It (2017) Movie Review

It (2017)

Rent It on Amazon Video
Written by: Chase Palmer & Cary Joji Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman (screenplay by), Stephen King (based on the novel by)
Directed by: Andy Muschietti
Starring:  Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Lieberher, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Owen Teague
Rated: R
Watch the trailer 

Plot
A group of bullied kids band together when a shape shifting monster, taking the appearance of a clown, begins hunting children.

Verdict
This was a really good movie, not just good for horror but legitimately good. I didn't expect that. It captures nostalgia and the coming of age teen genre, but the conflict isn't someone moving away, unrequited love, or school bullies, it was a demented devil clown. This took time to develop the characters, and while there are plenty of jump scares, the solid foundation of the movie prevented it from feeling cheap. Sometimes remakes can be really good.
Watch it.

Review
From the opening this is good looking movie. Starting with an overcast sky, the colors are dim and gray. The next scene is Georgie afraid of the basement, and a few scenes later he's talking to a clown in a storm drain. The shadows are great. We can just barely make out Pennywise's face but his eyes glow bright. Georgie meets a gruesome demise and that's the introduction to this movie.

It's set in the '80s and really pushes that nostalgia. A group of misfits end up banding together to fight the clown. The mood feels authentic from awkward high school crushes to the way the children banter and make fun of each other. With seven kids, that's at least two too many. They aren't all developed equally, the movie just doesn't have the time and we wouldn't have the patience.

At thirty minutes in I was impressed. It's not just good for a horror movie which are typically lower budget, this was a good movie. It's well paced, providing some nice moments for the characters. Bill insists on helping Beverly clean her bathroom that's coated from floor to ceiling in blood. It's a moment that pushes the potential crush triangle between Bill, Ben, and Beverly.

The adults are creepy. Beverly's dad is given serious child molester cues. One of the kid's moms is feeding him placebo pills. I'm amazed the group of bullies that torture the town hasn't been arrested. They do some heinous stuff. I wondered if this was going to twist the bully into doing good or show that he's really a coward. It does develop his story a little bit, but you don't feel any sympathy for him.

This has plenty of jump scares, but it is effective. In a lot of movies that feels cheap, but it never did in this. I was surprised at how good this is. It mixes teen drama and a coming of age story with horror. It's that drama that drives this. The mix of genres makes this unique. It's more than a cheap remake but more than the usual high school romance story.

"Uncle Buzz" and Mickey and Judy

 

Busby Berkeley is a name well known to Classic Movie fans and especially fans of musicals. The choreographer/director was a trendsetter in the business with his staging concepts in such films as 42nd Street (1933) and Footlight Parade (1933). Berkeley, who had been working at Warner Brothers for six years, was brought to MGM in 1939. His first film there was Babes in Arms.

Babes in Arms was Berkeley's first time working with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, both child actors who had been working since they were toddlers and who already had impressive filmographies. Judy had just finished working on The Wizard of Oz, which would earn her a Juvenile Academy Award, and would arrive to recording sessions before filming of Babes in Arms began still in her costume and makeup as Dorothy Gale (Berkeley choreographed a routine for the Scarecrow that was cut from the final film).

Nobody ever topped Judy and Mickey. I don't know any two kids who could be better than those two were. Judy...called me 'Uncle Buzz' and always wanted me right there when the camera was photographing her. She would not do a scene unless I stood by the camera, and afterward she would ask me how she looked and if she had done all right.

Mickey Rooney remembered Berkeley as:

...a genius. He could be charming, with his flashing eyes and huge, expressive eyebrows and a smile that warmed everyone around him. But he had one small problem: he drank... [and] he had that alcoholic's perfectionism. He was tough on all of us. He was always screaming at Judy, 'Eyes! Eyes! Open them wide! I want to see your eyes!' To him her eyes were her greatest asset. 

The film, about the kids of vaudeville performers with dreams of staging a production of their own, featured impressive musical numbers. With Berkeley it was always BIG!

Here's a deleted scene with Rooney as President Roosevelt. The footage was removed and destroyed after FDR's death in 1945. Footage was found recently on foreign prints and someone put it on YouTube!

