After an action-packed New York Comic-Con and Halloween fast approaching, the Buzz has everything you need to get through the week. Demons? Check. Robots? Check. Tanks? Whole lotta check. We swap out a look at some Blu-Rays for some good ol’ fashioned V/H/S (with a twist), some TV and a final horror short to ring in this most chilling of seasons. So bust out them candy buckets (and UNICEF boxes if you were an overachiever like me), cause its time for this week’s Buzz.
Movies: When stills first came out for David Ayers WWII drama, everyone expected an Oscar frontrunner. After all, period pieces are always an Oscar darling, and war movies (especially ones with a “war is hell” angle) tend to get voters all giddy. Yet, upon its release, reviews were positively mixed, with most saying “It’s alright”, and some declaring it’s “changed the war movie forever”. So what did we really get from the guy who gave us Training Day and a forgettable Schwarzenneger movie?
In truth, he gave us a really good distraction. No, Fury didn’t “reinvent the war movie”. In fact, its pretty much your standard Vietnam “the first casualty of war is innocence” set up for the first half before a triumphant battle in the second. Spoiler alert that’s also the only reason to see the film: It ends in the most brilliantly thrilling tank firefight ever filmed. The introduction of a scrawny newbie joining a tank full of two-dimensional supporting characters whose actions for the entire film you can predict from their brief introductions ought to tell you what you’re getting. It feels as though Ayers had great action sequences in mind and needed a story to make them happen, so we get the Perks of Being A Wallflower kid as the poor man’s Charlie Sheen fromPlatoon, refusing to kill Germans (who the film makes great pains to completely vilify until its final moments, confusing what its message actually is). Brad Pitt does a fine ob as the tank commander, if his motives are a bit unclear. In truth, the biggest distraction to the more avid filmgoer is how it feels as though Brad Pitt had already played the cartoonish parody of his Fury role 5 years ago as Aldo Raine, especially when he conspicuously calls all German soldiers S.S., as though telling Logan Lerman’s Norman his “job” is killing S.S. as though saying “Nazi” would lead him to start demanding scalps and talking about the Bear Jew.
As a whole film, the narrative lacks the impact of more personal accounts, and those looking to feel a connect with the boys on the battlefront would benefit more from seeking out The Thin Red Line, Saving Private Ryan or most especially a film that far more effectively conveys the “war is hell” mentality Fury tries to fit between its fight scenes, The Big Red One. Honestly, they need only wait a few months for not one but two emotionally powerful WWII period pieces whose trailers run before Fury and pack more honest humanity into their 2 minute spots than Ayers film does in its whole run time, The Imitation Game and Unbroken.
Yet make no mistake, Fury is a hell of a good time at the movies. Like the uber-masculine version of a rom-com, it hits all the story beats you want it to, the ones you know it will and see from a mile away, the story existing solely to link between memorable sequences. When all hope seems lost and the men decide to stand their ground aboard their tank, the titular Fury, the film launches into the most thrilling battle on the big screen this year. Admittedly, the first hour is essentially filler building up to this moment, and the film’s only true shot at Oscar gold is in the sound mix category (in a year where Fincher dropped the mic like a true frontrunner with his murder drama, the typical shoo-ins ought to start quaking in their period accurate boots), but when it finally hits, its enough to make you glad climbed aboard.
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From The Twilight Zone to Creepshow, horror has always worked well in the anthology formula, and Magnet Releasing’s recent success with the V/H/S franchise is proof that short scares in the hands of skilled directors send better chills than any killer with a chainsaw and a feature run time can. The premise, introduced as a framing device in the original 2012 film V/H/S, is a group of young men break into a house and discover old VHS tapes, each one filled with found footage horrors. The shorts, directed by indie horror figures of little note (with the exception of Ti West who had made some waves with The Innkeepers and House of the Devil), range from hauntingly effective to frustrating miss, but the remarkable thing is how fans of the film bicker over which segments fall into which category (The only segment routinely agreed upon as a success appears to be “Amateur Night” by David Bruckner). The follow-up, V/H/S 2, brought out bigger names like Hobo With A Shotgun director Jason Eisener, Blair Witch Project’s co-directors (and reinventors of the found footage genre) Eduardo Sanchez and Gregg Hale, and The Raid helmer Gareth Evans. While the segments in the sequel proved overall weaker than the first, the all out insanity and scope of Evans’ segment, “Safe Haven”, stand out as the highlight of the entire franchise thus far (its a must see this Halloween season).
