Tag: Face/Off

[31 Days of Horror Part VI: Jason Lives] Day 12 – Mom and Dad (2017)

Director: Brian Taylor

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Selma Blair, Anne Winters, Zackary Arthur, Lance Henriksen, Robert T. Cunningham, Brionne Taylor, Samantha Lemole

Screenplay: Brian Taylor

86 mins. Rated R for disturbing horror violence, language throughout, some sexual content/nudity and teen drug use.

 

I wasn’t a big fan of the directing duo of Neveldine/Taylor. Their work is very stylized in a way that just never works for me. Now, one of the two directors, Brian Taylor (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, TV’s Happy!) has gone out on his own to write and direct Mom and Dad. So what does a film with half of Neveldine/Taylor look like?

Teenager Carly (Anne Winters, Night School, TV’s 13 Reasons Why) and her brother Josh (Zackary Arthur, The 5th Wave, Mississippi Requiem) are brats. They don’t get along with each other, and they don’t really get along with their parents, but they are forced to work together in order to survive an insane 24-hour period in which all parents become enraged and try to kill their own kids.

Let me be clear here. Nicolas Cage (Face/Off, The Croods), as patriarch Brent, is so perfectly cast for this film. I read somewhere that Cage said this is his favorite film of his from the past decade, and I can see why. He’s playing himself. He’s insane in the movie. He’s insane in real life. This is Nicolas Cage doing exactly what he wants on a playground built for him. Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions, After) does fine work as matriarch Kendall, but it’s Cage who owns every scene he’s in. The supporting cast here is fine enough for the material, but make no mistake; this is Nick Cage’s movie.

Brian Taylor’s direction is still quite similar to his work with Neveldine/Taylor, but to a lesser extent. He has some style that works here but he also takes time to outline his world with the rules by presenting scenes that flesh out most of the rules even if he never fully fleshes out the characters. At the same time, his style takes over near the end and the film falls apart because of it. Sadly, the ending is a messy downer that doesn’t really cross the finish line.

Mom and Dad is a mostly-winning genre film that succeeds where others have failed, and it has a nice tight runtime with a lot of flashy fun. Its failures exist in failing to work in really strong characters and an ending that falls absolutely flat. It’s still a lot of fun to watch and the good outweighs the bad, but it isn’t without its failings.

 

3.5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

 

 

For more 31 Days of Horror, click here.

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The Art of Self-Defense (2019)

Director: Riley Stearns

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Alessandro Nivola, Imogen Poots

Screenplay: Riley Stearns

104 mins. Rated R for violence, sexual content, graphic nudity and language.

 

I knew absolutely nothing about The Art of Self-Defense before walking into the theater, and all I can say is this was not the film I expected in all the best ways.

Casey (Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) is not a strong person. He is uncomfortable in social situations, and he is unable to defend himself when attacked one night on the street. He joins a local dojo where he is trained by an odd and influential sensei (Alessandro Nivola, Face/Off, Disobedience). As Casey’s confidence rises, he begins to see problems with the way Sensei operates, and it causes him to question his leader.

It becomes very clear early on in The Art of Self-Defense that the world these characters inhabit is a strange and surrealist version of our own. Casey’s answering machine is sarcastic about the amount of phone calls he receives. There’s also a strange quality about the dojo. I’m still not sure if the Sensei’s teachings are lies in this world or if that’s part of the surrealist world that writer/director Riley Stearns (Faults, The Cub) has constructed.

Eisenberg does fine as Casey, but part of the problem is that he is essentially playing versions of previous characters I’ve seen from him. He’s good in the movie, but there’s no range or excitement about his role because I’ve kind of seen it before. Again, not bad in the bed, but he’s overshadowed.

The reason I’m not talking about Eisenberg is because of Alessandro Nivola, who plays the peculiar Sensei. Nivola steals every scene he’s in with a special quality of strange which makes him equally comedic and stone cold disturbing. He’s the character I’ll be talking about most months from now.

The biggest problem this movie has is that Stearns dawdles a bit near the end of the film and doesn’t focus on what’s important as the film nears a close. There are some revelations about Casey, the Sensei, and the dojo that feel more important than they end up being. The ending makes up for this because it is exactly what I wanted without me knowing I wanted it. It’s a bonkers ending that is perfect for a film like this.

The Art of Self-Defense is not a realistic depiction of karate, nor is it much of a realistic depiction of anything, and for that, it works quite well. Writer/director Riley Stearns has crafted a unique experience that’s weird and wild and different from a lot of other recent films, and while I would have liked more exploration into the plot threads at the end of the film, and I would have wanted something more surprising from the film’s lead, this is still a very worthwhile viewing experience.

