Movie Review: Violent Night

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

A real yuletide treat with all the R-rated violence to fill your heart with Christmas joy. 

This movie may be simply dumb fun, but it is just the kind of dumb fun that I love. Though admittedly it takes this movie a little bit to get going, once it gets going it is simply delightful. For those of you who don't know the basic plot of this movie, Santa Claus beats the heck out of some bad guys to help protect a little girl who believes in him. The violence here is not for the squeamish, but that is just what will endear this film to many others. What makes it work so well for me is the over-the-top cartoony-ness to all this violence and the fact that there is a wonderfully dark sense of humor to much of the action here. The filmmakers know just why someone will go to see a movie with this plot and so they just have a lot of fun with the action scenes and if you see this film in a theater, you will see just how well this pays off. The most violent and bloody moments are the ones where you will hear the most laughter and that is just the way it should be. This especially pays off during a scene that is the best Home Alone homage you will ever see. If you see this movie, you will recognize this scene immediately. Yet beneath all this R-rated violence and dark humor, this movie has a surprisingly warm heart. This film is really about Santa Claus becoming cynical and forgetting why he became Santa in the first place, until he meets a little girl who believes in him and the spirit of Christmas. This could have made for a really charming family film, if that is what the filmmakers wanted to make. Even if this is not that family film, it still has a few moments that make you feel warm inside between the blood and guts. One might say that this is an R rated Christmas film with the heart of a G rated Christmas film. Holding this all together is a wonderful performance by David Harbour as Santa Claus. He somehow manages to feel like both an action hero and the real Santa. 

My biggest complaint about this movie is the villains. They are simply not as memorable or fun as they should be. They are simply generic villains. Even the humor revolving around their characters often falls flat. There are also some story points that do feel quite rushed (dang it, I want a full feature length movie about this Santa's backstory). 

This may not be a movie for everyone, but if you are the type of person a film like this would appeal to (which I apparently am), you are in for a lot of fun. 

Movie Review: The Banshees of Inisherin

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

A simply brilliant comedy-drama. 

This is one of those films that starts out as light and comedic and as it goes on gets darker and more serious. Often these films don't work for me as the shift in tone can feel forced and abrupt. However, that could not be further from the case here. The earlier funnier scenes do a wonderful job of building up to the darker scenes later and this is often done without you knowing what director/writer Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri) is doing. Instead, moments that may seem comedic and silly during these earlier scenes are actually raising the stakes for what is going to be happening later. It also helps that both the comedy and the drama come directly the characters and their relationships. This film often acts as a character study (for multiple characters), and it helps that both the funniest and the darkest moments add to the depth of these characters. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker these characters would have been strictly one note. In this movie though there are a lot of complexities beneath them.  Pádraic (Colin Farrell) not only considers himself as a "nice guy" but so does everyone else in this small Irish town. However, as the film goes on you see that some of the things, he does are not exactly what we would picture a "nice guy" doing. This leads us to wonder was he as nice of guy as everyone believed him to be. Perhaps he is a really "nice guy," who happens to have been pushed to his limits, perhaps he was never really a nice guy, or perhaps he is a man who has very strong virtues but just as strong of faults. This also causes us to look into ourselves and wonderful if we are ever the best judges of who we are personally. Colm (Brendan Gleeson) says that he is done with Pádraic and doesn't want to be his friend anymore. Yet there are times when he does show that he might actually still care for him. Still there are just as many times that he takes incredibly drastic measures to get Pádraic to leave him alone. Again, this makes the film all the more engaging and thought provoking. It doesn't hurt that these actors give truly wonderful performances here (Kerry Condon) is equally wonderful as Pádraic's sister. 

This is simply a must see movie. 

Movie Review: Vengeance

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent dark comedy-thriller. 

B.J. Novack's first movie as a director (though he has directed TV show episodes and acted in movies) is a delightfully fun but dark comedy-mystery. The film has a great storyline. A writer for the New Yorker is successful at his job but wishes to be more than just a writer. He wants to be a "voice" that people around the U.S.A. will know and respect and he feels the way to do this is through a podcast. After a woman he hooked up with once or twice passes away, her family (who thought the relationship was more serious) takes him to Texas for her funeral. The woman's brother believes that she was murdered (her cause of death was an overdose of drugs) and tries to convince the writer to try to get vengeance on whoever killed his sister with him. The writer than decides to make this his podcast and have it be about how people invent conspiracy theories to shield themselves from the pain of the truth. From here the story takes many twists and turns that will even keep the most experienced movie goers guessing. I truly never knew what was going to happen next and was often on the edge of my seat. This all leads to an ending that I feel will divide many (I personally liked it). Regardless of what you think of the ending though, it is a heck of the ride there. Despite the amount of comedy in this movie it is not afraid to go to dark places and it is all the better for it

