I watch movies every week and then write down my thoughts. Read my previous reviews!
My rating is simple, Watch It, It Depends, Skip it.
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| Goosebumps - Don't ask questions, and don't look down. |
Watch Goosebumps
Written by: Darren Lemke (screenplay), Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski (story), R.L. Stine ("Goosebumps" books)
Directed by: Rob Letterman
Starring: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush
Rated: PG
Plot:
R.L. Stine's books come to life and it's up to Stine (Jack Black) and a couple of kids to save the town.
Verdict:
It's light entertainment that's pretty family friendly. You'll enjoy it more if you're familiar with the books. While it's in no way constrained to reality, even still the logic is lacking.
It depends.
Review:
It's a serviceable story as it's main point is to showcase Stine monsters and make jokes about Stine and Stephen King.
It even starts like a Goosebumps book, with a family moving into a new town next to an odd neighbor. It's not bad, as long as you know this is very light entertainment. Think about anything in this movie for longer than two seconds and it won't make sense. The amusement park in the woods has so many things wrong with the logic, when it easily could have been just an abandoned amusement park with a logical explanation. For some reason the writers went out of their way to make sure no part of it made sense. It doesn't help that it's obviously a set. Maybe this is a joke at on Stine's expense on his books, but that's being generous.
Like any good Goosebumps book it includes an otherworldly romance, though nobody disappears.
Even in a movie where R.L. Stine willed monsters into existence through sheer mental power, this movie still lacks in logic. It's better if you don't ask any questions. Jack Black does a nice job as R.L. Stine, with a great monologue extolling his virtues over Stephen King.
I wonder who the audience is for this.The story is at a young child level, though the people who first read these books are now adults.
As you'll probably guess, the only way to stop the monsters from escaping the books is to write a new story.
Somehow Stine's manuscripts have power. If you open them, the monsters jump out. That's why all of his manuscripts are locked, with the key in plain sight just two feet away.
So how does he print his manuscripts? Does the power only happen once the book is completely finished? Obviously I'm getting technical on a movie that's anything but. I just don't understand how he ever printed the books in the first place.
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| The Act of Killing - Chilling, emotional, raw. |
Watch The Act of Killing
Directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer
Starring: Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Syamsul Arifin
Rated: --
Plot:
A documentary about the Indonesian death squad leader of 1965-66 who is now working on an art project to recreate his experience through film.
Verdict:
This movie is uncomfortable. Death squad leaders recount their acts of murder with glee. They see themselves as the heroes of the story. As Anwar Congo begins filming his scenes, the reenactment becomes too real as he realizes the terror he inflicted on his victims. He's the only one in this movie that appears to feel any guilt for the crimes committed.
Watch it.
Review:
In 1965 Indonesia experienced a military coup. The new regime then began systematically killing anyone opposing them. Even now, this genocide is not in their history books. Many of the Indonesian crew that helped film this movie declined credit because they are afraid of retribution.
Anwar Congo is creating a movie to document the history of what happened. He was a small time con-man that became the leader of a death squad after the coup. He's a mass murderer reenacting his own memories. Other killers are eager to help him with the project. They reenact scenes with people that could be friends of or even related to the victims.
While Congo wants to document history, others only want to document what makes them look good. They want to be sure the scenes reinforce that Communists were bad and they were performing a public service.
Some of the former lieutenants justify what they did as following orders. A journalist claims he had no idea about the death squads, despite murders happening in his building. His denial is questioned, and while he reaffirms, no one believes him.
The scenes blur the line of what's real. The actors are either stellar or getting so caught up in the scene that it feel real. Maybe they're mentally reliving it. Even watching reenactments are hard to bear. Some of these men feel no remorse whatsoever.
Congo becomes remorseful after a scene in which he pretends he's strangled to death. He halts filming and says he can't do it any more. He states he realizes the fear his victims had.
Oppenheimer questions Congo, telling him that he can't possibly know what they felt. His victims knew they were going to die, while Congo knows it's just an act. This is the penultimate scene in the documentary.
Congo revisits a location where most of his murders took place and begins retching. On film, we see the instant where his sins, murder and torture, catch up to him.
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| Au Revoir Les Enfants - Measured and engaging. |
Watch Au Revoir Les Enfants
Written by: Louis Malle (scenario)
Directed by: Louis Malle
Starring: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö, Francine Racette
Rated: PG
Plot:
A French Catholic boarding school becomes a safe haven during World War II. Two boys start as enemies before becoming friends
Verdict:
The title translates to Goodbye Children, and is based on events from Malle's childhood. It depicts the world war as the backdrop for kids bullying each other in school. Childhood feels grave. A social misstep could end your life... except it can't. It just feels that way. Kids bully others to hide their own insecurities and flaws. For a few students, this school is the only thing preventing them from being killed.
Watch it.
Review:
The first few scenes juxtapose how vulnerable Julian is with his mother before school, but a bully in school. It's part survival and part coping with those feelings. The children lash out because they can't adequately deal with how they feel. It's easier to hide your shortcomings than to admit to them. An admission would result in the other kids exploiting it to their own benefits and to mask their own failures.
The new kid, Bonnet, is bullied just because he's new. He's different, so the children capitalize on it to hide in plain sight. If everyone picks on one kid, they won't pick on you.
The kids are trying to be tough and prove to others and themselves that they aren't scared or homesick. They lash out. Cruelty occurs when you confine a large number of kids to a small area.
Julian picks on Bonnet at first, joining the other children. At times he feels sorry for him, but voicing that would divert attention to himself. They slowly bond, at first realizing they both like books and are good students.
It's a very measured story. Very little happens, but you're forming an emotional connection. Julian is the focus, a leader among the boys and fairly smart. Bonnet is smarter, though unpopular. Julian realizes something is different about Bonnet, but can't figure out what. So few movies rely so completely on the story. It unfolds at an almost glacial pace, but it's never boring. Each scene, though slow, is full of tension. Jewish children are hiding at the school to avoid German persecution and internment.
If you don't know the details of the synopsis you're trying to figure out Bonnet's secret. If you know the details, you experience the tension as Bonnet tries to keep the secret.
Julian and Bonnet's emotion erupt in fisticuffs, and at the end of the fight they're friends. Julian confides in Bonnet and in return is taught piano.
The Gestapo search the school, seizing the headmaster and the Jewish students. They were tipped off by the former cook who was fired for stealing food. He was bullied by the students, and this is his revenge. It's an unexpected, though completely logical twist.
This movie focuses on how children treat each other. The children don't share their food from home, even after the headmaster urges them. The headmaster also urges the parents to share what they have, but the parents don't. Those given much are tasked with much. The headmaster provides a safe haven and is ultimately interned at a German camp.
The harassment the assistant cook received played a part in him bringing the Gestapo to the school.
Even the games the kids play involve the kids on stilts trying to knock each other down. Childhood and the world is cruel. Even doing the right thing may culminate in sadness and loss.
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