Now the franchise is back with the upcoming V/H/S Viral. The premise of the framing device appears to be different from the previous installments, described as “A police chase after a deranged ice cream truck has captivated the attention of the greater Los Angeles area. Dozens of fame-obsessed teens flock to the streets with their video cameras and camera phones, hell-bent on capturing the next viral video. But there is something far more sinister occurring in the streets of L.A. than a simple police chase. A resounding effect is created onto all those obsessed with capturing salacious footage for no other purpose than to amuse or titillate. Soon the discovery becomes that they themselves are the stars of the next video, one where they face their own death.” The film will feature segments by Dance of the Dead’s Gregg Bishop, Resolution’s Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead, Deadgirl’s Marcel Sarmiento and most intriguingly, Oscar nominee Nacho Vigalondo, whose low-budget brilliance Timecrimes is a must see for any genre fans.
The first two V/H/S films are available for streaming on Netflix, and V/H/S Viral is currently available on VOD services.
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TV: Constantine has already been discussed to some degree in our New York Comic Con coverage, but with the official air date of the supernatural comic book drama looming, it felt best to advise our readers as to the inevitable “to watch or not to watch” dilemma. Yet, after seeing the fate of comic book shows like Arrow,Smallville and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (among countless other programs), the best advice that can be given with a pilot like Constantine’s is “wait and see”.
Its a flawed pilot, not nearly the out the gate great like The Flash, and not the fumbling failure of a show likeThe Cape (that was a thing. Ask Abed). It’s bland, feels tired, and lacks a lot of the spark and the grit of the original source material. It’s introduction of a female foil to, I’d assume a network note requested, “soften his [let’s just note, non-existent] edge” is painful, and will likely drag the narrative down the longer she remains a part. The actor playing the titular role is admittedly a much better John Constantine than Keanu Reeves (this guy at least tries to maintain an English accent, even if it is all over the place sometimes), and you sort of hope NBC will give him and the show runners room enough to breathe, and moves the punk elements it shoves in the background of shots into the foreground of the show. Get dark, get dirty NBC. Then folks will have a reason to tune in. As for you, dear reader, don’t write it off just yet. If you need background noise for aCandy Crush game, this will do fine, and then you’ll be all caught up if (and hopefully when) this show finds its footing, gets its wings, and goes nuts.
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News: After months of waiting, word finally came along when we’d see footage from everyone’s most anticipated superhero movie (well, except those firmly planted on team Cashgrab vs. Superman), Avengers: Age of Ultron. During next week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, those willing to endure the underwhelming TV spinoff would be treated to a first look at the next Marvel movie. Then, lucky for those of us with less time on our hands, some intrepid internet dweller released the footage early on various video sites before Disney shut it down. To their credit, rather than let bootlegs circle for a full week, Marvel released an HD version of the trailer on Youtube themselves, saying nothing of the leak except a tweet: “Dammit Hydra” (Hydra is the evil organization within the MCU).
The trailer gives us a first listen and two first looks at James Spader’s villainous and chilling Ultron, in the comics invented by Hank Pym (also known as Ant-Man) but in this film appears to be at least part a Tony Stark creation, as he laments the Avengers unwillingness to do what must be done to protect the planet. He describes them as puppets tangled up in strings, before a haunting rendition of Pinnochio’s “I’ve Got No Strings” scores a sequence of shouting and destruction (anyone who had any issues with the Disney/Marvel merger can now relax and bask in this brilliant mix of intellectual properties). The full trailer can be seen below, but the most striking images include a thankfully no longer hypnotized Hawkeye running through snow, a close up of character actor Andy Serkis and a shot of ballerinas. All the other images within the trailer were to be expected, as we knew well in advance about the Hulkbuster armor, or Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlett Witch. But in a film whose concept art has also shown the humanoid Vision (to be played by Paul Bettany), why show the yet unnamed character Andy Serkis plays in the film? What role does he play, so crucial that we need see him so early? The same can be said for the inexplicable ballerina shot. Joss Whedon isn’t one for MacGuffins, so one can only imagine when we finally see the film, such shots will make perfect sense, like stray pieces from a puzzle, the rest of which will come together in time. No matter what, this is a brilliantly cut, intensely intriguing trailer for what promises to be the biggest film of the year. Check it out below:
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Short Film: Our final short for horror movie month is more in the vein of Sam Raimi than Wes Craven. Yes,Vienna Waits For You is a horror comedy (which is interesting, since Ryan Murphy apparently just invented the genre) one that delights in its silliness while still trying to maintain a creeping sense of dread. In the first part, the film succeeds fairly well, taking on a Jeunet-esque sensibility of the strangely mundane. As for actual scares, the film lacks any at all. So whether or not Vienna Waits For You is worth your time depends, really, on whether you prefer Evil Dead 1 or 2. Those who enjoyed the disturbing, gory scares of the first film will be disappointed in the bland predictability of the short, but those who preferred the zany lampoon of Evil Dead 2, and those who like the ambience of horror films without any of the real scare will delight in Vienna Waits For You’s tone and delivery. It’s not a scary movie for the hardcore horror fan, but maybe for their middle aged mother.
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