Now Available: Iron Sky

Iron Sky
Directed by Timo Vuorensola
Starring Julia Dietze, Christopher Kirby, Gotz Otto, and Udo Kier
Rated R (language, crude humor, sci-fi violence)

 

Nazis! In Space!

I don’t know what Timo Vuorensola was smoking, but his movie Iron Sky is just nuts. Part of that is good, part of it isn’t.

This movie is about Nazis, who have evacuated to the moon in 1945 and have mined Helium-3, a substance they use to help develop their massive weapons they plan to use to attack Earth. A black astronaut (and former male model) stumbles upon their base on a moon mission, and…OK, the rest you have to see to believe. There’s race-changing, skintight dominatrix suits, gunfights, a Sarah Palin-esque President using Nazi techniques to start a war…yeah, it’s totally ridiculous. But it’s supposed to be.

This is a comedy, tonally similar to The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra or Mars Attacks in that Ed Wood-ish bad sci-fi way. Of course, it’s deliberately bad, but it’s warmly so. It seems Vuorensola isn’t a very good writer, though, as the film shifts focus and has multiple different plotines that are sometimes funny, sometimes bizarre, and almost always befuddling. It adds to the “bad movie” charm, but then again, I can’t tell if it’s intentional or not, especially when the Nazi leader comes to Earth and becomes an aid to the President of the USA.

Then we have the big massive space battle, which is well-filmed and has some excellent CGI for a relatively low-budget film. It reminds me of scenes from the 1953 War of the Worlds rather than Star Was, though. It seems the movie is also trying to evoke pop-culture references, references Star Trek, Dr. Strangelove, Dr. Who, and Apocalypse Now among others, even going so far to parody that scene in “Downfall” that became an internet meme. It’s pretty funny, just for its sheer audacity at not making any kind of sense. It’s a fun movie to watch if you keep your brain switch in the off position.

I’d say the worst thing about the movie is how the tone shifts to a ridiculously serious, overdramatic one in the last couple scenes, feeling more like a scene that would be more fitting in a serious war film. It switches to a social commentary perspective, and it just doesn’t work at all. I don’t think making a statement about the nature of war in a movie where a black man is turned white by “albinizer” and Sarah Palin is president is worthy of that lofty goal. In fact, it’s the total and complete opposite.

It seems the movie abandoned some chances for some really good jokes, too. While it’s a comedy, it almost seems like a cautious comedy, like it doesn’t want to veer too much into flat-out parody, although it’s past the “tongue-in-cheek’ category. It’s a bizarre move that that doesn’t make some really funny possible jokes, instead going for a more reserved approach during the spaceship sequences. But oh, well. It was a fun ride while it lasted, and numerous scenes still stick out in my mind. It’s a fun ride that could have been better, but is still worth watching.

B-

 

Now Available: The Campaign

The Campaign
Directed by Jay Roach
Starring Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, John Lithgow, Dan Aykroyd, Jason Sudeikis
Rated R (strong language, crude/sexual content, comic violence, drug/alcohol use)

      So…The election is over now. We’ve all been hyped up or, conversely, discouraged by all the politicking, but “The Campaign” is as good a movie as any to watch and enjoy this post-election rampage with a good satire.

     The film follows Cam Brady (Ferrell) and Marty Huggins (Galifianakis) as they engage in a state senate race that escalates into ridiculous gags and satirical nonsense like only Ferrell can give. It’s a movie for fans of these two comedy giants, so if you dislike the metrosexual man-child thing Galifianakis is famous for or don’t like the macho ignorance of Ferrell, then you should steer clear.

     This movie is all about the outrageousness of American politics, especially when it comes down to debates and political ads, which have become a farce for most people in this day and age. Or at least it should. The ads featured in this film, in which the candidates take increasing levels of one-upsmanship to cartoonish heights, seem to be too unbelievable to be effective. Then you realize how blatantly misleading and spiteful real ads are. This movie is probably funnier now that it’s been released so close to the election, and we have all gotten tired of the machine.

