Green Room

As I mentioned in last week's post, I went to see Jeremy Saulnier's newest film, Green Room at Cinemapolis. I've been a fan of Saulnier since I saw his previous film Blue Ruin. Blue Ruin was a slow burn revenge flick that was both beautiful and brutal. You can check out the trailer right here.

Based off of Blue Ruin I knew that this film would be intense, but holy shit, was it brutal. The movie follows a punk band called the Ain't Rights who do a gig at a skinhead bar where they witness a horrific act and find themselves trapped in the bar, fighting for their lives.  Check out the trailer here.

Never before has a movie both enthralled me and made me very uncomfortable. The film is graphically violent, but the violence isn't your typical over-the-top action movie violence, it's not played for laughs as it might be for a Tarantino film. The violence is brutal and realistic. There is an arm breaking scene early on in the movie that head let out an audible yelp in the theatre. Hands are mangled, throats are slashed, throats are ripped out by dogs, As the film progresses we become more and more uncomfortable with what we're seeing on screen.
Where I give the film so much credit is that it manages to have authentic characters who stand out, something that doesn't tend to happen in films of this sort. Each member of the band has a distinct persona that we see develop through the situation they find themselves trapped in.

Those expecting a non-stop action film may be somewhat disappointed as the film takes its time, slowly building up to the horrific acts that will take place. Even after Green Room explodes into a violent chaotic cacophony, it still crawls along, slowly feeding us the violence, keeping us in a constant state of unease. We are trapped, just like our protagonists.

The film is playing at Cinemapolis and I highly recommend you see this brutal and brilliant film that will stick with you long after you leave the theatre.

Everybody Wants Some/Midnight Special

So in the last week I went to two movies. Jeff Nichols' sci fi Midnight Special and Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some.

Midnight Special follows Michael Shannon as a man trying to protect his son from the government and a cult of which they were former members. The son is being sought after as he appears to have unexplained powers. I found the film to not be your typical sci-fi film. Despite the fact the Midnight Special is made out to be a chase film of sort, as it is, the film has a rather slow burn feel to it, taking it's time. The films uses this slow burn to focus more on character relationships rather than the plot at hand. I was reminded of the film Monster, the Gareth Edwards film, which is a monster movie that does not focus on the monsters, instead focusing on the relationships of the characters. While this works for the first two acts, when we begin to get an explanation as to why the events are occurring, we begin to feel taken out and somewhat robbed of an ending that fits the rest of the movie. It was a weird case where I would have preferred the film give no real explanation as to why things happen. The cast is strong and the film is well shot. It's certainly a film that I think is worth seeing on the big screen where you can be fully immersed in the world and events.

   Richard Linklater director of "white people nostalgia" films such as Boyhood and Dazed and Confused returns with Everybody Wants Some, another white people nostalgia film. I went into this film knowing exactly what I was getting into and still left a little disappointed. The film made almost no impact on me at all. I know EWS is a slice-of-life film but it was a slice of life that wasn't particularly interesting. It felt like Linklater was trying to remake Dazed and Confused but got bored making it. There are a few fun moments and characters but they all just end up being muddled together into a generic athletic hetero white guy story that lacks the real fun The Dazed and Confused contained. Everybody Wants Some works best as a shoddily built vehicle for 80's nostalgia fueled by some popular songs of the era.  The film made two hours pass but for me, did little more than that.

This weekend however, I'm going to see Jeremy Saulnier's new film Green Room and I'm pumped. This one has been high on my list of films I'm most looking forward to see in 2016. I'll report back after I see it.