neil-476 Reviews

Abigail (2024)

Quite good fun

[7/10 · 30 April 2024]

A group of assorted criminal specialists is recruited in order to kidnap and babysit 12 year old Abigail from her ballet lessons, as part of a ransom scheme. It turns out that they weren't fully briefed.

This crime-turned-horror movie has two main features: a slyly humorous script, and bucketloads of gore. I won't spoil the (slight) plot twist, because just possibly you're going to see it cold, but it's openly in the trailer. The story is quite good, the characters are enjoyable, and the tale is entertainingly told, with a satisfying resolution.

The most annoying character gets knocked off first, which is pleasing.

I quite enjoyed this.

Challengers (2024)

Disappointing

[5/10 · 30 April 2024]

We meet Art and Tashi. Art is a tennis Grand Slam winner who is going through a bad patch and Tashi is his wife and coach. To get him back into a winning frame of mind, Tashi enters him into a knockout challenge competition, where he is matched against down-and-out Patrick. He and Patrick were at tennis school together as kids: they met prodigy Tashi through tennis, and they both have history with her.

The relationships between the three principals is at the heart of this film - the two guys (there is unquestionably a relationship which is more nuanced than mere friendship), each of them with Tashi, and the three of them as a trio.

The film is told through a series of flashbacks (it is sometimes a little difficult following what happened when, notwithstanding the flashbacks being dated) and the relationships change as time goes on.

Tennis features heavily, of course, but is shown in a fairly stylised manner with little attention to the actual progress of any matches except the framing match.

I knew nothing about this film going in other than that Zendaya, who I like a lot, is in it. I don't think this film does her many favours, though, because Tashi becomes less likeable as the movie progresses, and doesn't give her the opportunity to do much acting beyond being thoughtfully down in the mouth and mildly cross.

This is compounded by the fact that neither Art nor Patrick are particularly sympathetic either. So, given that the story is essentially about the relationships between three fairly unlikeable characters, it is difficult to care. And the film pushes towards the results of the Challenger competition duel being critical to both of them, and then cops out with a deliberately indecisive ending.

Zendaya produced, so this was obviously something of a pet project for her. I hope future projects are a bit better thought through than this one.

Monkey Man (2024)

Good first film

[7/10 · 17 April 2024]

A young man takes part in illicit cage fighting, and works his way into a job at a brothel. This is all with a view to revenge.

Dev Patel, lead actor, creator of story, co-writer of screenplay, co-producer, and first-time director, makes a fair job of this revenge-based action thriller. Sometimes the visual flourishes sacrifice storytelling clarity in favour of flash and style, but not too much.

It all gets a bit John Wick towards the end, and I don't mean that in a good way. I know there are those who think Mr Protagonist polishing off a never-ending series of faceless adversaries is wonderful: I'm one of those who thinks that the longer it goes on, the more ludicrous it gets. And there's a touch of that here.

But, on the whole, not bad. His next film will be worth looking forward to.

Civil War (2024)

Too inconsequential for a full impact

[7/10 · 17 April 2024]

N contemporary (but fictitious) USA an ugly civil war is taking place between government forces and an insurrectionist militia led by a secessionist coalition between Texas and California. Jaded war photographer Lee is heading from New York to Washington, accompanied by her journalist partner Joel, keen young would-be photojournalist Jesse, and ageing mentor Sammy. The journey is not straightforward.

It wasn't until the credits rolled that I was aware that this was an Alex Garland film. I have seen Ex Machina and Annihilation, and both were films which I wanted to enjoy more than I did. I think I felt, in both cases, there was an intellectual subtext which, for a dimwit like me, took attention away from an otherwise straightforward and entertaining sci-fi yarn.

Civil War is, if anything, the opposite way round. There is no story as such, simply a trip during which things happen. We never find out what the civil war is about, what happened, what divides or unites the factions. We just see the effects of the war on civilians and combatants, as well as on an eerily unspecific class halfway between, people who are prepared to defend themselves and their property with armed force. The lines between combatants, people defending themselves, vigilantes, and outright murderers become very very blurred, and perhaps that's the point. There are plenty of questions but no answers.

The film is very well staged. It always feels real. A landscape caught up in civil war in the modern era is well conveyed, as are the population reacting to it, all in different ways, as best they can. Sound design is very effective especially when used for some shockingly effective gunshots.

