"The Love Witch" Review

Just when you thought the time of year for Midnight Movies was over and Oscar bait was poised to take over the cinemas, writer/director/Jane-of-all-trades Anna Biller delivers what is likely to be the year's last, best late-night gasser. In fact, if it wasn't for the sheer unbridled lunacy of The Greasy Strangler, The Love Witch would be 2016's best case for a future cult classic. I saw the film late on a Monday night and was the only soul in the auditorium. I can only imagine how much fun The Love Witch would be on the big screen with a raucous midnight audience.

The Love Witch is about a gorgeous young woman named Elaine (Samantha Robinson) who practices witchcraft. She uses spells to get men to fall madly - even fatally - in love with her. The film's entire gag is that it's made to look like one of those gaudy Technicolor melodramas and pulp stories from the 1960s. Intricate, handmade sets and costumes, washed-out lighting, and intentionally cheesy acting (in this case) are the tools of Biller's trade. Although the joke wears a bit thin in a few scenes, it's difficult not to find yourself totally captivated by the time the credits roll. I couldn't help but laugh every time the production design around Elaine's character oozed '60s and '70s style only for her friend Trish (Laura Waddell) to make a call from her iPhone and drive around town in her 2015 BMW M3.

Performances from both Robinson and Gian Keys as Detective Griff Meadows in particular sealed the deal for me. Both know precisely what is expected of them and fit the material beautifully. Robinson is as enchanting as any of the screen sirens of the period that the film spoofs. Keys's clean, chiseled "movie-star" look is also reminiscent of the classic B-movie heroes. Biller couldn't have picked a more perfect specimen to fit this role. Keys IS Griff Meadows. He and Robinson are perfect foils in this "Battle of the Sexes" - the seemingly perfect man versus the seemingly perfect woman. Who's will could possibly triumph?

Elaine and Griff don't get together until later in the film, but undoubtedly the story picks up steam when they do. It builds to a surprisingly thought-provoking climax as it pertains to pathological narcissism, personal fantasies, and gender politics (particularly the fragility of manhood).

It seems that this is the first time Biller's work has gotten anything close to mainstream exposure. I had never heard of her prior to this film, but an investigation of her back catalog suggests that The Love Witch isn't her first rodeo with the '60s melodrama thing. Her previous work appears inspired by that of Mario Bava, Ed Wood and William Castle to name a few. It will be fun to watch Biller's career unfold from here as The Love Witch signals the arrival of a confident new voice in genre cinema. The best thing about this movie is that it knows precisely what it is and what it needs to be. As long as you're able to buy into Biller's shtick, The Love Witch comes recommended.

A-

"Criminal" Review

All your favorite supporting characters from all your favorite superhero movies unite for a different brand of "Justice." Or "Avenging" if that's your thing.

Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent in Man of Steel), Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon in The Dark Knight trilogy), Tommy Lee Jones (Two-Face in Batman Forever, Col. Chester Phillips in Captain America: The First Avenger), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) and Ryan Reynolds (the title character in both Deadpool and Green Lantern) star in Criminal, a new film from director Ariel Vromen (The Iceman).

Costner plays the violent criminal Jericho Stewart who is recruited by Quaker Wells (Oldman) and the CIA for an experimental brain operation. This operation, headed by Dr. Franks (Jones), would transplant the memories and knowledge of deceased undercover agent Billy Pope (Reynolds) into a fresh body capable of recalling the classified information inside Pope's mind. The CIA needs it to finish the mission Billy started. Jericho seems like a good candidate because nobody would care if he died in the process.

At first, Jericho has some hilariously awkward encounters as he comes into his own following his release from prison. Things get a bit more serious as he starts to recall everything about Billy's professional and personal life. The stakes rise as he reaches out to Billy's wife Jill (Gadot) and the couple's young daughter. To save them, Jericho must complete Billy's mission at all costs.

Immediately after seeing Criminal, my first thought was how much I loved the fact that the film hearkens back to the "everyman action hero" movies of the 1980s and '90s. A name like "Jericho Stewart" belongs right alongside the likes of Snake Plissken, Jack Burton, Richard Kimble and John McClane. Also, Criminal isn't entirely self-serious. There are loads of lighthearted moments peppered throughout that use Jericho as a catalyst for sometimes unexpectedly big laughs. This is not a comedy film by any means; just a decent script that narrowly avoids being too dour. Many should find that refreshing after the relentlessly brooding tone of Batman v Superman. Costner is more than up for the challenge of delivering a consistent performance regardless of which scene he's in, whether it's played for laughs, intimate human drama or the thrills of a big set piece.

