Kaos' way behind movie reviews

[Kaos]

Before I Wake
This is one of those movies that slipped through the cracks.  i remember the trailer coming out several years ago.  Good cast including Thomas Jane, Kate Bosworth, Annabeth Gish and the cutest little guy (Jacob Tremblay). A pretty intriguing premise.   Kid dreams things to life but not all of them are good.  When a couple that lost their only son in an accident adopts him all their lives change.

Story turned out to be pretty good. His good dreams bring surprises including bright butterflies and visions into the past. In his nightmares the Kanker Man eats the people he cares about.  He lives in fear of sleeping lest the Kanker Man come into being.

The way it was all tied together at the end put the pieces of the puzzle into place in a way I didn't completely see coming.

Like all movies, there were a couple of things that just didn't make sense including a lack of empathy at the end on the part of the new mom, the ease with which she gained access to asylum patients and a few other oddities but overall it didn't stray too far into the absurd and improbable.

It was well shot, fairly well acted (Tremblay is an adorable kid and a pretty good little actor).  The production values are quality.  It's obvious this is a major studio production and a lot of effort was put into how it looked.

But it never made theaters. I wondered why I never saw it come out despite the trailers that had sparked my interest.  After watching it tonight I did some checking.  When the film wrapped, the distribution company went under.  The movie was completed in 2014 with the title Somnia.  It was changed to Before I Wake prior to its release.  Several release dates were scheduled, but none ever happened.  Netfilx got the rights in April and released the film for the first time in the US on the 5th.   

During the release drama, the director moved on and did other things like Oculus and Hush.  Neither were as good as this film.

In an interesting side note (and something I did not know) the movie was filmed in Fairhope with some of the pieces also done in Mobile.  If you look closely at the paperwork during part of the film you'll see numerous references to Alabama.  That just makes it better.

[GH2001]

Before I Wake
This is one of those movies that slipped through the cracks.  i remember the trailer coming out several years ago.  Good cast including Thomas Jane, Kate Bosworth, Annabeth Gish and the cutest little guy (Jacob Tremblay). A pretty intriguing premise.   Kid dreams things to life but not all of them are good.  When a couple that lost their only son in an accident adopts him all their lives change.

Story turned out to be pretty good. His good dreams bring surprises including bright butterflies and visions into the past. In his nightmares the Kanker Man eats the people he cares about.  He lives in fear of sleeping lest the Kanker Man come into being.

The way it was all tied together at the end put the pieces of the puzzle into place in a way I didn't completely see coming.

Like all movies, there were a couple of things that just didn't make sense including a lack of empathy at the end on the part of the new mom, the ease with which she gained access to asylum patients and a few other oddities but overall it didn't stray too far into the absurd and improbable.

It was well shot, fairly well acted (Tremblay is an adorable kid and a pretty good little actor).  The production values are quality.  It's obvious this is a major studio production and a lot of effort was put into how it looked.

But it never made theaters. I wondered why I never saw it come out despite the trailers that had sparked my interest.  After watching it tonight I did some checking.  When the film wrapped, the distribution company went under.  The movie was completed in 2014 with the title Somnia.  It was changed to Before I Wake prior to its release.  Several release dates were scheduled, but none ever happened.  Netfilx got the rights in April and released the film for the first time in the US on the 5th.   

During the release drama, the director moved on and did other things like Oculus and Hush.  Neither were as good as this film.

In an interesting side note (and something I did not know) the movie was filmed in Fairhope with some of the pieces also done in Mobile.  If you look closely at the paperwork during part of the film you'll see numerous references to Alabama.  That just makes it better.

Saw this last night as well.

And have about the same opinion. Seemed well done but did find myself confused at times during the movie and at the end. Which I usually am not during these types. They wrapped it up well at the end with the birth mother and "his gift" but I still had questions. More logical questions than anything.