The characters don't lend themselves to viewer identification and the film overall is surprisingly unemotional. To the extent that there are character arcs, Lee is desensitised through years of war photography, while newcomer Jess still finds it all too close. For me the most effective emotional moment (in a negative way - Spoiler alert) came at the end, when Lee is killed pushing Jess out of the way of a burst of gunfire while Jess acknowledges the sacrifice with a backward glance while pressing on in pursuit of the photo.

The film is somewhat dispiriting, and never really goes anywhere definite, but it certainly gave me some food for thought.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Good luck following it if you're not up to date with the continuity

[7/10 · 3 April 2024]

Kong has a toothache and Godzilla goes sightseeing in Rome.

The thing about this film is that there is previous continuity you need to know. The corporation Monarch monitors Titans - huge potentially (and often actually) destructive monsters. Godzilla and Kong both work against Titans but they hate each other, so Godzilla lives on Earth's surface while Kong lives in Hollow Earth (don't ask, watch the previous film).

Things follow on from the setup established in previous continuity, and you might be a bit lost in places if you don't know about Monarch, Hollow Earth, and the Godzilla/Kong grudgefest.

Having said that, this is a non-stop special effects extravaganza. Monsters kick the manure out of each other pretty much from start to finish, with a little bit of human interest every now and then to keep us invested. If you want eye candy, this film has it in industrial quantities.

But this is basically a B feature with a huge budget.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Fun and nostalgic

[8/10 · 3 April 2024]

The Spengler family (Mom, Trevor (18), Phoebe (15)) and Gary, all from Ghostbusters: Afterlife, are now living in the firehouse in New York, ghostbusting away until the Mayor (Peck, from the original films) seeks to close them down, fulfilling a 40 year grudge. This coincides with the arrival of an ice demon chap, who can freeze the proton pack streams. Ooer!

The new generation merges nicely and organically with the originals, although this film very much belongs to McKenzie Grace as Phoebe (honourable mention to Paul Rudd, whose easygoing charm serves him well here, especially in a scene involving Ray Parker's lyrics: could have been cheesy, turns out funny).

Kunail Nanjiani is as funny as usual, and British comedian James Acaster tries a bit too hard in a role which is sizeable and pretty much straight.

To be frank, the story is nothing to write home about, but it's functional. And, like many others I imagine, I sat there with a huge smile most of the time at the numerous callbacks to movies which I enjoyed so much all those years ago.

Mothers' Instinct (2024)

Early promise becomes routine thriller

[7/10 · 26 March 2024]

Celine and Alice are affluent next door neighbours, best friends, and each has a son: they are also best friends. Celine's son dies in an accident: does she blame Alice? Anne Hathaway is Celine and Jessica Chastain is Alice.

The first half of this movie is very good stuff. The introduction is an exercise in exposition: it does the job slickly and quickly. Then, after the accident, the depiction of how everyone deals with grief in the context of their own relationships is complex, painful and entirely convincing.

Then the movie enters psychological thriller territory. Is Celine up to nefarious shenanigans? Is it just her dealing with her grief? Or is Alice manifesting unnamed issues which she apparently suffered from in the past?

This second part is a good deal less convincing than the first part, and is fairly disappointing by comparison with the start. We've seen it a hundred times, even if we're not sure how it's going to play out.

Immaculate (2024)

Well done Sydney

[7/10 · 26 March 2024]

Cecilia dies for 7 minutes which leads to her seeking a purpose for her survival, so she makes her vows at a convent in Italy. Of course, old Italian convents are creepy, people are suspicious, and bad dreams suggest worrying stuff is on the way. But when that includes pregnancy despite any, you know, dot dot dot, what will people at the convent think?

This horror movie threatened to go in one direction but went in another, which I quite liked: the early surprise scares proved to be a bit of misdirection. I liked the story.

For most of the film's length, I wondered at the 18 certificate but, by the very end, I got it. The film was very atmospheric, aided by the location. And Cecilia?

This is the third Sydney Sweeney film I've seen in fairly quick succession. I went into the first thing thinking she was a pretty girl capitalising on her boobs. After a romcom, superhero movie, and horror, two of which are self-produced, tell me I was wrong. She's a good actress and has real screen presence. She anchors this film.

The Diabolical (2015)

Yes, and then what?

[6/10 · 7 March 2024]

Single mother Madison and her two children suffer some horrible creepy grisly menacing thing appearing in the night. Far from accepting the generous offer to buy their house, offered by some sketchy businessman, Madison stays put and subjects her kids to more disturbing events. Instead, she has ago at her son for reacting badly at school, and recruits her scientist boyfriebd to fing a solution.