Much of the humor comes from the cultural divide between the main character, a New York intellectual and the woman's family, Texas rednecks. Despite this, the film is never too mean spirited about either side and it delightfully makes fun of both sides. The New York intellectual, tries to sound like an intellectual about everything, even those he knows nothing about and though the Texas family falls into a lot of stereotypes, they can also subvert them. A wonderful scene that shows this has the writer references Anton Chekhov to one of the family members, she starts talking about his plays to which the writer has never read or seen them and quickly tries to change the subject. This may be a simple joke but it lets us know not every character is the complete stereotype we might assume them to be. While this movie may poke fun at certain accepts of Texas culture, it is both good natured and funny enough for anyone to laugh at it. This movie is often downright hilarious, and I laughed out loud quite often watching this. The Waterburger scene and a reference to Schindler's List (1993) will stay in my mind for quite a while.  

This film also benefits from a wonderful performance by Ashton Kutcher, who steals every scene that he is in. If you think of him simply as that dumb guy from "That 70's Show" you need to see this movie. He truly gets to show his range here in not only the comedic scenes but some of the film's most serious and disturbing moments. He may not have as much screentime as other members of the cast, but he certainly leaves an impression on you. 

On the downside is the conversations between the writer and his podcast producer. These scenes simply give both characters time to ramble in their pseudo-intellectual way and frankly there are too many of them. They add little to the story, don't have any real deep meaning to them and after the first of these scenes you fully get what they are trying to say about the characters. Also the podcast producer and the other characters in the New York scenes, just simply aren't the least bit interesting. 

All in all this is an excellent film.

Movie Review: Promising Young Woman

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B-

A well made set up leads to an ending that simply doesn't work.

This movie got off to a great start, as we see our main character pretending to be a drunk girl in a bar, so a "nice guy" will pick her up and she can get the upper hand on them when she revels herself to be sober and the one in control. This is fantastic, as it brings us something dark and twisted and yet darkly funny at the same time. We begin to wonder just who this woman is and what turned a seeming intelligent into this character. As such we are completely engrossed in the film from the beginning. When we learn the answer it is so tragic and disturbing that we find ourselves drawn further into the dark world of the film. Meanwhile there is a well done romance with someone she used to know in school. This romance is very cleverly worked into the dark storyline and both offsets it with its delightful sense of humor and adds to it with some dark twists. This is a very well done set up. The characters may not be likable or sympathetic, but they are interesting and we are also very drawn in to the dark and pessimistic world of this film.

Unfortunately with a such a good set up the movie doesn't live up to what it set up. The climatic scene is completely disappointing lacking the necessary suspense or unsettling feeling that is required for it to work. It then goes for a twist that while brave, doesn't work. I appreciate that the filmmakers wanted to take a risk, but the danger with taking risks is that they don't always work. This one certainly doesn't. I can kind of get what the movie was going for but I was left completely cold and the only emotion I felt was a strange disappointment. After this twist the movie continues for a bit that feels a lot longer than the rest of the film put together. Worse yet comes the movie's actual end scene. I hate to use this word because the rest of the movie was the opposite but the best way to describe the ending was cute. It felt like it came from a completely different and much more lighthearted movie.

However no matter how much the film goes downhill towards the end, I can not deny that the rest of the movie was darn good.         

A French Critic on Monsieur Verdoux

Monsieur Verdoux (1947) is easily the most shocking and daring Charlie Chaplin film. It is also in my mind and in many others Charlie's best talkie. The movie is a pitch black comedy were Charlie plays not the little tramp but instead a man who marries many women simply to murder them. Charlie's strong politic beliefs had already by this time made him a controversial figure in the U.S.A. This movie being his most political film as well as being a film that would alienate those who simply wanted the type of overt slapstick comedy that he had been known for in the 1920's and 30's, did little to help its success. The movie was not a success at the Box Office and American critics were not very impressed.

I love the following review from a French critic that looks at this film for what it is, a very smart and clever movie. If you have any trouble reading the following page simply click on it and use your touch screen to zoom in. 














-Michael J. Ruhland 

 

Movie Review: Parasite (Gisaengchung)

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

This Korean film is not only the best movie of the year, but one of the best of recent years.