Among the supporting players, Gadot stands out as Jill. While some may interpret her scenes with Costner as melodramatic, Gadot shows a bit of nuanced restraint that makes her character easy to empathize with even before things really hit the fan. Easily her best performance yet, and if this is any indication, we should all be entirely sold on next year's Wonder Woman.

If for nothing else, Criminal deserves a recommendation as an occasionally silly but endlessly entertaining R-rated action movie that's well-and-truly made for grown-ups. Comic book aficionados need not necessarily apply. That alone ought to be refreshing for anybody.

B+

"Hardcore Henry" Review

You may remember a number of years back a pair of music videos that appeared on YouTube for a band called Biting Elbows. These two videos - "The Stampede" and "Bad Motherfucker" - were filmed from a first-person perspective and involved the main character leaping, chasing, punching and shooting his way through suited bad guys. "The Stampede" happened in an office building, and then "Bad Motherfucker" took the action all across a grungy cityscape.

After demonstrating their skills on YouTube, Russian-American filmmaker Ilya Naishuller and producer Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) thought it'd be a fun idea to make a feature-length action picture filmed entirely from the first-person point of view. So Naishuller strapped some GoPro Hero 3 cameras to a rig worn around one's head like a mask and set to work on Hardcore Henry.

In Hardcore Henry, the titular hero awakens with no memory as he is reassembled from bionic parts by his wife Estelle (Haley Bennett). After a warlord (Danila Kozlovsky) attacks Estelle's lab, Henry sets out to rediscover his identity and to rescue his wife before an army of bionic soldiers is unleashed on the world. Helping Henry along the way is Jimmy (Sharlto Copley, in a delightfully bonkers turn), a cripple who uses various bionic copies of himself to prepare for any situation. There's ghillie suit Jimmy, punk-rock Jimmy, RAF Jimmy, cokehead playboy Jimmy, hobo Jimmy, and secret agent Jimmy just to name a few.

The warlord Akan (Kozlovsky) throws all the bad guys he can at Henry and Jimmy (quite literally in a rooftop fight sequence set to Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now"), and in the process makes for non-stop bloody mayhem as you've never seen it before this side of Call of Duty.

Endlessly exciting and deliriously unpretentious, I could never look away from Hardcore Henry. The gimmicky visuals worked. Somehow, the migraine never set in. Those especially accustomed to first-person shooter video games should be fine.

At one point during production, someone advised Naishuller that they should include a health bar and ammo HUD (heads-up display) on-screen at all times as a joke to gamers. Wisely, Naishuller declined to let the gimmick go quite that far. Hardcore Henry remains a fun, mindless little movie, and if it had included a HUD, I probably would've brought an Xbox controller to the theater. As much as companies like Microsoft want to close the gap between film, television and video games, I prefer at least a shred of differentiation.

The biggest negatives to take away here are that the story is rather weak, and character development is slim-to-none. Akan is a nasty villain, but the first-person gimmick doesn't allow us to explore his character at all. The most well-developed character is Jimmy, and it's not even his movie. The narrative doesn't answer enough of its own questions and seems content to serve as a thin excuse to string together action sequences. The ending is abrupt, yet just cynical and funny enough to be satisfying. That said, I don't think anyone will be clamoring for Hardcore Henry 2.

Those looking for an action movie that breaks the mold should find some satisfaction in Hardcore Henry. Though the plot may be thin, the first-person gimmick, breathless action sequences, and "Looney Tunes"-sense of humor make for a fun time.

B-

Sundance 2016 - "Antibirth" Review

Six years ago, writer/director Danny Perez brought his experimental music film Oddsac to the Sundance Film Festival. At that time, Perez promised the director of programming for the festival's "Midnight" section that he would eventually return with "the midnight movie to end them all." That's a bit overzealous. The film is too serious to match the giddy goofiness of Yoga Hosers, not gory enough to satisfy bloodlust the way 31 does, and just isn't as gloriously fucked up as The Greasy Strangler. That said, Antibirth may be the most artistically impressive of the midnight movies I've seen so far this week.