Full of the usual horror film signature elements, this film leads us up the garden path by being something it's pretending not to be. And that's fine, because it does it quite well. It gives us an explanation,

But the explanation, and the (rather good) twist in the explanation raise further questions. We get the "what", but we never get the "why". And the ending raises yet more questions, which still remain as the credits roll.

It's a shame when a film does an OK job and then so conspicuously fails to stick the landing.

My Best Friend's Exorcism (2022)

Not bad, not great

[6/10 · 7 March 2024]

When Gretchen is possessed by an evil thingy, her friend Abby is the only one who can help her. But Abby is a bit of a victim to start off with, and the wicked thingy is intent on victiming her even more.

Billed as a horror comedy, this has some slightly scary stuff in it, and is sometimes mildly amusing. Having said that, if it was stripped of the bad language and occasionally coarse dialogue, this would be little wose than a PG standard high school movie.

Everything in it is OK. The story is OK, the script is OK, the acting is OK, the production values are OK. It is professionally made, although not excitingly so. Only the soundtrack makes you think, "There are some good song selections here."

It seems to be attracting much criticism by comparison to its source material novel. I haven't read that, so no comment.

Damaged (2014 TV Movie)

Good grief

[2/10 · 4 March 2024]

This is, in fairly broad terms, an urban paranoia/psychological thriller featuring a hugely cunning and resourceful high school student seeking revenge on a hapless teacher.

The overriding feature of this movie is the ability of Sam, the teacher, to make bad decisions. If it's possible for him to make a bad decision, he makes a bad decision. If it's impossible for him to make a bad decision, he still makes a bad decision. Even if no decisions are involved at all, he manages to make a bad - nay, even more diastrously bad than usual - decision. This guy takes stupid to a level seldom seen before on screen. We sat there open mouthed at the non-stop stupidity on display until we realised that this guy was never going to make a not-stupid decision. Then we had a contest, trying to predict the bad decisions before he made them. We fell short much of the time, but we had a LOT of laughs in the process.

To compound the felony, Sam is played by Chris Klein, a good looking man whose American Pie performance got by on two expressions - "I'm cheerful," and "Duh, what's going on?" The latter is used her to excess, joined at the end when the you-know-what hits the fan by expression number 3, "Someone just broke wind, and it's a bad one."

Also, Sam approaches plumbing work with a hammer. When water unsurprisingly sprays everywhere, his reaction is, "Perhaps we should call a plumber." Stupd, stupid, stupid.

This is not a good film, but we did get laughter from it for all the wrong reasons.

Dune: Part Two (2024)

Not as good as part one.

[7/10 · 2 March 2024]

Paul Atreides and his mother are now living with the Fremen following the Harkkonen bid to wipe out clan Atreides. Paul comes to prominence because it seems he may fulfil a prophecy, which may enable him to obtain revenge against the Harkkonens and also the Emperor, who facilitated their action in the first place. But Paul has visions of a war he wants to avoid, and the Bene Gesserit sisterhood have plans of their own.

Part Two picks up where the first film left off, and brings the story to a conclusion of sorts (author Frank Herbert wrote five sequels). I was a huge science fiction reader when the original novel was published, but I had a great deal of trouble with it. Its texture and density was a bit too much for me in my mid-teens, and previous film versions didn't help much. I was pleased with Villeneuve's film from 2021, because I could finally follow the story without confusion.

Part Two - not so much. The narrative is fairly straightforward, but it often felt as if exposition had been omitted. For instance, Lea Seydoux appears in some tight closeups and meaningful dialogue: she plays Lady Margot Fenring. Who? This is presented as a character of significance, a name actress with image and dialogue delivered using film grammar which shouts Significant! Yet we don't know who she is or why she matters, and we never hear from her again.

The performances are good, the visuals are great, but again the story proves difficult to convey without confusion. It's a good film, but it's something of a disappointment compared to its predecessor,

Wicked Little Letters (2023)

Good, but...

[7/10 · 2 March 2024]

In 1920 Littlehampton, prim Christian spinster Edith starts getting anonymous profanity-laden offensive letters, and others subsequently join the mailing list. The blame lands on her bawdy unfiltered Irish single mother next door neighbour Rose, who is soon in danger of prison and losing her daughter. Fortunately, Woman Police Officer Gladys is sure of Rose's innocence and has ideas about how to find the culprit. Unfortunately, Gladys is constrained by the police force's view of her gender.

