withloveandviol Reviews

The Ridiculous 6 (2015)

I'm glad I watched this, only so you don't have to.

[2/10 · 6 May 2020]

Sometimes I forget that there's a big difference between a "B" movie and a "bad" movie, and this is definitely the latter, and I want my two hours back. Actually, it took longer than 2 hours because it was that unbearable I went to bed halfway through, gave it a second run in the morning and realised I would rather be washing the dishes and hanging out the laundry.

For a film that's got such a well-known cast - the only real question I can ask is - why did they sign up to this? Okay, the majority of the cast are known for their cringe-worthy comedies anyway but this isn't even cringe-worthy, it's just...boring.

The saving grace is a short fight scene with some impressive camera angles (Luke Wilson getting beat up in a bar and manages not to spill his drink) and (an absolutely pointless and shoe-horned) scene where a newly invented game of baseball is played, This scene made me smile considering the first person ever inventing a sport, creating new rules on the spot whilst playing against opponents.

The plot is predictable, the CGI is below average, the comedy isn't there - genuinely think I only grinned at ONE point because I like Steve Zahn - and why does Rob Schneider look stoned the entire duration of the film?!

Don't waste your time. Go stick Waterboy on instead if you need an Adam Sandler fix.

Frankenweenie (1984)

Highly recommended if you want to one of three incarnations of Burton's Frankenstein

[6/10 · 5 May 2020]

This 1984 live-action version of Frankenweenie has since been remade into an animated full-length version in 2012, and having never seen that either - I'm really looking forward to watching it now thanks to this short.

Burton, even in the early days, absolutely nails his cast with Shelley Duvall and Daniel Stern and main characters. An interesting juxtaposition of Duvall playing a suburban American mom whilst still hinting at the horror element is nice compared to seeing her almost having her face chopped off with an axe and seeing the evident emotionally torture on screen at the hands of Kubrick.

Although this was shot as live-action, some scenes - such as the opening graveyard still - continue to have a very typical Burton-esque animated feel to them which keeps your mind in check to know exactly what you're watching. All this short is really missing is the predictable melodies from Elfman.

The film briefly explores the idea of gossip and rumours in the small town, where the neighbours all state that they've seen something different and instil fear in each other of what inevitably is a small dog (albeit a zombie dog...). Ziad K. Abdelnour states "Rumours are carried by haters, spread by fools, and accepted by idiots" (Economic Warfare: Secrets of Wealth Creation in the Age of Welfare Politics) and this is a prime example of this!

There's enough humour in the film to keep you smiling - such as the "ex-frog" (eh, hello Monty Python?) when Sparky springs a leak and when Sparky meets his beau - with a very familiar head of hair. But, the film is also incredibly smart. Baring in mind, that our protagonist as this version of Victor Frankenstein is only 10 years old, so instead of the makeshift laboratory filled with high-tech machinery normally seen in such adaptations of the Mary Shelley novel, we see regular household items to make equipment including a swing set, a bike, and an ironing board, which all absolutely look the part. A personal favourite is the adapted version of the windmill and its inevitable downfall.

Highly recommended if you want to one of three incarnations of Burton's Frankenstein - what, you didn't think Edward Scissorhands was actually a portrayal of Frankenstein?

Vincent (1982)

I enjoyed this and had no idea it existed until recently.

[8/10 · 5 May 2020]

Having been a fan of the majority of Tim Burton's earlier work, stop motion animation, poetry, Edgar Allan Poe and Vincent Price, I'm really not surprised that I enjoyed this and had no idea it existed until recently.

The story is narrated by Vincent Price himself and tells the story of a young delusional boy wishing that he was the famed horror star himself. The script is completely in rhymed poetry and takes cues from some of Poe's work. As this is only a 6-minute short and is meant to be fairly light-hearted (besides the character wanting to boil his Aunt) there is no mention of whether Vincent is merely having childhood fantasies or is suffering from delusional schizophrenia.

The stop animation, given this, was shot on a budget of $60,000 and created in 1982, is pretty good and the only thing that lets it down is the screen effect, which looks dated, as opposed to the actual animation itself. With references that can later be seen in Beetlejuice (1988) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993).

I would definitely watch this again, perhaps not even so much for the film itself, but the narrated poetry that accompanies it.

