus on the internal strife of a community when their traditions are disrupted by one of their own. Further depth is added to the setting through Kinkle being equally interested in the internal strife outside of the deaths being caused by the unseen monster which lives in the pit. In particular Ada who not only is pregnant from the secret incestuous relationship she’s been having with her brother but also being forced into a marriage with a boy from another family to further strengthen the bond within the community with her parents especially keen to make sure that the daughter’s virginial purity is maintained while having no idea she’s carrying her brother’s child. 

The fact that the community exists in modern day yet have a dated style to their clothes really makes for an interesting blend of cultures as while they are happy to embrace the benefits of the modern age many of their beliefs still remain rooted in the past. How the group came to worship a bubbling muddy pit is never explained though the opening animations drawn with a simplistic style hint at the roots of these beliefs dating back to Puritan times.

Despite the limitations of the budget which means the monster in the pit remains unseen while the ominous pit at the core of the villagers beliefs is limited to some bubbling muddy water and yet Kinkle’s vision doesn’t feel like its being limited by budget with an ominous ghost boy and Ada’s frequent visions of her family’s violent demise only adding to the mystique of the situation. Added to this a fantastic central performance from Lauren Ashley Carter whose doe eyes and southern drawl making her an engaging lead as well as marking her out as a talent to watch while she equally receives strong support from a cast of colourful characters and domineering parents keen to uphold the traditions of the cult.

An enjoyable and engaging indie horror which thrives off its strong characters and growing tensions from questioning traditions with the growing sense of dread from Ada’s attempts to escape her destiny as the walls begin to slowly close in on her.

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.

Flesh and Blood

Title: Flesh and Blood
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Released: 1985
Starring: Rutger Hauer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Thompson, Tom Burlinson, Brion James, Susan Tyrrell, Fernando Hilbeck

Plot: Having been betrayed by the noble lord Arnolfini (Hilbeck) a band of mercenaries set out to take their revenge while also kidnapping the future wife of the noble’s son.

Review: The english language debut of Paul Verhoeven who was already a controversial film maker in his native Netherlands were having grown tired of having to appeal for the funding from the government looked to Hollywood for the funding for this Medieval adventure which Verhoeven set out to make with the intention of fully representing the “Stinking time to live” than had previously been shown in other medieval set productions which often leaned more into fantasy than the historical realism that Verhoeven envisioned for the project. 

Certainly the film paints a grim vision of 15th century Italy ravaged by the plague and were bands are mercenaries swear their allegiance to whichever nobel can afford their services which is how we are introduced to Rutger Hauer’s Martin and his fellow dogs of war as they help reclaim a city only to find the promise of being able to loot as they please for 24 hours being revoked and the mercenaries being cast out of the city only to quickly reassemble under Martin’s leadership to reclaim what they believe to be rightfully owed to them by the nobel lord Arnolfini.

Verhoeven has always been a director with a distinct vision and certainly that can be said about this film which chooses to paint its scenario in shades of grey than reduce the story to traditional villain and hero archetypes which certainly brings a unique tone to the film as while we feel like we are supposed to root for Martin and his ragtag band they are also the same group who have little issue with carrying out gang rape on Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Agnes who is invariantly kidnapped by the group after they carry out a raid on her caravan. The situation only grows further morally dubious when Agnes despite being raped by Martin ends up in a relationship with him pushing the film into the same weird territory as Straw Dogs. Verhoeven however had originally seen the film focusing on the relationship between Martin and his former captain Hawkwood (Thompson) who betrayed him but the studio pushing for a love interest saw the introduction of Agnes to the character and twisted love triangle between her Martin and the Nobel’s son Steven (Burlinson).