[Kaos]

The Girl on the Train

In the middle of watching it. I'm really confused by this movie.  I don't think I like it at all.  The problem is that I just don't care about the characters.  I also don't like the constantly shifting timelines. It makes an already hard to follow movie essentially impossible to keep straight.

Emily Blunt is trying really hard with her no makeup, disheveled attempt to look constantly drunk.  Her character's clearly got mental issues and a sick obsession with a concept of "love" that doesn't truly exist. Taken in by the fairy tale as it were. She's struggling with betrayal and coping badly.  I get that. Even when whatever you might once have had is gone, being betrayed in the way she was is psychologically crippling.

My distaste for all the characters in this movie, though, is overriding whatever strength her performance might have.

I don't like the sad little tramp. I don't like the cheater who's with the ex husband. I don't like the ex husband. I don't like the sad little tramp's husband.  Every character in this movie is awful. 

At this point there's still about 30 minutes left.  I'm sure there's some twisty ending coming.  Truth is, I really don't care what it turns out to be.  And I don't want to watch anybody else having unrealistic or bored sex.

Epilogue:
Okay, I finished it.  Big surprise - (that's sarcasm).  Twist was pretty obvious. So obvious, in fact, that it was almost a surprise because it was such an obvious, lazy choice.

The problem with this movie in large part is that the intrigue/suspense is not in really actually caring what happened but is created by an awful storytelling methodology that bounces around in time so much that what happened is almost lost. The actuality of what happened is also stupid.  What was done (and I'm not going to spoil it) was really, really stupid.  People don't leave witnesses.

Had the story been told in some semblance of chronological order, there wouldn't have been any suspense or intrigue at all really.  None of it would have mattered.  When the way a story is told has more to do with its impact than the story itself, you've got a bad story. 

This was like Shitty Shades of Slightly Grey or something.

[CCTAU]

Forever My Girl


Hallmark movie your wife forces you to spend money on!

[chinook]

Forever My Girl


Hallmark movie your wife forces you to spend money on!

So much for being an Alpha male.

[WiregrassTiger]

Forever My Girl


Hallmark movie your wife forces you to spend money on!

Great review.

I can tell K has been a big influence on your writing.

[GH2001]

Forever My Girl


Hallmark movie your wife forces you to spend money on!

Uh huh.

[Kaos]

The Vault

James Franco is a terrible actor.  Good thing that he wasn't much in this movie except for having his billing above the title.  Sadly enough he was one of the better things in the film.

Basic plot:

Group of bank robbers with motives that are hinted at but never fully explained get entangled with spiritual remnants a decades old bank robbery gone massacre.

REALLY bad script plagued with numerous pointless rabbit holes.  It didn't spend enough time on the robbery proper (nod to Raising Arizona) to be a good heist movie and it didn't given enough resonance to the horror aspect to achieve anything there. 

It wasn't bad, it was just immediately forgettable. Didn't really hit any of the marks at which it aimed.

Couple of tidbits.

Featured Francesca Eastwood (Clint's daughter) as the lead bank robber. She was fair at best.  Also had a big role for Orange Is The New Black's Taryn Manning, proving that her career begins and ends in Orange. She was gratingly terrible here. Also had a minor wasted role for Clifton Collins, Jr. who you'll know but likely won't be able to remember from where.

[Kaos]

Unleashed

Silly little movie, the cinematic equivalent of a funnel cake. But it wasn't bad. 

Stars Kate Micucci as a quirky nerdy loner loser whose pets become human and help her find her place in the world.  Lots of other people you'll recognize including one of the Lords of the Rings people and the Asian from Pitch Perfect.  There's also a brief sighting of Cissy from A Family Affair (for those of you old enough to know who that is).

It's not a perfect movie. There are some big plot holes and it requires some serious suspension of logic. A dog innately knows how to ride a bike?

