Freaky

Posted on November 12, 2020 at 5:51 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated R
Profanity:	Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Teen drinking, mother abuses alcohol
Violence/ Scariness:	Constant very intense and graphic horror violence, many grisly murders, disturbing images
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	November 13, 2020
Date Released to DVD:	February 8, 2021

If you read my reviews, you know I usually skip the horror movies. So, forgive me if my thoughts on “Freaky” reflect my ignorance. But I was intrigued by the premise of a large male serial killer switching bodies with a blonde teenage girl. And I like the cast, so I watched it, and it’s pretty fun.

But I don’t know enough about horror films to tell you whether the pedestrian set-up and stock characters are just a shortcut because the filmmakers don’t care — and know the audience doesn’t care — and everyone just wants to get to the good stuff, or because they are making some sort of meta-commentary on the whole idea and genre of teen slasher movies. Maybe both. Probably it does not matter. So, let’s just get to the good stuff.

Certainly, the movie wastes no time in getting there. It begins, as all good self-aware teen slasher movies should, with teens in a luxurious but still somehow creepy setting, outside a mansion, trading stories about a legendary serial killer known as the Blissfield Butcher. Some say he’s just a legend. Some say he re-appears every year. We have just enough time to see how arrogant and obnoxious these overprivileged kids are (that’s how we feel better about their horrific murders, right?) before the Blissfield Butcher (Vince Vaughn) arrives, killing them in various creative but grisly and very bloody ways.

Then we meet Milly (Kathryn Newton of “Big Little Lies”), who lives with her recently widowed and therefore vulnerable and clingy mother and her older sister, a police officer. Milly is in high school. She has two devoted best friends, Josh (Misha Osherovich) and Nyla Celeste O’Connor. But she also has bullies, including tiny but fierce mean girl Ryler (Melissa Collazo), some guys, and her shop class teacher (Alan Ruck, yes, Cameron in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”).

After the homecoming football game (which does not get cancelled even though a group of students have all been horribly murdered, but okay), Milly is left alone waiting for her mother to pick her up. The Butcher attacks her with a mysterious knife he stole from the mansion. And it turns out to have magical powers or a curse or whatever. When the Butcher stabs Milly, their bodies switch. And, as they will later find out, if they don’t switch back by midnight the next day, they’ll be stuck that way.

This is where everyone starts to have some fun. Vaughn is a hoot trying to persuade Nyla and Josh that it is really Milly inside that 6’5″ middle-aged male body. And Newton has a blast with her new bad self inside the body of a high school girl. Milly is not able to muster the courage to stand up to her shop class teacher or the bullies or to talk to her crush, Booker (Uriah Shelton), but Milly on the outside, Butcher on the inside usually does. Let’s just say that there’s a reason it’s the SHOP class teacher who has been so mean to her.

And of course it all ends up at a big teen party.

In between all of the murders and mayhem, there is room for some sly humor and some genuine warmth as Milly-in-the-Butcher’s-Body hides out in a discount store dressing room and talks to her mom on the other side of the door, and some romance as she and Booker have a quiet, very sweet conversation in a car. There’s a vicarious thrill at seeing the Butcher-in-Milly’s-body stand up (even if it is in a murderous manner) to the people who treated Milly badly.

I’m still not a horror fan, but I enjoyed this one, and if you are a horror fan I’m pretty sure you will, too.

Parents should know this is a full-on horror movie with many disturbing images and grisly murders. Characters use strong language and there are references to sex (some crude) and to alcohol abuse.

Family discussion: What did Milly learn about her mother in the dressing room? How would you convince someone that you were you if you suddenly looked completely different?

If you like this, try: “Jennifer’s Body” and “Shawn of the Dead”

Interview: “Hacksaw Ridge” Mel Gibson, Luke Bracey, Vince Vaughn

Posted on November 6, 2016 at 8:00 am

Mel Gibson’s first film as a director in ten years is “Hacksaw Ridge,” the true story of Desmond Doss, a medic in WWII who showed extraordinary courage and devotion, returning over and over again to rescue 75 wounded men under enemy fire in a battle in Okinawa. I spoke to Gibson, and to Vince Vaughn and Luke Bracey, who play soldiers in the film.

The movie’s battle scenes are intentionally brutal. “I don’t think I glamorized war,” Gibson said. “I made it look hard and hopefully realistic, at least that’s what the Okinawa guys told us. There’s not many of them left but it was an experience for them. I think is not really a war film, it’s a love story because a guy went in there through filial love determined never to kill anyone or harm anyone and he kept putting his life on the line to save lives so this is the greatest act of love you could perform, to sacrifice yourself for someone else so it’s a love story. It just happens to be in the worst place on earth.