     That’s not to say the satire is perfect. It delves into gross-out humor, occasionally skirting the horrible territory that “Step brothers” delved into with its idiotic “gross-out first, be witty later” style of guttural comedy. Yet the film keeps a heart and focus firmly on the characters and their journey, however mocking it is, and that allows for some heartfelt moments peppered in. Not all the gags work, of course, but the majority does. Even though I think Galiafanakis is a tad overrated, his character of Marty Huggins is a down-home family man whose just trying to do something right, even though he’s oblivious to the stereotypically evil businessmen manipulating him (played hilariously by Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow). Ferrell is obviously a full-of-himself congressman who’s never been opposed and has everything he could ever want, but his family clearly hates him. Their entire personas are jokes, and funny ones at that.

     It is a bit of an anomaly, though, in that it isn’t a movie with any jokes that stick with you for a while. Most people can name a quote from Old School or Anchorman or Talladega Nights, and while The Campaign is vastly more superior than Step Brothers or Semi-Pro, it’s a small step back from Ferrell’s “The Other Guys.” I’d probably say “Casa De Mi Padre” is as good and as funny as this film, albeit in a much more understated, Napoleon Dynamite kind of way. The Campaign is more that in-your-face loud comedy.

     In the end, it’s a very straightforward farce that has a couple notable gags but isn’t breaking any new ground. I enjoyed it, but I dunno that I’ll rewatch it like I do Anchorman or the Other Guys. Galifianakis’ roles are starting to get stale and repetitive, so it’s a good thing Ferrell’s delivery is still as strong as ever, even if the trope he plays to is the same. But the question I have to ask is if I found it funny. Yes, yes I did.

B

In Thetaers/On Demand: V/H/S

 V/H/S

Directed by Misc. (see review) 

Starring Adam Wingard, Hannah Fierman, Joe Swanberg, Helen Rogers

Rated R (strong horror violence/gore, strong sexuality/nudity, drug use, strong language)

V/H/S is a new anthology horror film (which I’ve always enjoyed) that takes on the found-footage genre (which is getting really stale at this point). I’ve seen four in the last month alone- Paranormal Activity 4, The Bay, Area 407, and now this. The film is directed by numerous directors behind such indie horror film as I Sell the Dead, A Horrible Way to Die, The House of the Devil, and The Signal.

The film is six different segments, so I find it best to rate each individually, starting with the one that frames the story. A group of horrible thieves who make bootleg porn on the side break into someone’s house to find a VHS tape with incriminating footage, but they don’t know which of the dozens of tapes in the basement is the right one. One by one they watch different videos, all of them turning out to have horrific footage. This segment is called “Tape 56” and is honestly one of the worst of the segments. It’s a terrible framework for the rest of the film and makes very little sense. We have no indications of why supernatural things keep happening in the story as well as why the characters are so horrible and unlikable. It honestly would have been better if some kid brought out his dad’s bootleg VHS collections all labeled “paranormal evidence” and sat down to watch them all. It would have eliminated unnecessary characters, explained why all the tapes have horror tropes and supernatural weirdness, and would definitely had lent itself to more scares than the actual ending of the segment, which is fucking stupid and anticlimactic. D

“The Signal” director David Bruckner directs the next segment, “Amateur Night,” which features three drunk dudes trying to get laid who pick up a girl who may not be what she seems. It’s a decent little tale, but suffers the same faults that most of these segments do- not enough time for character development. The effects in it are pretty good and gory. The reveal is confusing at first due to the VHS quality of the videos, which doesn’t make any goddamn sense because pretty much none of these “tapes” are made using a VHS camera, yet apparently they all feature the type of glitches only VHS tapes (you know, with film in it) has. It’s used as a cheap way to obscure certain effects. All in all, the segment is effective, but nothing super-awesome. B-