The trailer for this film looked hilarious (and, to be, fair, it is often very funny), but it is much darker, and with far more drama than I expected. I enjoyed it, but it is not the film I expected it to be. The humour almost all derives from the improbably florid obscenity of the letters and its delivery by straight-laced people who are horrified (and occasionally secretly delighted) by the filth they are uttering. There is also a very short and hilarious sequence of Gladys throwing a silent tantrum in frustration at being stonewalled by her superior.

It is based on a true story, albeit one suspects some liberties have been taken, though not with the framework of the tale. And therein lies my main reservation. This is a period piece, but it is fatally undermined by anachronisms, which fall in two main areas.

One is dialogue. There are verbal expressions and vocabulary choices which are distractingly modern. The other is colourblind casting. I don't normally have a problem with colourblind casting, but in a period piece like this, a black judge in southern England in 1920 is distractingly inaccurate. Worse, Gladys is played (rather wonderfully) by Anjana Vasan, an actress of Indian heritage. The screenplay repeatedly makes the point that she is denigrated because she is female, but her race is not mentioned. In 1920, it would have been and I fear that, laudable is these casting choices might be in principle, in practice they served to pull me out of the story.

But Olivia Coleman has great fun as Edith, Jessie Buckley is an utter joy as Rose, Anjana Vasan is comically deadpan, and Timothy Spall gives depth to arguably the most difficult character - all the performances are good, and the film is well worth watching on that basis alone. As long as you don't mind a bit of bad language! Or a lot...

Madame Web (2024)

Don't believe all the negativity

[7/10 · 16 February 2024]

Cassie is a paramedic, daughter of a scientist mother who was murdered by the mysterious Ezekiel while researching spiders in the Amazon: an Amazonian tribe of spider-type natives delivered Cassie. She finds herself having flashes of the future, leading to her becoming involved with three teenaged girls.

This film is getting some highly negative feedback, and I was expecting the worst. I was pleasantly surprised: it's not bad. It's not great, either - it is somewhat muddled in terms of exposition: given that this is essentially a superhero origin story, it would have been helpful to have ended up with a coherent explanation of who had what powers and how, but no.

But at its heart, we have a character who is emotionally disconnected, and who begins to change even before learning the reason why. Cassie is likeable, as are two of the three teens, and even the third one has made progress by the end.

I admit that I'm easily pleased, but I think this film, like Marvels, is actually quite a lot better than the impression you will probably have got.

Migration (I) (2023)

Good fun

[7/10 · 16 February 2024]

Mack is Dad to a family of ducks who live on a small pond. He is also highly timid, in contrast to the rest of the family, who fancy venturing away from the safety of the pond. And, of course, the eventual trip leads to a series of, ah, adventures.

This is a fairly simple tale, a series of obstacles/incidents in the course of journeying from the opening situation to the final situation. But the events are exciting and entertaining, the voice acting is excellent, a number of the character arcs are significant and pleasing, and there are a number of sequences which are genuinely exhilarating.

I really liked John Powell's music.

Anyone But You (2023)

Likeable

[7/10 · 10 February 2024]

Bea and Ben hook up after a chance encounter, but a couple of misunderstandings the following morning leave them aggressively at odds. Two years later, Bea's sister is marrying Ben's friend Claudia in Sydney, meaning the mutually hostile Bea and Ben will be stuck in each others company for a period. While assorted members of the wedding party try to engineer rekindling a romance by way of overheard conversations (If only she knew he really loves her), Bea's parents are trying to get her back together with her ex-boyfriend.

There's nothing revolutionary here. The manipulative overheard conversation was a major plot device way back in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing (I was pleased to see this acknowledged in the film), although it is a) not played out as expected, and b) given a pleading payoff at the end.

Overall, the film is likeable, often amusing, a couple of outright laughs, and a pleasant way to spend an hour or two. Bea's helicopter parents are annoying in their unwillingness to accept their daughter making her own decisions, and Bea and Ben are often bordering on being aholes, although their basic likeability saves the day.

I was aware of Sydney Sweeney, but only as a pneumatic young woman with a propensity for removing her clothes. Here she adds a definite screen presence, a solid touch for comedy, and a genuine ability to act. Plus she co-produces. I must stop prejudging.