Willard (2003)

I really wanted to like this more than I did

[6/10 · 5 May 2020]

Willard is based on the short story 'Ratman's Notebooks' by Stephen Gilbert (published in 1968) as well as the novel's first adaptation in 1971 (and a sequel called 'Ben' in 1972'.

Crispin Glover's performance as Willard, I can't fault. He plays the socially awkward Willard perfectly that then leads onto the psychotic employee who finally snaps at his boss's unnecessary taunting for all these years and his elderly mother proclaiming "it's my fault your life was wasted".

The relationship with Socrates is a wholesome one - the rat named as such after the Greek philosopher and his love of wisdom as Willard immediately identified his new, and only, friend as being intelligent. The relationship with 'Big Ben', not so much. It's never explored why Willard immediately feels so much hatred towards him.

What I struggled with most in this film was the other lead characters - Cathryn, played by Laura Elena Harring is SO overbearing and pushy throughout the whole film (turning up at Willard's mothers funeral, turning up at Willard's door and not even inviting, but making her own way into forcing a pet cat into Willard's possession) based on what was no apparent real relationship being built just started to annoy me every time she came onto the screen. The character feels completely shoehorned into the story, with no real relevance to the plot or no meaningful dialogue.

Willard's boss - Frank Martin, played by R. Lee Ermey - is no better. His pure and unadulterated hatred towards Willard appears to be completely unfounded and his actions towards him in public settings make no real sense. He is obviously a cruel and uncaring man - as can be seen when poor Socrates meets a fatal end but it just seems completely over the top.

I really wanted to like this more than I did given it's something that I had been meaning to watch for some time. I've always liked Glover so seeing him as a lead was something I was looking forward to but the overdramatic side characters detracted so much from the actual story for me, it just spoiled it.

Six Shooter (2004)

Sark humorous script, with an added bit of blood and gore

[6/10 · 5 May 2020]

Another great short piece by McDonagh that shows that the recurring cast (Gleeson also stars in In Bruges (2008) dark humorous script, with an added bit of blood and gore are a staple for him.

The short film explores how different people deal with death, religion demonstrates the effects that words can have, that you have no idea what other battles people are fighting and chance/fate - all within less than 30 minutes.

The main character (Rúaidhrí Conroy) portrays a young boy clearly suffering from a personality disorder, who pushes the other characters to their absolute limit in such a convincing way that some of the lines that are uttered genuinely made you cringe. The scene with the young woman on the train takes you by surprise and you wonder when, if, he intends to stop. The statements made are so appalling, you can almost preempt the next scene.

Again, as the way with a lot of short movies for me, I wouldn't rush back to watch it again, but similarly, with all of McDonagh's other work, it's well worth a watch.

Seven Psychopaths (2012)

What a script!

[9/10 · 5 May 2020]

You get a good idea right away of what kind of film you're about to watch when an unknown character walks up and point-blank range shoots two people.

When reviewing/watching films like this, it's really difficult not be biased when you already really like some of the actors. Sam Rockwell is a personal favourite, and I've seen most of his stuff and cannot fault any of it. The casting of him against Christopher Walken, Colin Farrell and Woody Harrelson in this is absolutely perfect and given that Farrell and McDonagh have already worked together on In Bruges (2008) it's easy to see why he was cast again in a similar role.

The script, and those who deliver it, is so flawless a lot of the film seems ad-libbed. A scene in the desert when Rockwell is explaining the potential ending to Farrell's book seems so natural, that even after researching online, there is no mention that this isn't fully scripted.

One of my personal favourite aspects is the interlinking historically 'accurate' short stories throughout the main plot, which in themselves are well thought out and well written. One references the Zodiac killer (who was prominent between 1968-1969, killing up to 37 victims and who to this day remains unidentified). McDonagh goes deeper and presents the double-edged plot of the Vietnamese monk, who served under the Viet Cong who returns to his village of My Lai (which was home to one of the most horrific incidents of violence against unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War where a company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people in 1968) to eventually portraying the monk as Thích Quang Duc (who was the first Buddhist monk to perform self-immolation in Saigon to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government led by Ngo Dình Diem.)

For a black comedy, such as Seven Psychopaths to reference such prominent historical events truly shows the intelligence of the writer/director, which has since been proven by the creation - and subsequent awards - for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in 2017.