 

4/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

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[31 Days of Horror Part V – A New Beginning] Day 1 – The Dentist (1996)

Director: Brian Yuzna

Cast: Corbin Bernsen, Linda Hoffman, Michael Stadvec

Screenplay: Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon, Charles Finch

92 mins. Rated R for graphic violence including scenes of dental torture, sexuality and some language.

 

Hey there everyone! Happy October, and we are back with another 31 Days of Horror. I know last year I called it The Final Chapter, but c’mon, is it ever? Let’s start things off with a cringer.

Dr. Allan Feinstone (Corbin Bernsen, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Psych: The Movie) seeming has it all. Or at least, until his wedding anniversary when he discovers his wife Brooke (Linda Hoffman, Face/Off, Clifford) is cheating on him with the poolman, Matt (Michael Stadvec, Public Enemies, Chairman of the Board). The knowledge of such treachery sets Dr. Feinstone off, causing him to kill the neighbor’s dog and then turn his sights on work for the day. Dr. Feinstone is a dentist, and cavities don’t take the day off, and he tries to convince himself that he is okay, but Allan’s patients soon realize that he is not alright. In fact, he’s gone insane.

The Dentist, on the surface, seems like it could be an appealing concept. By that, I mean the very surface. I remember being a kid and being terrified of the dentist. Many people are scared by dentists. It only seems natural to make a horror film about one.

That being said, The Dentist is terrible. It has the slimmest possible plot it can, it revolves seemingly around an entirely unlikable and uninteresting cast, and there is no tension in the film. There is some revulsion, but no tension. There’s a feeling like The Dentist can exist in a world of Grindhousian films, but I would pass it up for another flick even based on the gore. There’s nothing particularly over-the-top about the horror, and in that way, it doesn’t even shock the way Grindhouse films should.

Sadly, there isn’t really a redeeming quality, unless you like seeing celebs before they were famous (Hey look, it’s Mark Ruffalo!). Other than that, I found the film, from director Brian Yuzna (Faust, Amphibious Creature of the Deep) to be dreadfully boring and flat-out without merit.

 

1/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

 

For my review of Brian Yuzna’s Bride of Re-Animator, click here.

 

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31 Days of Horror: Day 5 – The Collector (2009)

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Director: Marcus Dunstan

Cast: Josh Stewart, Michael Reilly Burke, Andrea Roth, Juan Fernandez, Karley Scott Collins, Madeline Zima, Robert Wisdom

Screenplay: Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan

90 mins. Rated R for pervasive sadistic bloody violence, language and some sexuality/nudity.

 

In The Collector, petty crook Arkin (Josh Stewart, The Dark Knight Rises, Transcendence) breaks into the house of the Chase family to steal enough property to pay off his debts to loan shark Roy (Robert Wisdom, TV’s Nashville, Face/Off). While inside, he comes across the realization that the Chase family is at home with him, each one trapped by a sadistic killer, The Collector (Juan Fernandez, A Man Apart, In Hell), who plans on kidnapping one of them, and killing the rest.

The Collector is the feature directorial debut of Marcus Dunstan, who wrote the script with frequent screenwriting partner Patrick Melton (Saw IV, Piranha 3DD). The plot of the film is intriguing but ultimately unrealized based  on the budgetary difficulties that the production team fought. The cast in the film seem to have no actually characters to be, especially Arkin, an unlikable lead who is known only for theft in the first act of the film. Tough to feel for a character like that. The Chase family is made up of cookie-cutter family members including rich husband, adoring wife, precious child, and whorish daughter. The character of The Collector is interesting, but I feel like as an audience, I need a motive. I need some understanding for why. On one level, though, it works pretty good not to know. I understand a sequel was released, but I haven’t gotten around to it.

The lighting in the film is another fault. I hate a movie that can’t seem to brighten up the visuals occasionally. This film is just plain too dark.

Something interesting I discovered about The Collector is that it was originally a prequel to Saw. The two writers behind the screenplay also penned the latter four Saw entries, and when the idea for a prequel was turned down, the script was rewritten as a new film. I would be very intrigued to read the proposed Saw prequel, being a major fans of the franchise.

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Ultimately, The Collector is a mildly enjoyable time if you aren’t expecting too much in terms of finer film qualities. Stay for the post-credits scene.

 

2.5/5

-Kyle A. Goethe

 

For more 31 Days of Horror, click here.

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