This is a movie that is not afraid to change tones as it goes along. It can go from a silly comedy to social satire to a very dark and disturbing suspense film in a heartbeat. How incredibly well this movie does this is perfect. The social commentary on the often complicated relationship between rich and poor is a lot of what holds this together. This movie never stops to preach to us, as would be done by lesser filmmakers, nor does it simplify the complexities of its subject. Despite this the movie's lighter and dark moments fit together because they are both connected to this similar theme. The mixture of lighter and darker moments is also part of what keeps this movie so suspenseful. You never know if what is coming up not will be funny or disturbing. There were times when I felt I knew where this movie was going and was shocked to see it go in another direction, but each time what it did was better than what I saw coming. Adding to this is that the characters were all completely untrustworthy. There is no one who has a true moral compass and everyone is capable of great darkness. This movie could have so easily done what so many movies about the rich and poor do, making one side good and one side evil. However this is too simplistic and too cliché of an approach for this film. Life is not defined by simple terms like good and evil and neither is the world of this film. Between all the black and whites are many grays. This is all perfectly crafted in a way only a master filmmaker Bong Joon Ho can do. It is no exaggeration to call him one of the greatest filmmakers of our generation.

It may seem with some of what happens that one might want to call a comparison to another brilliant Korean film, The Housemaid (1960). However the two movies are extremely different and this movie never borrows from that earlier classic. Instead this is a one of a kind work of art that is a true rarity in any time period. If you are a movie lover, you have no reason not to see this movie. I don't care if you don't like to read subtitles you still need to see it. There is nothing else quite like this and I am sure it will go down in film history as one of the best movies of our generation.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Movie Review: The Art of Self Defense

Michael's Movie Grade: B

Very funny darkly deadpan comedy.

No matter how dark and disturbing this movie gets, it never takes itself too seriously. Every disturbing scene we might take seriously is followed by an absurdity that cannot be taken seriously. These moments are woven perfectly together and just help make the movie a more enjoyable experience. What makes these absurdities even funnier is that they are played with a completely straight face. We are never told what is a joke and what is to be taken seriously. I personally admit, as the plot started to take a dark turn, at first I felt the movie was turning from a comedy to something more serious. However as I kept watching I quickly learned this was not the case, but rather the film was actually getting funnier, if at times more subtly so.

 Not everything in this movie adds up or makes logical sense. However the more I think about this movie the funnier that is. To get the most out of this movie you must take the lapses in logic as part of the film's humor and charm rather than as a fault. Again this works because it is played with a straight face making each absurdity even funnier.

While this movie is excellent as a comedy it is certainly less successful as a social commentary. While the comedy often feels original, the social commentary feels much too obvious and safe. It seems at many times to beat us over the head with its anti-"toxic masculinity" message. Lines about the only female member of dojo are especially bad. We have heard these lines many times and they come off as rather stale and preachy. Similar are our main character's lines about feeling a lack of masculinity and his fear of more masculine men. What the movie is trying to say with these lines is much too obvious and preachy.

This movie's sense of humor is definitely too dark and disturbing for many. However for those of us who enjoy dark comedy, this is a very funny movie, despite its faults.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Movie Review: The Favourite

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

Review: This dark disturbing comedy is easily one of the year's best movies.

This film is about as dark as movies can get, but underneath all the darkness the moving is really entertaining. Much of this is due to the fact that as much as we hate to admit it, these mean-spirited characters are more like us than we want to admit. Every character in this movie is only looking out for themselves and will do any violent or sexual act to achieve the power they want. This leads to a delightful battle of wits between Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and Abigail (Emma Stone), both of whom fight for the favor of an emotionally unstable Queen (Olivia Colman). What starts out as a simple battle of wits turns into something darker and more cruel at each turn. These characters can easily be seen as unlikable and cruel, but the truth is we have all thought about doing the things these women do to someone who gets in our way. What holds us back is our conscience and our sense of decency. This movie though lets us enjoy this cruelty in a way we would never allow ourselves to in real life. Seeing these women go to such lengths to make the other lose everything is delightful in the darkest way possible and I and I'm sure many other relished in it. All of this is enhanced and made more enjoyable by the incredible performances by our three leads.

This movie engages in two types of comedy. One is very board. This comedy is very funny and often made me laugh out loud. The other type of comedy is more subtle. This humor may not make one laugh out loud as much but is unbelievably clever. We will remember these scenes and think of them when we get home. When we are watching the scenes they keep us just as entertained and glued to the film as any of the more broad scenes. The amount of clever dialogue is incredible. If you were to take out pencil and paper to write down all the clever lines, you would fill many pages easily. Some of the lines I thought were clever in the trailer were even more clever when viewed in the context of the film.


This is not to say that the greatness of this movie completely rests on dialogue. In fact this is a visually incredible film. It uses the 18th Century setting to its full advantage creating a very uniquely beautiful looking movie. Praise must be given to director Yorgos Lanthimos, cinematographer Robbie Ryan and production designer Fiona Crombie for how incredible they made this film look.

With hw dark this movie is and how cruel the characters are it is true this is not a movie that will appeal to everybody. However if you are in the category of people who love pitch black comedy, this movie is one of the must see films of the year.

-Michael J. Ruhland