Kate is so ugly and awkward she's cute.  She can't carry the film, but she doesn't have to.  Justin Chatwin, probably best known for Shameless or Orphan Black attacks the role of Ajax the cat with unleashed (unleashed, get it?) abandon and no self consciousness.  He and Steve Howey (Sons of Anarchy and also Shameless) as the dog Summit/Sam give the movie enough to make it enjoyable. 

It's not high comedy, it's not going to win any awards.  It's not going to change your life. It's just a weird little movie that ends up being a pleasant waste of 90 minutes. 

[bottomfeeder]

GET OUT

Not sure if this film has been reviewed, but I watched it last night and it's definitely a must-see.

Jordan Peele has a bright future in writing and directing films.

[Snaggletiger]

GET OUT

Not sure if this film has been reviewed, but I watched it last night and it's definitely a must-see.

Jordan Peele has a bright future in writing and directing films.

A little birdie, not Buzz' dick, told me K met Mr. Peele during or around the filming.

[GH2001]

A little birdie, not Buzz' dick, told me K met Mr. Peele during or around the filming.

I heard that rumor.

[Snaggletiger]

I heard that rumor.

Someone from the Auburn or Phenix City area sent me a pic.  Can't recall who.

[GH2001]

Someone from the Auburn or Phenix City area sent me a pic.  Can't recall who.

Kaos has skreet cred now.

But is the movie good? Would he dare give it a bad review ?

[Kaos]

Kaos has skreet cred now.

But is the movie good? Would he dare give it a bad review ?

See Page 117.

[GH2001]

See Page 117.

Here you go bottomfeeder:

Get Out

Went to see this primarily because a) it was written and directed by someone I have seen in person and b) it was filmed in Fairhope so I was interested to see if I recognized anything.

First Fairhope.  99.74% of the movie takes place at one house. It could have been anywhere. So zero Fairhope flavor.  That was a disappointment.

The rest of the movie was well done.

The dynamic between the black boyfriend and the white bread daughter wasn't entirely convincing but that may have been purposeful. There was less humor than I expected given that jordan peele wrote and directed.

The movie can't really be classified as horror given that any horror aspects didn't really begin until the last 15 minutes or so.  Instead it was a slow burn of "what's wrong with this picture" until Peele put all the pieces together in the short (in comparison) final act. 

A little slow in places. And some small things that bothered me which I can't discuss without revealing too much. 

Still a quality effort for a first time writer/director known primarily for dumb football names. 

Worth a look.  Don't know if it's theater worthy though.

[Kaos]

The Open House

One of the weirdest things ever.  I had just watched a murder show (one of those killers on ID things) about this guy who researched houses for sale, went to them without an appointment and when he ran across one with a woman at home alone he'd use some story about passing through town, only had one day, was going to pay cash and weasel his way inside. He'd always try to pick rainy days so they'd be more likely to let him in. Then during the tour of the home, he'd murderize the owner and then leave.  He was traveling four or five hundred miles from home to hunt and would have probably gone on for years, but in one of the houses where he killed a woman, she fell on the towel he'd used to dry off a little and he left it there. 

Then I watched this movie, a Netflix original.  It wasn't the same, but it sort of was. 

Basic concept of the film? Mom and son grieving the accidental death of the dad are house-sitting at a home for sale.  There are open houses. They don't end well. 

The film featured Dylan Minette as the son and some woman named Piercy Dalton as the mom.  Minette is a pretty good actor and did a decent enough job in his role.  Dalton was in desperate need of some makeup -- even though the lack of it conveyed the grief and weariness of the mourning period -- and there was a completely unnecessary shot of her unremarkable showering butt.  She didn't bring as much to the film as she could have.

It was a Netflix movie so it had its flaws.  One of the things that frustrates me the most about movies is continuity and this one suffered badly from failures to maintain it.  For instance it's pitch black when they run into their next door neighbor at a store.  Moments later when they pull up to the door, it's at least two hours later (judging by the level of sunlight).  This one had several other gaps like that, and there were quite a few rabbit holes that seemed to just be filler.  Even the death of the dad seemed superfluous and irrelevant. Could have given a thousand reasons for them to be there without adding that weak emotional hook.