Argylle (2024)

Utter nonsense, but hugely entertaining

[9/10 · 10 February 2024]

Elly is on her 5th successful novel about superspy Argyle (played out visually by Henry Cavill) when she finds herself caught up-in real life spy shenanigans. To say any more would spoiler things, and I don't want to do that because the implausible plot twists are all part of the fun.

If you enjoyed Kingsman, you will enjoy this. It, too, isn't believable in the slightest, but that doesn't stop you enjoying the romp. And if you enjoyed the Busby Berkeley exploding heads sequence in Kingsman, you ain't seen nothing yet. The action sequences here are nothing short of hysterical.

Bryce Dallas Howard enjoys a role which gives her plenty of opportunity to have fun, although the gown she wears during the climax doesn't flatter her. Nice callback to Jurassic World, though.

This is just plain draft, over the top fun.

The Beekeeper (2024)

The Stathe strikes again! Frequently.

[7/10 · 25 January 2024]

When online scammers strip Eloise of every penny, leading to her suicide, her beekeeper friend Clay determines that there needs to be some accountability.

You know what you're getting with a Jason Statham film - it does what it says on the tin. And the action subgenre "You shouldn't have messed with someone who has a friend/family member with a very particular set of skills" is always enormously satisfying when well handled.

And it is well handled here, both the hand-to-hand stuff, and the broader set pieces.

The scammers in this case aren't based in Mumbai but are much closer to home, and there are some fun plot twists. The supporting cast are good (Josh Hutcherson is very effective as the chief (or is he?) baddie).

This is a satisfying action thriller, with an ending which is about 5 minutes too abrupt - there are several characters/threads which deserved a bit more wrap-up.

Poor Things (2023)

Fantastic looking, weird, somwhat worrying, but I liked it

[8/10 · 25 January 2024]

Hideously disfigured doctor Baxter is parent (or is he?) to young woman Bella, who is plainly not anywhere near "normal". He engages young Max McCandles to be a live-in recorder of Bella's development and progress. Then seducer and cad Wedderburn arrives on the scene, and entices Bella away to a vacation of exploration, both geographical and sexual. This bare bones synopsis skips backstories as well as what happens on and after the tour, but all of which are integral to what happens

At the outset, let me say that production design, set design, costumes and sound design are all stunning, and I will be surprised not to see Oscar recognition in these areas. As for the rest...

We humans learn from experience - we experience people, our environment, and also fiction. From text and screen we learn the language of fiction: how stories are told, and their content. And, usually, if a fiction is fantasy and the setting is not immediately recognisable, we will nonetheless recognise the characters and the relationships between them.

This is the third Yorgos Lanthimos film I have watched (after Dogtooth and The Lobster) and, like its predecessors, it is an arthouse film presenting huge problems for a viewer expecting anything conventional. Dogtooth had a relatively conventional setting and character dynamics which were anything but, and The Lobster was skewed in every way. Poor Things is also skewed (it appears to be set in the late 19th century in a world which is not really similar to our own), but it is far more recognisable as a conventional story - not one which will please anyone unprepared for something peculiar and discomforting, though.

Publicity pitches this as a comedy. I beg to differ. There is undoubtedly some very funny stuff here, but I felt like a lot of the comedy was, like Wes Anderson or the Coen brothers: a lot of sniggering behind the camera, and not so much in the audience. Even so, Bellas's mannered thesaurus-driven dialogue is frequently very entertaining.

In fact, I became much more invested than I thought I would, and I was pleased at the fairly conventional resolution.

Emma Stone's performance as Bella has rightly drawn praise (her English accent is wonderful). I don't know if Mark Ruffalo was supposed to be so overstated but, if so, then I guess he deserves praise too.

A word of caution: the film has some extremely fruity language, male and female frontal nudity, some fairly frank sex, and some graphic gore. This is not for the faint-hearted, the conventional, or anyone who dislikes being made uncomfortable.

Becky (II) (2020)

Lulu is good

[7/10 · 27 December 2023]

A year after her mother died, 13 year old Becky's Dad takes her to her mother's cabin in the woods to a) try to reconnect with his disaffected daughter and b) tell her that he is about to get engaged to single mother Kayla who, with son Ty, are also present at the cabin. Becky is not pleased. Also present, however, is escaped convict Dominick and 3 fellow felons. Dad, Kayla and Ty are captured. Becky already had problems to face, and now she has more.

This is a simple premise and devolves into a violent action thriller with genuine jeopardy, and the overriding question - how will a 13 year old girl manage against 4 hardened criminals?