I've watched this film a number of times already and will continue to do so, enjoying it just as much as the first time around.

Moongirl (2005)

There is just something missing...

[4/10 · 5 May 2020]

What starts out as a whimsical short story about a young boy travelling to the moon with his flying squirrel, Earl quickly turns to a thing of nightmares when he is quite literally catfished to the moon and realises he is trapped there indefinitely with ghosts outside.

There are so many aspects of this I want to like - how the moon is essentially made of paper and has a large carousel inside, how a young girl is responsible for keeping the moonlit with fireflies, but there is just something missing. Perhaps this is because the entire film is only 9 minutes long and there's no capacity to build on characters and plot points...or explain the terrible southern accent.

The animation, for as late as 2005, is confusing. With Laika being producing The Corpse Bride this same year, there seems to be no excuse as to why something so poor would be allowed a pass. The close-ups of Earl and the ghosts - or Gargaloons are the only redeeming feature but don't look at the giant cat too hard.

Finally, the only other saving grace is the involvement of They Might be Giants to perform the Soundtrack which if at least the story doesn't make much sense, there's some nice atmospheric music in the background.

Masters of Horror: The Black Cat (2007) Season 2, Episode 11

Beautifully shot with vivid colours

[6/10 · 5 May 2020]

This is the first 'Masters of Horror' episode I've ever watched, and my initial thought/comparison is how similar the opening theme music is to John Murphy's 'In the House - In a Heartbeat' from the title track of '28 Days Later from 2013'.

The Black Cat was originally published as a short story by Edgar Allan Poe in 1843 and now having both read and watched this short episode (which is based on the original story). Whilst the short story is less than 4,000 words and the episode less than 60 minutes there are some strong differences worth noting. The story doesn't specify that the narrator is in fact Poe, but this is made clear from the outset in the film.

The film, whilst beautifully shot with vivid colours - the cat's green eyes, the orange of the goldfish and the yellow of the bird, draws the viewers eyes to key aspects from the original story in that Poe was particularly fond of animals stating "I was especially fond of animals and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these, I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them." The original story makes it obvious from the start that intemperance drove Poe to harm the animals rather than any real underlying contempt for them.

The story does not present Poe's wife as being unwell with 'the white plague' or tuberculosis and is merely a victim of Poe's alcoholic rages in the original story. Presumably, this is to give the female character more depth as opposed to just being the mistreated wife and to add to the ongoing rage that Poe suffers. The story also does not have the same happy ending as the film, and ends simply with his wives corpse being located behind the wall after howls from the cat can be heard. For a short story or poetry, this ending works well but could leave viewers wanting more at the end of the episode.

For a lover of gore in movies, there were a number of appealing scenes, including the prosthetics used with the axe, the decaying corpse in the wall and the removal of poor Pluto's eye. Also being an avid fan of Jeffrey Combs and Stuart Gordon made me seek this particular episode out as a first on my journey through Masters of Horror. Unsure where the inspiration is going to come from for the other episodes, this first one has definitely made me want to explore more.

From the Drain (1967)

When you read a synopsis of a 14-minute movie as "two men in a bathtub" you're not really sure what you're letting yourself in for.

[5/10 · 5 May 2020]

When you read a synopsis of a 14-minute movie as "two men in a bathtub" you're not really sure what you're letting yourself in for.

The relevance of the bathtub or the specifics of the drain isn't obvious but the line "it's all in your head, nothing ever comes from the drain, it always comes from the deep end of your mind" opens up opportunities to consider perceptions of paranoia and PTSD relevant to the 'Disabled War Veterans Recreation Centre' that both men believe themselves to be in.

As one character controls the majority of the dialogue, whilst physically and emotionally controlling the other character to his demise - by making him confront his fear of "the drain" - it calls into question whether this character is nothing more than a manifestation of severe psychological trauma sustained by a war veteran.

The bathtub in a small, dark, isolated room demonstrates a withdrawal from a normal situation whilst the unsubstantiated and overwhelming fear of the drain - and what lies within it - are classic examples of untreated trauma. The character also believes himself to be the centre's Recreational Director, suffers flashbacks to his time in the Chemical and Biological Warfare Ministry during the war where 'scraping' noises bring forward intrusive thoughts of historic events of "mistakes deaths...(and) strange deaths". This shows delusion and confusion of reality.