The film centers around Lou (Orange is the New Black's Natasha Lyonne), a hard-partying slacker who wakes up one morning with symptoms of a strange illness. All the while, talk of government conspiracies and alien experimentation permeate the background. Concerned that she may be pregnant, Lou attempts to ruin the kid by continuing her bender of bong hits, chain smoking and binge drinking. As we expect, those toxins in Lou's system mess her up pretty bad but what we don't expect is just how bad. And, man, it's pretty horrendous.

Perez showcases Lou's hallucinatory drug trips somewhat differently than what we've seen in film before. Rather than carry on for an entire scene with manipulated lens filters and shudder effects, Lou only hallucinates in "shards of time," as if the bong rips force her to remember, rather than forget, glimpses of how she became "pregnant."

Helping Lou piece together the mystery is her best friend Sadie (Chloe Sevigny). The chemistry between real-life pals Lyonne and Sevigny comes off natural, making it easier to sympathize and engage with the characters.

The cinematography from Rudolk Blahacek is also quite impressive. I love the way the film is lit, especially during the final 10 or so minutes. Blahacek's work also allows the special practical effects to shine for ultimate, slimy, gross-out impact.

If you can picture a less intelligent version of David Lynch's Eraserhead with the body horror of David Cronenberg, you'll have a good idea of what to expect from Antibirth. 

B-

"Ctl+Alt+Delete" Review

Ctl+Alt+Delete is a new sci-fi thriller from writer/director James B. Cox which proves definitively that when a film has a strong story, confident direction and a team of passionate individuals working in front of and behind the camera, no budget is too small for big thrills.

The drama centers around Thule, a cyber-security conglomerate that decides to cut its losses by instituting M.A.N.A., an artificial intelligence to manage its data centers. One night, the Thule offices are overrun by a trio of hackers seeking to expose the valuable secrets stored in the data vaults. Sensing an attack, M.A.N.A. fights back and gives the villains (and the heroes, for that matter) more than they bargained for. What ensues is a high-stakes game where the good guys and bad guys join forces to fight a larger, potentially smarter threat.

You don't see that "joining of forces" too often anymore in genre film. What makes this dynamic between the characters even more fascinating is just how intimate it is. The film has a very claustrophobic feel to it which lends urgency and tension to the proceedings. Even if we aren't always aware of the far-reaching consequences of the data breach, the close-knit clash of ideals between the characters keeps things interesting.

The film doesn't take itself too seriously as Cox peppers some nicely-timed comedy throughout his script. The characters Jayhawk (Adam Shapiro) and Rafi (Josh Banday) are the lovable misfits at Thule who end up playing a huge role in the outcome of the story. Rafi is especially fun as a more likable Dennis Nedry-type character whether he's building "failsafe" security software or hitting on interns at the gym.

Lastly I'll mention how amazing the visual effects are for a film with a budget under $500,000. The makeup effects and CGI look very professional and thus chilling at all the right moments.

Ctl+Alt+Delete is a rollicking blend of comedy and tense, sci-fi drama that should play very well with the Comic-Con crowd. With such a high concept and such a low budget, Cox pulls off fresh, fun things with his first feature-length film. Keep it on your radar as the year goes on, and don't pass up a chance to see it.

Sundance 2016 - "The Greasy Strangler" Review

I need to be up-front about this. In the history of cinema, there is no other film like The Greasy Strangler. Whatever qualms or praises anyone imposes on the film will always be trumped by the sheer originality on display here; so I'm not sure exactly what it means when I say that this is the most fucked-up movie I've ever seen.

It's about a father (Michael St. Michaels) and son (Sky Elobar) who lead a "history of Disco" walking tour across Los Angeles. When Janet (Elizabeth De Razzo) takes the tour one day, it ignites a love triangle between father, son and a woman neither of them knows that well. If that wasn't weird enough, this is about the time that a deranged killer, covered in grease, starts terrorizing the neighborhood.

The film is really more of a romantic comedy than it is a horror film. The actual "greasy strangler" turns up at sporadic occasions; not necessarily when the story permits.

If you can picture Napoleon Dynamite with constant graphic nudity and gloriously cheesy horror elements, that's essentially the vibe of this picture.

I would only consider ever watching it again with a midnight crowd as lively as the bunch at last night's premiere. The Greasy Strangler is destined for cult status, possibly with props and quote-shouting like Rocky Horror Picture Show.

"Hootie-tootie disco cutie! Hootie-tootie disco cutie! Hootie-tootie disco cutie!"

B