Ti West, probably the best director among the group, directs easily the worst segment, “Second Honeymoon,” which isn’t even a fucking horror segment. It follows a couple on their trip to the Grand Canyon and Vegas who seem to be stalked by a mysterious woman. It’s incredibly boring, not at all tense, and features a scene that is supposed to provide foreshadowing but instead spells out the twist, and this is in the beginning of the segment to boot. It has a sick kill scene, but there’s no thrills to be had and nothing unique or even remotely interesting. D

“I Sell the Dead” director Glenn McQuaid directs “Tuesday the 17^th,” an obvious slasher segment that is bizarrely short compared to the other segments. The gore and kills are awesome, but the plot itself is literally an afterthought. It is deliberately skipped over and things like important backstory don’t exist because, well, it’s only a few minutes long.  Once again, the characters are annoying and have no personality. The glitches do make sense in this one, though, and there are some cool sequences in it. C

“The Sick Thing that Happened to Emily When She Was Younger” is directed by Joe Swanbeg, a mumblecore director with no experience in horror. It follows a girl on her webcam as she talks to her boyfriend when she starts hearing and seeing ghosts.It’s kind of interesting, but it splices together two different genres and doesn’t bother to explain anything. There are some decent scares, but the segment has a bunch of clues that are peppered around and the ending just doesn’t tie together everything. You basically have to invent your own mythology. Again, these segments seem to need more time to develop characters and give backstory and explanation. I dug the concept on this one a bunch, though, and that keeps it from being awful. C

The last segment, directed by internet filmmakers Radio Silence, is “10/31/98” and is the best segment in the movie. The characters are still blank-faced idiots, but they aren’t aggressively annoying and clearly have some goodwill in their hearts. It concerns four friends who look for a Halloween party but end up stumbling upon a cult. It takes place mostly in a haunted house and that haunted house vibe works incredibly well and the visuals in this are the best in the entire film, offering as many scares Paranormal Activity featured and then some in only 20 minutes. The technical glitches and poor lighting are still annoying, but it’s also the one that makes the most sense with a VHS tape, having taken place in the 90s. It’s a fun one. B

As a whole, the movie is terribly uneven, features two good segments, two awful ones, and two mediocre ones. The segments are strung together with little skill and the framing device is terrible. It’s just too boring and unprofessional at times, and the “found footage” style is nowhere near as scary as it should be. 

Total rating: C-

Now Available: The Raven

The Raven

Directed by James McTeigue

Starring John Cusack, Luke Evans, and Alice Eve

Rated R (bloody violence, disturbing images, brief language)     

     The Raven…boy, oh boy is this a contender for turd of the year. 

     The Raven is about Edgar Allan Poe, the world-famous author of horror and detective fiction, who finds himself embroiled in a murder mystery when somebody starts to copy his stories in an attempt to lure the author into a deadly game of wits. It’s too bad the movie is anything but witty.

     The first problem with this movie is the lead actor, John Cusack. He plays Poe as a violent, semi-romantic drunk spiteful towards all and completely haughty. Never once do we feel the darkness inside of Poe, instead the movie mistakes lots of drunken yelling for a “troubled soul.” It doesn’t at all capture the literary essence of Poe. The plotting and setup of the movie do it no justice, either.

     The film feels like Rolamd Emmerich’s cringe-inducing revisionist history epic “Anonymous” by way of the slick Hollywoodized bloodletting of the later films in the “Saw” series. It also attempts the whole murder mystery angle, going for a cat-and-mouse game we’re used to seeing Morgan Freeman or Jodie Foster run through the woods in, only now it’s in 1840s Maryland. James McTeigue, whose claim to fame “V for Vendetta’ seems to have been an anomaly, clumsily handles the director’s chair, using horrendous lighting that he also showcase in his earlier film “Ninja Assassin.” Certain shots, especially the action scenes, are horribly framed and edited, and certain moments that seem to be directing our attention to something in the background or foreground amount to absolutely NOTHING.