Verhoeven’s medieval vision is certainly a welcome change from what we have come to expect from the genre especially when this is dirty and violent world where everything is taken by force and unsurprisingly it’s also an oversexed world with plentiful amounts of nudity though much of it isn’t fun with these scenes often objectifying the female cast members and detracting from the film and making it only the harder to side with any particular character in the film. The violence on the other hand is frequently bloody and lacking the finesse and fancy swordplay of similar films as it leans more into a rough and ready style of action which perfectly suits this world. 

A flop on it’s release as it retained too much European styling than committing to the Hollywood ideal these are things which now work in the films favour as it shuns the cliché tropes of the genre (Brave knights and damsels in distress) and truly delivers something different both in terms of visuals and substance even if he’s clearly still developing his style and while the rape elements do detract from the experience there is still alot to like about the film which now has become the hidden gem in the Verhoeven filmography.

This Place Rules

Title: This Place Rules
Director: Andrew Callaghan
Released: 2022

Plot: Documentary following the events which culminated in the January 6th attack on the Capital Building in Washington D.C.

Review: For those of you like myself who don’t follow every social media creator Andrew Callaghan started out his documentary career conducting humorous interviews on Bourbon street were he was working as a doorman to pay his way through college. It was here that he hit upon the idea of recording confessions from the people out on the street in the early hours calling them Quarter Confessions which he would then upload onto the internet like a street level version of Taxi Cab Confessions some of which open the film before we meet Joker Gang and his social media rival Gum Gang the redneck stuntman as the pair set to settle their differences in a boxing match which is as much of a car crash as you’d expect it to be. What does this have to do with Capital Building Riot? Well as Callaghan awkwardly explains “Well it was a fight”.

Hitting the road in his R.V. Callaghan takes the style of his interviewing technique to the streets as he meets conspiracy theorists, Trump Supporters, Proud Boys, Antifa protestors aswell as the likes of Infowars host Alex Jones and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio as he attempts to make sense of the division in the country only to find himself very much in the right place at the right time as the documentary captures the events leading up the storming of the Capital Building and certainly by having access to the key figures cited as helping instigate the event to learn that their intentions are often driven by financial gain than any kind of actual political stance especially with Tarrio openly stating that he prints t-shirts to promote the ideals of both the left and the right because he “Knows how to put food on his table”.

Avoiding the stunts of Michael Moore here Callaghan presents a detached approach to the events unfolding though most of the responses we see from his interview subjects on the street which are just that their responses, we never get to see the questions he’s asking instead just a man and his microphone serving as a form of confession for the various protestors to vent their feeling and often share their unique world views. Sure the focus might be political but Callaghan is still more than happy to highlight the crazies on both sides with the left calling for a communist society, commune living and weed legalisation while the right are more focused on how the election was stolen from Trump and how Biden winning is simply part of a bigger conspiracy against them.

When Callaghan does conduct an interview though it never seems to be with the aim of antagonising his interview subject instead just providing them a microphone and letting them just reel off whatever their viewpoint might be which often will lead them into some often fantastical avenues as in their mind at least they are only further making their point than drifting away from it which certainly seems to be the case of Alex Jones who at one point seems to be trying to create his own sound bites for a future episode as he urges Callaghan to call him a bad person only he does this will Callaghan’s team are filming. It’s a thoroughly confusing moment to say the least.

While there are no big answers to be gleaned from the documentary it still provides a fascinating snapshot into a crazy time in American politics and more so in how social media has played a part more now than ever. None more so when it looks at the conspiracy theory side such as Q-Anon and certainly capturing the disappointment of the Spencer family when the hints and clues supposedly being dropped came to ultimately nothing. It’s equally fascinating to see both sides of the media covered the event much like how the co-called heroes and great leaders of the revolution were nowhere to be found and quickly distancing themselves from the event in the aftermath.

Yes the film might present the infomation in a style which could be seen as irrelevant especially when its not providing big info dumps or even trying to villainise either side but despite at times seeming like a rogues gallery of oddballs it still proved to be an engaging watch throughout while leaving it to the viewer to decide who to really believe and which side is ultimately right or if we should just be looking for a third option.