The entire film, which Rooney considered to be his best performance (he was nominated for an Academy Award) was shot in only eleven weeks and was a 'solid smash hit,' making it onto the Top Ten Box Office Hits list of 1939 - and we all know what a year THAT was!

Judy celebrating her 16th birthday on the set, with Rooney and Berkeley.

The film was quickly followed by another great success, Strike Up the Band (1940), with Rooney as a drummer who turns his high school band into modern dance orchestra with dreams of winning a nationwide band contest. Berkeley again directed, and left his unmistakable touch on the film's finale, "Do the La Conga," which he wanted to be "a huge number with about five minutes of Judy singing and every possible camera angle... AND he decided he wanted to do the entire song and dance number in one take." Everyone else in the production was dubious but after five days of rehearsals and careful laying out of every shot, Berkeley got what he wanted. Roger Edens, who wrote the song, remembered the atmosphere that enveloped everyone, saying it was "like the opening [night] of a Broadway show. There was the same great tension, because the number could only be shot once. When the morning came to shoot, the whole studio was down there. Everyone was very tense and keyed up-and the result was a real giving performance. The scene went beautifully, without a hitch. Even now it has an unforgettable something extra about it." You can watch it below.

Berkeley on the set of Strike Up the Band:

 

 

 

Why mess with success? The trio got together again for Babes on Broadway (1941), this time putting on a show for British war orphans to help realize their dreams of Broadway (I sang "Chin Up, Cheerio, Carry On" for our church's USO show a few years back - I was nowhere near as good as Judy though). 

 

Busby Berkeley directs this sort of thing about as well as anybody.

~ Variety

Berkeley was also to direct Girl Crazy (1943), the fourth musical with Rooney and Garland but he was removed from the film at Garland fell ill from overwork. Berkeley, who had been ill himself, wanted a big splashy number, clashing with Edens and causing a situation where only one of them could stay. As both Judy and Mickey could no longer handle his militant dictated, directing was taken over by Norman Taurog. Berkeley's only contribution to the film, the "I Got Rhythm" number, was left in the film. You can watch it (in two parts) below:

 

Source

Mickey and Judy 

The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Musicals of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland

A History of the Four Garland/Rooney Musicals and a Guide to the Original Soundtrack Recordings

 

 

This post is part of The Busby Berkeley Blogathon hosted by Hometowns to Hollywood. Be sure to check out all of the other posts on this celebrated director and choreographer!

PODCAST 292: The Brain & The Brain [Brain Food Edition]

This week The Horror Duo take on a pair of films who's titular character is the most important organ of the human body. No, no, ya sick-Os! It's the Brain! Forest discusses the 1962 film The Brain and Cory rants about how the media wants to brainwash you while reviewing the 1988 The Brain.

CONTINUE READING

Good Time (2017)

Most people (girls) love Robert Pattinson for having played Edward, the vampire in the Twilight Saga. I love him (okay, maybe love is too big of a verb) for him choosing to work in movies like David Michôd's The Rover, or David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis, or the Safdie brothers' Good Time. These are the movies that allow him to showcase his acting skills. And that's the reason I decided to watch Good Time.

Connie (Robert Pattinson) involves his mentally disabled brother, Nick (Benny Safdie) in a bank robbery that is supposed to be a clean and easy job. Instead, things go wrong, Nick is arrested and ends up in Rikers Island prison. Driven by the love for his brother, Connie embarks on a nightmarish quest to get Nick out of prison.

Having not seen any of the Safdie brothers' movie, I did not know what to expect. To be honest, I was expecting another heist-gone-wrong kind of movie that leaves you with that already-seen-before feeling. It's not the case with Good Time. This film indeed has an interesting, thrilling and captivating story that goes beyond the crime genre. It's a story about love, a toxic love a young man has for his brother and, while it takes some illogical and unrealistic turns, it still manages to feel real and, in the end, we also want what is best for Nick. 