     Let’s talk about the script and the pacing. Both are bad, with the script needing a lot more…excitement. Everything is so by-the-books and rote. Nothing interesting happens, and the twists are either nonexistent or completely stupid. The film doesn’t realize that it has numerous idiosyncrasies that don’t make any logical sense and seem to be leading us to a conclusion that is totally obvious anyway. It’s no fun because there aren’t any clues to follow, just Poe finds a body, mentions his story, finds the clue that leads to another body, rinse and repeat. The “clue” segments that are supposed to be the “game of wits’ moments give way to mediocre revelations and more drunken yelling most of the time. It lacks intensity and the kind of calculating griminess that a hand like David Fincher could do.

     It’s just a boring movie with nothing interesting to say or show and virtually no thrills or scares. It feels as inconsequential as your standard badly-written modern-day crime thriller that Nicolas Cage or Sam Worthington might star in nowadays, and surely shares the same overly-shiny Hollywood production quality ill-fitting of 19^th century Baltimore. The CGI is obtrusive and obvious. The final act is a moment of sheer cinematic triviality when we learn the hilariously stereotypical reason behind the killings and we are left with an unsatisfying conclusion that attempts to intertwine fiction and reality in a cumbersome display of ineptitude. 

     I just can’t stand a movie so content on not trying anything new or exciting, deliberately towing a genre line and doing so badly at that. If you are a fan of Gothic fiction, skip this. Tim Burton’s “Batman Returns’ has better Gothic imagery than this. If you’re a fan of crime thriller, re-watch “Silence of the Lambs.” Move along, nothing good to see here.

D

Now Available: Safety Not Guaranteed

Safety Not Guaranteed

Directed by Colin Trevorrow

Starring Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, and Jake Johnson

Rated R (language, sexual references)     

     Safety Not Guaranteed is one of those indie dramedies that I tend to adore. Movies like Win Win, Submarine, The Squid and the Whale, and Juno all get to something more than the standard comedies do these days. I’ll admit, sometimes these movies suck (like most of Michael Cera’s resume and pretentiously “quirky” films like Gentleman Broncos), but Safety Not Guaranteed goes a little bit astray from the standard indie formula but adding a level of sci-fi quirk and a sincere, heartfelt sense of regret.

     The film follows Darius (Plaza), an oddly-named college intern whose love life is horrible and her pervasive sadness has only increased in the past ten year after he mother died. She works for a magazine that is tasked to track down Kenneth (Duplass), a 30-something recluse who believes he has built a time machine and wishes to find a partner to go back with him. What ensues is your standard love story, filled with secrets being kept, quests for booty by Darius’s co-workers (Johnson, Karan Soni), and a few twists and turns.

     Now, the setup here is pretty routine, but the level of chemistry between Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass is excellent. I love Plaza’s character, especially. She’s awkward, and her dialogue isn’t movie-ish. She fumbles through what she says, her eyes darting back and forth in stressful situations, unsure of herself. She acts the part of her character, and the sense of brokenness and longing for acceptance is understated yet intense. It doesn’t get in-your-face with the themes, but it’s still there, creeping up on you. It’s incredibly authentic. Even Jonhson’s character Jeff, a rotten womanizer, slowly becomes likable when he rekindles a long-lost love.

     The sci-fi elements of the film are a backdrop for most of the time until the end of the second act, and the third act is especially fun to watch. It follows a well-worn formula and path but does so to the highest possible effect, relying on emotional storytelling and human characters to keep everything interesting. It’s funny, too. I found myself laughing during many scenes that don’t even feature jokes- this is ultimately a lighthearted movie with heavier themes, and though I hate myself for throwing banal quote-whore phrases like “feel-good comedy of the year” out there, it almost fits. The last scene is fist-pump worthy.

     Is it unique? Hell yes. Is it totally original? Not really. It reminds me a lot of 2006’s “Special” starring Michael Rappaport, about a similarly possible “head case” looking for acceptance who believes he has superpowers. While that movie stays further into the genre niche than Safety not Guaranteed, which is a much more accessible film to fans of comedy and indie dramas, they are both neat little films that could work almost as companion pieces. Safety Not Guaranteed is probably the better of the two, and really appreciate the effort that was put into making a sincere, heartfelt film.

A-