Vaughn spoke about the challenge of portraying a the sergeant who trains and then takes into battle Doss and his unit.

I have a lot of military in my family and have done a lot of things throughout the years with the USO, so I had a good point of reference for start. And then being in a unique situation playing a sergeant, that you are training a new unit and that you’re actually going to carry them over to the battlefield, you really are going to feel responsible for these kids. You have got a lot of love for them and your job is ready to prepare them to be able to go to their training and as much as possible not kind of freak out during battle and to stay alive for themselves and for their brothers in arms.

Look, you are preparing for war, so the penalty of not being up to the task is death of yourself or the people in the unit. That’s why I think there is a bit of sense of humor in some of it because you want to reach people. You can’t just come and make them tone deaf because you are screaming at them the whole time. I think like everyone has their own unique way of doing it so I think there are moments when you are really hard, you are trying to get your point across to let them know what’s at stake and your intents. And then there is other times when you try to use it a little bit of a sense of humor to try to get them to laugh and to bring them together. And I think that this presents a unique situation. Here is a gentleman who is refusing to carry a gun. You just have to understand that from a military point of view this is close quarter battles you see the depiction of it in the movie, to be in a foxhole at night, sleeping with somebody and them on watch and someone approaches and they don’t have the means to defend themselves, then obviously no one would want to be in that situation. And I think made the true story and what is so powerful about Desmond is he had such a faith such a conviction and a calling and it really transcended the moment. There is something beautiful in that and I think that when you are true to your convictions and you do stay true to what you believe in, not only are you rewarded but actually everyone else around you is rewarded as well and I think you see that resonate in the film.

Bracey talked about the “intense physical aspect to this stuff especially, the battle scenes. You spend about two months filming that stuff and I think preparation for me it was obviously very physical but not just getting in shape. There is a mental aspect to the physical side in that commitment to everything you are doing. If you take the right attitude towards it you can really tolerate it in a positive way where you can try not to give up and everything you do, you know it’s going to hurt but you know there’s so much left to go as well so I enjoyed that aspect of it, and also just kind of delving into what is a man as well. At what point does a man goes from telling another a man to harden up to the point where can empathize with him.”

Filmmaking technology has changed very rapidly, and Gibson appreciated being able to take advantage of lighter, faster cameras and better special effects.

In the old days you had two stops either way for light but now it’s infinite and you can turn day into night with no problem. You can blow frames up without any loss of quality, you can flop the shot. I mean it’s just crazy what you can do with colors and the color palette. So technologically things really advanced and you can move pretty fast and shoot from the hip but I would say filmwise, in the world of films there are restrictions if you want to make an independent film and this is an independent film. So your budgets are restricted, you have less time to do it. This is a superhero movie so don’t get me wrong, but if he’s not wearing spandex you don’t get the budget.

A lot of things had to come together to make the image happen on screen. The thing with combat or war sequences on screen is it that they have to be clear, so clarity is required but within that wider framework of clarity, almost like a sporting or chess game, you have to have a strategy that is at least readable but it has to look like chaos amidst that. So in order for all the pyrotechnics, and the stunts and bullet hits and the camera guys, the actors, the extras, the stunts guys, everything, a lot of things have to come together so that you can catch it all on the screen so that logistically speaking little bit like juggling a few balls at the same time. But there’s a lot of people doing it. You don’t do these things alone and it’s really about synchronizing the departments, the various departments to come together to really get that image that you want. And after that the special effects that was great afterwards. But the earmark of great special effects is when you can’t see them. You don’t know what the practical stuff is from the stuff that you do afterwards. There’s both — there’s a lot of practical stuff like some 800 shots I think where they are special effects. I mean there’s muzzle flashes and tracers and dirt hits and stuff like that that were put in afterwards that really add so much. So technically speaking it’s a real scheduling juggling match.

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Unfinished Business

Posted on March 5, 2015 at 5:59 pm

“Unfinished Business” is a story about three renegade renegades from bureaucracy going up against The Man and the importance of the individual in an era of soul-grinding corporatism. But the movie itself is clearly the product of institutional over-management, as though it was put together by a committee and then circulated for sign-off through a dozen different divisions. The result is a weird and sadly sour mash-up of wild, raunchy comedy, underdog triumph, and treacly family story about how much daddies love their children. Plus random switches of location, tired jokes about glory holes in gay bars, and stunningly off-kilter “humor” about developmental challenges. And much assumed hilarity about someone’s funny name, which is not even that funny. Vince Vaughn looks tired throughout and not just because his character is exhausted. The original title, “Business Trip,” would have better described the storyline. The current title better describes the film.