The greatest element in this film is arguably the interesting character of Connie. He is a short-tempered psychopath who leaves a trail of destruction behind him. He has an aggressive but sincere love for his brother and really wants to take care of him and protect him. The problem? He can't even take care of himself and therefore he ends up endangering the life of his brother. In other words, he is a scumbag. Normally, it should be very hard if not impossible to root for such a disgraced human being and yet there's something about this unlikable character that makes you root for him. I guess one of the reasons is Robert Pattinson's sublime performance. He gives his everything. He really owns the character and delivers Connie's desperation, rage and frenzy in every single scene. The dialogue is pretty shitty, but Pattinson doesn't need it, his facial and body expressions are enough.

A24

The supporting cast is also worthy of a mention. Benny Safdie does a good job as Nick, the mentally disabled brother. Jennifer Jason Leigh does fine in her brief scene as Connie's neurotic ex-girlfriend, and Buddy Duress and Barkhad Abdi also provide a good support.

And well done Safdie brothers for setting such a frenetic pace from start to finish but most of all for shooting a lot of scenes using only 'natural' lighting such as streetlights, cellular lights and so on and using such bright neon colours that fit the movie well.

Good Time has one huge problem though, the score. While it enhances the intensity of the story, Daniel Lopatin's electronic score is too loud and kind of ruins the film as it makes nearly impossible in some scene to understand what the actors are saying. 

Seven Seconds Season 1 Netflix Series Trailer

Seven Seconds (2018-)
Season 1 - 10 episodes (2018)

Seven Seconds Season 1 debuts February 23

Tensions are high between African-American citizens and Caucasian police officers in Jersey City when an African-American boy is critically injured by a police officer.
In a society fraught with racial tension, sensational headlines, and an audience who would rather be entertained than informed, seven seconds can mean life or death. Created by Veena Sud, show runner for The Killing, look at the human stories behind the headlines.

A teaser video released December 21.

Oscars 2018: Nominations Reaction

The 2018 Oscar nominations have finally been announced. There are a few surpises but most of them are as predictable as they can get, like Meryl Streep getting nominated for the millionth time. I mean, who didn't see that coming?!

Anyway, Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water is leading with 13 nominations, followed by Martin McDonagh's Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri with ONLY 9 and Dunkirk with ONLY 7.

Here's the full list and my reactions:

Best Picture:

Call Me By Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkrik

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

WHY ON EARTH WAS LOGAN SNUBBED?! Also, what are Darkest Hour and Call Me By Your Name doing here? At least they had the decency to not nominate All the Money in the World. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is going to win anyway. I HOPE.

Best Leading Actor:

Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

There's no Franco, of course. Other than that, this category is almost a joke. Chalamet got nominated for fucking a peach and Washington apparently didn't give a Oscar worthy performance either. 

Best Leading Actress:

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Margo Robbie, I, Tonya

Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Meryl Streep, The Post

Well, I ain't gonna add anything else about Streep. I really hope Robbie wins because she gave a hell of a performance in that movie. Not only my favourite of the year but an all-time favourites for me. McDormand is probably going to win though. But she was great so I'm okay with it.

Best Supporting Actor:

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water

Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World

Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

HELL YEAH ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE SAM ROCKWELL!!! Dafoe getting nominated for doing nothing. Okay. And Idris Elba was snubbed. 

Best Supporting Actress:

Mary J. Blige, Mudbound

Allison Janney, I, Tonya

Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread

Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

I haven't seen Mudbound and Phantom Thread yet, but the others are graet. I really hope Allison Janney wins. She kills it as Tonya's mother. 

Best Director:

Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan

Get Out, Jordan Peele

Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig

Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Anderson

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro

WHERE IS MARTIN MCDONAGH? I guess I'll root for Nolan, the guy really deserves it. P.S. Gerwig stans are finally happy.

Best Animated Fearture:

The Boss Baby

The Breadwinner

Coco

Ferdinand

Loving Vincent

I'm one of the few people who enjoyed The Boss Baby, but giving it a nomination? Please tell me it's a joke. What are those people even thinking! Coco is going to win anyway, still I can't stomach The Boss Baby being called Academy Nominee. 

Best Animated Short:

Dear Basketball

Garden Party

Lou

Negative Space

Revolting Rhymes

I haven't seen any of these but I'm rooting for Dear Basketball because it was written by Kobe Bryant. 