The other character shows signs of unwarranted hostility towards his counterpart and demonstrates hopelessness at continuing to attend the recreation centre by stating "I'm never coming here again". The character also states that he is looking for "a little happiness for himself", "a positive response from another human being" and a "genuine community of interest". This shows that he is lacking the ability to form close relationships or choose appropriate people to be friends with.

The character continues to show no remorse and is verbally abusive to the other character whilst being visibly gleeful after his potential friend's death. The 14 minutes end demonstrating this is not the only death that this character has either directly been involved in or witnessed in this very room, by adding to the collection of men's shoes.

I would be lying if I said this was something that I would watch again and again, as it comes to a point where you are just over analysing something instead of enjoying it, but I can imagine it's an interesting piece to be used by film critics and students to study early directorial pieces from an accredited Director such as Cronenberg.

12 Angry Men (1957)

They have twelve scraps of paper... Twelve chances to kill!

[9/10 · 25 August 2016]

The premise for this film is fairly straightforward. Twelve men are elected to sit on a jury of a murder trial for a young boy who is accused of killing his father. Almost the entire film is centred in one room, where the men, if they unanimously vote that the young boy is guilty then he is sentenced to death. Initially, the vote is guilty, 11-1 Reasonable doubt is called into question and the men must discuss their reasons for their votes.

I particularly liked this film as the situation is something that is very believable. One of the first reasons that the men give is 'he just looked guilty' due to the boy being from the slum areas, another is a man has his own personal reasons for his vote. I've always had a personal belief that jury duty is an odd premise. It seems strange that a number of complete strangers are able to determine the fate of another human without their own personal background being known. For example, someone gets accused of domestic abuse. Several of the jurors are unfortunate enough to have also had a history of domestic abuse in their life, either on the giving or receiving end - their judgement is going to be clouded by their own experiences and they are not going to be impartial to the accused. I suppose the issue is, what is the alternative then to strangers on a jury in these cases? It also doesn't seem right that one judge should be responsible for making this decision.

The acting in this film isn't the best I've ever seen. Some of the characters over emphasise their lines and their character portrayal, but the 'main' juror, Henry Fonda, is wonderful. His character is deep, sympathetic and a real interest to watch on the screen. This is the first film I've ever seen with him in it, but it hopefully won't be the last as I go delving for more. Lee J. Cobb is another one of the main characters, and plays a very different part to Henry Fonda. His character is unlikeable, loud, brash and rude - and you're meant to hate him, and you truly do! The ending is slightly predictable, but you're not sure how they're going to get there which continues to make the movie enjoyable.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Fear can hold you prisoner, hope can set you free

[10/10 · 25 August 2016]

This is without a doubt still my absolute favourite film, ever. It's a film that I can always be in the mood to watch, whether I'm feeling high or low due to the unbelievably victorious ending. The entire film is beautifully shot, with no need for any special effects and it does so well based solely on the story itself, the phenomenal acting from Tim Robbins, as Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman as Red.

The basis of the plot, for those who haven't seen it (where have you been hiding?!) is Andy Dufresne, a successful banker, is accused of double homicide of his wife and her lover and sent to Shawshank prison for two life-sentences in the 1940's. Shawshank prison is full of corruption and when evidence that can prove Andy's innocence is discovered, even this can't help him escape the walls, so he must find an alternative.

My personal favourite scene is when Andy finally escapes the prison, after digging through his cell wall with a rock hammer, crawling through 500 feet of sewage pipes and coming out the other end with the wardens forged accounts. Andy stands at the end of the sewage pipe with his arms raised looking up to the sky, finally feeling free.

Andy is also my favourite character in the film, and Tim Robbins earned his place as one of my favourite actors after this role. Andy is known to be a quiet, calm man - wrongfully accused and locked up, trying to get through day-to-day of his sentence. Tim Robbins never raises his voice above a whisper, is softly spoken and this lends itself to your feelings and sympathy for Andy from almost the very start of the film. His relationship with Red is a thing of beauty, showing two men from different backgrounds - one actually guilty of murder - becoming close friends with mutual respect for each other.

There is no part of this story that isn't incredible, the film doesn't drag for one moment and you genuinely want more when the credits roll up.

The film is based on the novella by Stephen King 'Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption'.