Kevin James plays Dominick. I have little time for James as a "comedy" actor, but he is very good here. He's not as good as Lulu Wilson as Becky, though, who kocks it out of the park, and then some.

Alice in Wonderland (1951)

Belated classic

[8/10 · 27 December 2023]

Young Alice, dreaming (or is she?) follows a white rabbit down a rabbit hole into a world of surreal adventures.

Walt Disney's adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic was unsuccessful in its day, although the ensuing decades have shown its quality. It is a feast for the eyes, and captures the hallucinatory element of Carroll's prose brilliantly. It suffers somewhat from Americanisation (Carroll is VERY English) and Disneyfication in particular - there are areas which are overy cutesy, and some not-very-good English accents - but the visual imagination is good recompense.

This was ahead of its time.

The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)

More mayhem

[9/10 · 27 December 2023]

The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)

3 years later, Cole is still getting picked on and, what's more, nobody believes him about the circumstances of what happened 3 years earlier. At least cute neighbour Melanie is on his side, albeit her boyfriend Jimmy is a bit of a Neanderthal idiot. No when Melanie invites Cole for a weekend at the lake, thus avoiding his parents sending him to psycho deprogramming camp, no contest, right?

And so it starts to happen again, because cute girl next door Melanie just happens to belong to the same bllod cult as Bee.

All the things which made the first film successful are here again, including an excellent script and most of the original cast. There is some extreme but cartoonish violence, some fun callbacks, and a nice resolution or two to issues hanging over from the first movie.

An enjoyable horror romp.

Fall (I) (2022)

Well, the visuals are good

[5/10 · 26 December 2023]

When her husband falls to his death, climber Becky loses all appetite for climbing. A year later old friend and now selfie internet streamer Hunter manages to talk her into cimbing a 2,000 foot disused telecommunications tower in the desert. Because what could possibly go wrong? Apart from part of the rusted old ladder falling off, leaving them stranded on a tiny platform 2,000 feet up? You know, that old thing.

This film is an odd mixture of the very good and the very bad. The very good is that the film is incredibly well staged. The visuals leave you in no doubt that these two women are climbing, and getting stuck at the top of, this huge, incredibly skender needle, piercing up into the sky.

The bad? The two women, particularly Hunter, are so amazingly, annoyingly stupid, that you are actually rooting for them to pitch headllong to a richly deserved demise. No-one knows where they are, they have taken no safety precautions, they have inadequate communications equipment, and oh dear what are we going to do now? It's called consequences, dearie.

I Care a Lot (2020)

Marked down for nihilism

[6/10 · 26 December 2023]

Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) and her girlfriend Fran have an efficient but repellent legal scam in operation: with the connivance of a tame doctor and an easily manipulated judge, they are able to make vulnerable wealthy elderly people wards of court, put them into care homes, isolate them from family, and prevent them from contacting the outside world. They can then systematically liquidate their estates, being legal guardians of record. Then they make the mistake of working their scheme on Jennifer who they believe to have no family. Except there is a reason why Jennifer appears to have no family. Marla may have bitten off more than she can chew, but she's not going to go down without a fight.

There are no good people in this film, it is entirely a matter of who is the least vile. And that is probably Roman (Peter Dinklage), Jennifer's son, because we don't actually know the specifics of what he does, whereas we have seen from the start how Marla will callously sacrifice people in order to harvest their estates.

The plot is interesting, albeit I have my doubts as to whether it will stand up to a rigorous legal examination, and there is some fabulous acting. The final denoument is satisfying, although I hoped for a rather more poetic commeuppance than the possibly more realistic resolution of the Roman/Jennifer plot.

The Babysitter (I) (2017)

What a difference a good script makes

[9/10 · 26 December 2023]

Cole is 12, a bit of a nerd, bullied at school, and a bit of a victim generally, not least because his parents still insist on having a babysitter for him when they go away. However, since Bee the babysitter is a gorgeous leggy blonde who shares many of his nerd interests, this is less of a hardship than you might think. Then Cole is presented with the idea that he should find out what Bee gets up to after he has turned in, and the spicy truth or dare party... let's say it goes elsewhere.

This film is very well written, and starts out as a keenly observed fish-out-of-water teen comedy before taking an abrupt left turn into graphic, and very funny, horror.

It benefits from wonderful performances from Judah Lewis as Cole and Samara Weaving as Bee, but everyone is good.

A cut above the usual horror.