It’s been quite a month, one of surprises, shocks and
upsets. There was a lot of variation both in genre and quality. For example we
had two horror movies that acted as bookends to the scale of modern horror,
with one being terrible and formulaic and the other being innovative and ground
breaking. At the same time we’ve also seen a great comedy and one movie that
just defied all logical categorisation, but more on those later. The sad truth
is that while there were some glimmers of greatness, March 2016 has been a month
of disappointment. It started with the release of the horrific ‘Ghostbusters’
trailer, Terrance Malick failed to astound me and Zack Snyder managed to sink
an entire franchise (don’t be surprised if in a year’s time we’re seeing
trailers for ‘The Flash: Days of Future Past’ as they try to pull the time
travel reboot trick).
It’s also been a month of conflict as critics have had to
battle directors calling them out for not liking their terrible movies,
audiences who have become desensitised to what constitutes a good horror movie,
others who were somehow disappointed that the Coen’s had made a sprawling
ensemble comedy that relied more on great characters than a contrived plot (because
‘The Big Lebowski’ and ‘Burn After Reading’ were nothing like that, apart from
in every way) and the never ending pile of DC fans accusing us of being paid
out by Marvel. Yes you caught us out, just the other day I had lunch with Kevin
Fiege, Russo Brothers, Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr and we all laughed at
how we had doomed what was obviously the greatest movie ever made by writing inaccurate
reviews of it(!) But anyway, here are the best three movies of the month.
3: Hail, Caesar
The Coen’s have managed to craft a film that is just as much
of a loving homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood as it is a sharp satirical
view of it. It’s wonderfully intelligent while also gleefully ludicrous and
ever cast member turns in a star performance, from Josh Brolin’s sacrificial
fixer to Alden Ehrenreich as an inept musical cowboy attempting to make it as a
dramatic actor. Paired with Roger Deakens once more, the Coen’s stage their
epic escapade in such a beautiful manner that it’s hard not to be swept up in
the glitz and glamour of classic Hollywood.
2: The Witch
Here I was worrying that horror filmmaking had forgotten how
to stage atmospheric environments. ‘The Witch’ creates an impermeable eeriness
that gradually rises in tension as the movie proceeds, creating a genuine sense
of terror and suspense. It’s less of a story about ghosts and ghouls but more
of depression and isolation as a puritan family tears itself apart. Excellently
performed, beautifully shot and so skilfully unnerving that it almost makes me
forget the twenty other terrible horror movies that I had to sit through in
order to discover this gem.
1: High Rise
It’s tough to say what Stanley Kubrick would be doing if he
were alive today and I don’t want to overreach myself but I feel as if he would
be making films like ‘High Rise’. Ben Wheatley’s trippy science fiction
thriller takes a 1975 novel that was once deemed unfilmable and not only adapts
it faithfully (mostly) but makes it disturbingly relevant. That’s what
ultimately makes it so frightening, not the ultra-violence, eerie atmosphere,
or its sadistic, destructive and hallucinogenic nature. What make ‘High Rise’
frightening is just how insightful it is, it glimpses the future by looking
into the past.
And the worst…
The Other Side of
the Door
There were a lot of contenders of this month’s worst movie
(expect to see some of them on the end of the year list) like ‘Gods of Egypt’
and ‘The Divergent Series: Allegiant’ but neither of them compared to the lazy,
overly familiar, terribly written, nonsensical guide to making a horrifically
bad horror film.
But I’m not done yet, for one month only there’s the biggest
disappointment award. And that goes to…
Batman v Superman:
Dawn of Justice
Normally I wouldn’t care but I’ve seen such an outpouring of
fans trying to defend this movie, and ordinarily that would be fine but I think
there’s a line between defending your own opinion and attacking someone else’s.
Fans seem to take it upon themselves to insult the integrity of any critic that
dares disagree with them, great critics like Matt Zoller Sietz, John Schnepp,
Mark Kermode Kristian Harloff, Mark Ellis, Alicia Malone, Scott Mantz, A.O
Scott, Chris Stuckmann and Jeremy Jahns have all received some kind of hate
because people can’t stand the idea of anyone disagreeing with them. Now I’m
saying enough, and I’m going to once again say exactly what I thought of this
movie.
I’ve hated every one of Zack Snyder’s films, but this one
above all the other is the one that I just cannot understand how anyone could
overlook its problems. I’ve seen dozens of people trying to defend the movie,
accusing all its criticisers of being Marvel fanboys, saying that the movie is “just
for comic boom fans”, “it’s too complex for average moviegoers” or “it’s just
mindless fun, don’t nitpick”.
But is it really any of those things? For me it was too
dark, depressing and boring to be viewed as mindless fun, too unfaithful and inaccurate
to be enjoyed as a comic book adaptation (as Kevin Smith said “Zack Snyder
didn’t read a bunch of comics, he read one comic once, and it was Dark Knight
Returns, and his favourite part was the last part where Batman and Superman
fight”) and too poorly written, badly structured and nonsensical to be
appreciated as a well made film. There are some good moments but they seem to
be lost in a sea of wasted opportunities and non-cohesive storytelling.
No comments:
Post a Comment