Vaughn plays Daniel, who in a “Jerry Maguire” moment begins the film by quitting his job as a salesman for some faceless conglomerate that sells something. His boss, Chuck (Sienna Miller, very funny and underused) has told him he has to take a pay cut. So he walks out, and two men come along. One is old and bitter (Tom Wilkinson as Timothy). One is young and naive (Dave Franco as Mike). But they have grit and dreams and determination. A year later, they have just one last chance to keep their enterprise going. The deal has been approved. They just need to fly to Portland, Maine for the handshake. Yes, a handshake is all it takes to shake that money tree. We won’t waste time on the sloppiness in the portrayal of “business” in this film, except to note that it is consistent with the lack of energy throughout.

At first it seems there will be some connection between the bullying issues faced by Daniel’s children and his relationship with Chuck. Instead, we get to hear Timothy whine about his bad marriage and how much he wants to have sex, wheelbarrow style. Or another joke about Mike Pancake’s last name or his inability to master basic vocabulary (while somehow doing an excellent job putting complicated pricing figures together).

But before they can get to the handshake, they have to get through Chuck, who is there chatting up the client with jokes that are just smutty enough to make her look like a “cool girl,” and undercutting their prices to drive them out of business. This means they end up going to Germany for yet another meeting, so that lots of things can go wrong in ways that are supposed to be funny along the way. The car flips over. A crucial agreement cannot happen unless they track down a female colleague in a co-ed spa, who of course insists that Daniel remove his clothes to show his, uh, commitment or something. The guys end up at a gay bar, a youth hostel, an anti-G8 demonstration, and a very revealing art installation, as Daniel tries to re-do his numbers to undercut Chuck and keep up with some bullying problems his children are dealing with at home. At one point, he ends up walking (and then running) around in teal eyeshadow, and we perk up for a moment, thinking something that isn’t banal and formulaic is going to happen, but no such luck. The storyline, like the comedy, is unfinished, too.

Parents should know that this movie includes constant very strong language, extended male and female nudity, very explicit sexual references and situations, drinking, drug use, bullying, and comic peril and violence.

Family discussion: Why did Daniel have trouble with the homework assignment? Should he have told his wife the truth? How did he help his children?

If you like this, try: “The Hangover” and “The Big Kahuna”

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Delivery Man

Posted on November 21, 2013 at 6:00 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Mature High Schooler
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, sexual content, some drug material, brief violence and language
Profanity:	Very strong and crude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Character grows marijuana, alcohol, hard drug abuse treated seriously but irresponsibly
Violence/ Scariness:	Fight, drug abuse
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	November 22, 2013
Amazon.com ASIN:	B00GEKO51U

The undeniable sweetness of “Delivery Man” makes its inherent silliness just about forgivable. Or, it just might be the sense of relief that Vince Vaughn is finally making a movie that is just silly instead of crass and stupid like “Couples Retreat,” “Four Christmases,” “Fred Claus,” and pretty much most of what he’s done since “Wedding Crashers.”

Vaughn plays his usual likeable shlub, this time Dave, the son of a butcher. His brothers work in the store with their father, but all Dave can do is drive the delivery truck, and he does not even do that very well. “It’s like every day you find some new way to push the limits of incompetence.”

He also has the usual long-suffering girlfriend, a cop named Emma (Cobie Smulders), who, like all girlfriends in these arrested development movies, has only one responsibility in the story, which is to look beautiful when she tells him that it’s time for him to grow up. It turns out that she is pregnant, and she does not believe he has it in him to be responsible enough to be a dad.

In the midst of all this, he discovers that he already is a dad, at least in the strictly biological sense. Some time ago, he was a “very, very frequent donor” at a sperm bank, which carelessly made it available to many more women than its guidelines allowed. A lawyer shows up in Dave’s apartment to tell him that he is the biological father of 533 children, and 142 of them have sued the facility to find out the identity of the mysterious “Starbuck” whose genetic heritage they carry. Starbuck is not related to the coffee shops or the Moby Dick character who inspired their name. It is the name of the French-Canadian film adapted by its writer-director for this remake, and the name of a legendarily productive stud bull.