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Call Me by Your Name

The Disaster Artist

Logan

Molly's Game

Mudbound

YES to Logan being the first comic book movie getting a Oscar nomination for best screenplay. 

Best Original Screenplay:

The Big Sick

Get Out

Lady Bird

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missuori

This is alright.

Best Cinematography:

Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Mudbound

The Shape of Water

What is Darkest Hour doing here lol

Best Documentary Feature:

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail

Faces Places

Icarus

Last Men in Aleppo

Strong Island

Best Documentary Short Subject:

Edith+Eddie

Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405

Heroin(e)

Knife Skills

Traffic Stop

Best Live Action Short Film:

DeKalb Elementary

The Eleven O'Clock

My Nephew Emmett

The Silent Child

Watu Wote//All of Us

Best Foreign Language Film:

A Fantastic Woman (Chile)

The Insult (Lebanon)

Loveless (Russia)

On Body and Soul (Hungary)

The Square (Sweden)

Lol In the Fade won the Golden Glode and was snubbed here

Best Film Editing:

Baby Driver

Dunkirk

I, Tonya

The Shape of Water

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Sound Editing:

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Sound Mixing:

Baby Driver

Blade Runner 2049

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

I'm still not sure what's the difference between sound editing and sound mixing

Best Production Desing:

Beauty and the Beast

Blade Runner 2049

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

The Shape of Water

Best Original Score:

Dunkirk, Hans Zimmer

Phantom Thread, Jonny Greenwood

The Shape of Water, Alexandre Desplat

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, John Williams

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

The Shape of Water ♥

Best Original Song:

Mighy River, Moudbound

Mystery of Love, Call Me by Your Name

Remember Me, Coco

Stand Up for Something, Marshall

This Is Me, The Greatest Showman

Best Makeup and Hair:

Darkest Hour

Victoria and Abdul

Wonder

Darkest Hour for the win

Best Costume Design:

Beauty and the Beast

Darkest Hour

Phantom Thread

The Shape of Water

Victoria and Abdul

Best Visual Effects:

Blade Runner 2049

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

Kong: Skull Island

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

War for the Planet of the Apes

If War for the Planet of the Apes doesn't win, they better delete this category

Logan Lucky (2017)

As I've said many times before, I love heist movies. There's something about them I just can't say no to. The problem with heist movies is that they are usually terrible. There are a few exceptions here and there and Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven is one of my favourites. That's why I decided to give Logan Lucky a chance, same director and a promising cast.

When he's let go from his construction job, Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum) decides to put in motion a robbery plan that has been on his mind for quite some time and he convinces his one-handed bartender brother Clyde (Adam Driver) and his hairdresser sister Mellie (Riley Keough) to help him pull off the heist. But they need the help of Joe Bang (Daniel Craig), a convicted criminal and demolitions expert who is currently doing time. That's only the first snag of many as the Logan family seems to be cursed.

The story is very engaging and entertaining, it has a nice pace and characters you care about, and it has enough twists and turns along the way to keep you interested throughout the film. The final twist may not be the best twist ever, but it's still good.

However, it is not perfect. There are way too many subplots in this that are either unnecessary or go nowhere, like that involving a NASCAR driver, played by Sebastian Stan, and his sponsor, played by Seth McFarlane. Not to mention the one with Katherine Waterston and the one with Hillary Swank. The Jimmy's daughter subplot is a nice addition though as it is the heart of the film and delivers a quite emotional scene towards the end.

Fingerprint Releasing, Bleecker Street

That said, the comedic elements are much stronger than the dramatic ones. Logan Lucky is indeed a very funny and witty movie with plenty of stupid and dry humour and quite some memorable scenes, like the one where Clyde's hand/arm gets sucked in by the vacuum. There may not be jokes in every single scene, but most of them work nicely. The idiotic decisions of the characters also make for some good laughs.

The cast is another reason why this film works so well. Channing Tatum and Adam Driver are both great as the Logan brothers, and their chemistry is surprisingly strong. Riley Keough also does a good job as the Mellie Logan and Jack Quaid shines as one of Joe Bang's brothers, but Daniel Craig is the one stealing the show. He is great as Joe Bang as he proves to be a great comedic timing. Who knew James Bond could do that?