It took its time getting to the truth, dropping possible clues along the way.  Then it left all those clues behind and offered a denouement that provided more questions than answers.  In doing so it turned some of the behavorial clues into tattering rags, flapping in the breeze. 

It wasn't bad, but failing to let the natural progression of learning about the house, neighborhood and residents bear the fruit it could/should have left me flat.  It was a really strange turn of the usual 'things aren't as they seem' trope. 

And it sort of gave me pause coming on the heels of watching a real-life murderer that exhibited some of the same characteristics.   

[GH2001]

The Open House

One of the weirdest things ever.  I had just watched a murder show (one of those killers on ID things) about this guy who researched houses for sale, went to them without an appointment and when he ran across one with a woman at home alone he'd use some story about passing through town, only had one day, was going to pay cash and weasel his way inside. He'd always try to pick rainy days so they'd be more likely to let him in. Then during the tour of the home, he'd murderize the owner and then leave.  He was traveling four or five hundred miles from home to hunt and would have probably gone on for years, but in one of the houses where he killed a woman, she fell on the towel he'd used to dry off a little and he left it there. 

Then I watched this movie, a Netflix original.  It wasn't the same, but it sort of was. 

Basic concept of the film? Mom and son grieving the accidental death of the dad are house-sitting at a home for sale.  There are open houses. They don't end well. 

The film featured Dylan Minette as the son and some woman named Piercy Dalton as the mom.  Minette is a pretty good actor and did a decent enough job in his role.  Dalton was in desperate need of some makeup -- even though the lack of it conveyed the grief and weariness of the mourning period -- and there was a completely unnecessary shot of her unremarkable showering butt.  She didn't bring as much to the film as she could have.

It was a Netflix movie so it had its flaws.  One of the things that frustrates me the most about movies is continuity and this one suffered badly from failures to maintain it.  For instance it's pitch black when they run into their next door neighbor at a store.  Moments later when they pull up to the door, it's at least two hours later (judging by the level of sunlight).  This one had several other gaps like that, and there were quite a few rabbit holes that seemed to just be filler.  Even the death of the dad seemed superfluous and irrelevant. Could have given a thousand reasons for them to be there without adding that weak emotional hook.

It took its time getting to the truth, dropping possible clues along the way.  Then it left all those clues behind and offered a denouement that provided more questions than answers.  In doing so it turned some of the behavorial clues into tattering rags, flapping in the breeze. 

It wasn't bad, but failing to let the natural progression of learning about the house, neighborhood and residents bear the fruit it could/should have left me flat.  It was a really strange turn of the usual 'things aren't as they seem' trope. 

And it sort of gave me pause coming on the heels of watching a real-life murderer that exhibited some of the same characteristics.

Good take.

It had me into it until the ending which left me a bit deflated. Still not bad. I think the rabbit holes were all there by design though. The neighbor, the black guy, the dad. It was their own paranoia.

[Kaos]

68 Kill

Matthew Goose Gobbler from CSI, NCSI, or one of those shows in an unhinged movie that focuses on the lengths a man will go in pursuit of that golden snatch. 

Gobbler is hooked up with a bitch who's got a little bit of a mean streak and a whole lot of crazy.  We've all known them.  She uses her powers to convince him to go along with a harmless little scheme that quickly goes awry. 

She's certifiably nuts, so is her family and so is pretty much everybody else they run across in the aftermath of the botched and bloody scheme. 

There's almost enough goofy and violent gore to satisfy Quentin Tarrantino. 

Not something I'd necessarily recommend unless you're invested in watching almost gleeful and violent insanity.

It's the cinematic equivalent of spending a couple of hours at a really trashy strip club.  Like Wesley's Boobie Trap . 

[bgreene]

Has anyone else seen the movie Mother?  I can say with all honesty that it was the worst movie I have EVER seen in my life.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, made one bit of damn sense.