Dave is known only as “Starbuck” to the progeny, and his anonymity is guaranteed by the terms of his donor agreement. His best friend is Brett (Chris Pratt, a highlight of the movie and quickly becoming one of our most indispensible comic actors), a lawyer who is beleaguered by his four young children. “My children cannot pick up the frequency of my voice,” he explains, exhausted. Brett gives Dave the folder of information on the 142 plaintiffs and tells him not to open it. What was he thinking?

Dave reads just one file, and is thrilled with his connection to a very accomplished young man. So he takes out another one, and then another, and finds that many of them need help. And he finds that helping them gives him a great sense of satisfaction and purpose. Most don’t need much help. Dave covers a would-be actor’s day job (badly) so he can go on an audition. He warns off catcallers harassing a young woman in a short skirt. He helps an inebriated kid get home. These are in the trailer and are fairly cute.

Some have serious problems. One is a drug addict. One is severely disabled and cannot communicate. These are handled superficially at best and downright irresponsibly at worst.

It’s all just a matter of time before everyone finds out, generally in the most awkward of ways. Cue the fake Jay Leno monologue. But babies are heart-tugging, even twenty years later, and the longing for family from both the children and their bio-dad is so touching that even the most preposterous resolution somehow seems just fine.

Parents should know that the film is about a man who fathered more than 500 children through a series of donations to a fertility clinic and it includes explicit references and crude jokes about producing samples and fertility treatments. Characters use strong and crude language, drink, grow marijuana and abuse harder drugs (the movie implies that addicts can quit easily without any help), and there is some brief violence.

Family discussion: How should Dave prove that he “deserves” to be the baby’s father? What did the children want from the lawsuit? How did he help them?

If you like this, try: “Baby Mama”

The Internship

Posted on June 6, 2013 at 6:00 pm

Co-writer and star Vince Vaughn brings us what is basically a remake of his “Old School,” a sort of “Revenge of the Un-Nerds” with a little “Legally Blonde,” and a lot from pretty much every story about a group of assorted losers who show the cool kids how it’s done.

Vaughn and his “Wedding Crashers” bro-star Owen Wilson play Billy and Nick, best pals and partners in selling the ultimate in old-school technology, luxury watches. When their company goes under — even the receptionist uses her phone to check the time — it is clear that even the ability to “sell prosciutto to a rabbi,” remembering to compliment the buyer on his daughter’s gymnastics achievements, and a “Get Psyched ” mix with fist-pumping sing-alongs to Alanis Morrisette is no longer a sustainable business model.

It is also clear, with an Adam Sandler-esque notion that any mention of pop culture between 1980-95 is automatically endearing and funny, a complete waste of John Goodman and Will Ferrell, and a dumb joke about a child’s weight that no one is shooting very high, here. It has a numbingly predictable comeback-setback-comeback structure. But as dumb fun, it’s not too bad.

To the surprise of no one who has seen the title, our good-natured but immature watch salesmen apply for the intensely competitive internships at Google. To the surprise of no one who knows anything about the control freaks at Google or the concessions one must make to use the logo and setting of a real-life corporation, Google is portrayed very, very favorably. And to the surprise of anyone who’s ever seen a movie before, Billy and Nick prove themselves to be completely clueless losers but then, when they are put on the team of outcasts, their team spirit and oddball skills will save the day. Even if you haven’t, the English accent of the arrogant bad guy (nicely icy Max Minghella) is kind of a giveaway.

It is all pretty tired, with its fat jokes and crotch hits, and “Flashdance” pep-talks. Then there is an extended portrayal of a drunken visit to a pole-dancing club with lap-dances (three separate shots of the nerd-boy frantically trying to use the hand-dyer on the crotch of his pants) as the ultimate signifier of liberation and empowerment. And really, when will they notice that women can be funny, too? Rose Byrne, so magnificent in “Bridesmaids,” is relegated to the “hyper-competent girl who needs to slow down and enjoy life” role. Vaughn has made a movie about having the courage to adapt to change that is itself stuck in the 90’s. What word would Alanis Morrisette use about that?

Parents should know that this film includes very crude and raunchy humor, strong and vulgar language and explicit sexual references, pole dancers, lap dancing, drinking and drunkenness (portrayed as liberating), and drug humor.

Family discussion: What would be your answer to the blender question? Ask the people in your family about their toughest job interviews.

If you like this, try: “Old School” and “Legally Blonde”

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