Invaders from Mars (1986)

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Invaders from Mars is a 1986 science fiction horror film directed by Tobe Hooper. The special effects and makeup were done by Stan Winston and John Dykstra (veterans of their respective fields). I was pretty interested in seeing this movie. Perhaps the best way for me to describe the film is: eh. Compared to other well-known remakes of the 80s (The Fly, The Blob, and The Thing namely), this one just falls kind of flat. The acting isn't very good. The main kid is pretty wooden. The effects aren't bad, but they pale in comparison to some of the works that Winston and Dykstra had done previously. Stan Winston worked on the alien makeup and effects on The Thing. John Dykstra worked on the visual effects for the first Alien movie. I really didn't like the ending of the movie at all. More than anything I was confused by what was onscreen (and not in a particularly good way). Maybe this movie was supposed to be bad, but succeeded a little too well. I think part of the problem could be that this was trying to emulate the 50s drive-in B-movie style. While the remake of The Blob kind of did this, it still felt like it was updated with that 80's style. There are a couple of moments in the movie I found memorable, and kind of cool, but they aren't enough. I feel like this movie could've been a little better and more fun if it went for more of a balls-to-the-wall R rating (again, like the superior remakes I previously mentioned).

5 / 10   

Get Out

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Black man Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) travels with his white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams) to visit her family for the weekend. At a point, things start to get weird and go wrong. Anything further from that goes into spoilers, which is not what I want to do. Jordan Peele of Key and Peele writes and directs this movie (in his directorial debut). The writing in this movie is incredibly strong. A lot of the humor feels very subtle. It actually mixes with the horror elements really well, making you laugh and feel unnerved by what’s happening. Occasionally, a jump scare will pop up. While they are few and far between, they don’t feel lazy or forced. They actually work here. The way this film is edited and directed feels like it was done by a seasoned pro, not a first-time director. Yes, this movie touches on race issues, but not exactly in the way you might expect. Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener play the parents of the girlfriend, and they exemplify the blend of funny and creepy that I had already mentioned. This could also be applied to Caleb Landry Jones as the brother. I kind of like the setting of the house. The fact that it’s in the middle of nowhere is one of the ways it works for a horror setting. But, a way that it really works is in the way this movie is directed and edited together. At first, the house itself is unassuming. As far as flaws go, I have just one: there was a character who was set up near the beginning of the movie, and just didn’t go anywhere.  Overall, Get Out is a fantastic entry into the horror genre, by successfully blending horror and comedy, as well as being strongly written, wonderfully directed, and excellently acted on all accounts.

9 / 10        

Logan

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In the year 2029, Logan (played yet again to perfection by Hugh Jackman) is skirting by as a limo driver in the borderlands. He makes just enough to get medicine for an aging, senile Professor Xavier (also played to perfection by Patrick Stewart). He is aided in nursing the former leader of the X-Men by Caliban (Stephen Merchant). This is a world where mutants haven’t been naturally born in 25 years, and most of them have been dead for some time. Things change for Logan (wanting to shed his reputation as “The Wolverine”) when a woman approaches him, asking for help with a young girl named Laura (excellently portrayed by newcomer Dafne Keen). This movie is a character study, a somber look at a superhero that is now past his prime. Logan is the hard-R movie it needs to be. This is movie where he chops off limbs, gets blood on his claws. He doesn’t heal like he used to, so you see a lot of his injuries. Director James Mangold directs the movie’s action scenes perfectly. They are violent and bloody, but they all feel distinct from one another. Boyd Holbrook portrays the film’s primary antagonist, Donald Pierce. He brings a sort of slimy perfection to his performance. Without spoiling anything, the film’s ending fairly bittersweet for me. The storytelling and structure is pretty damn solid (if not a little bit uneven). The first two acts are excellent and flawless. The third is good, but not always as good as what came before. There are some pretty damn heartbreaking moments in the third act, and they work perfectly. However, they introduce a character that, to my knowledge, wasn’t in the comics. I didn’t necessarily hate or dislike it, but it did take me a little while to warm up to it. Overall, despite a couple minor problems here and there, Logan works because of excellent acting, great direction, and a fantastic first two acts.

9 / 10       

Gold

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Kenny Wells (Matthew McConaughey) is a businessman who is down on his luck. One day, everything seems to change when he and archaeologist Michael Acosta (Edgar Ramirez) stumble across a landmine. I was interested in the movie Gold from the trailer. After seeing the movie, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. The whole movie feels sort of like a Wolf of Wall Street clone. The structure to the movie is incredibly sloppy. A scene will pop up out of nowhere, and it’s just being thrown into the movie way too early. The best example I can think of is that halfway through the movie, it cuts to a scene with Wells being interrogated by an FBI agent (Toby Kebbell). This scene just felt out of nowhere, and I actually wondered if I missed something, or if an important scene was cut out of the movie. No. The FBI agent is officially introduced about a half hour later in the movie. They throw in a ton of fade-to-black segues near the end of the movie, creating tons of unnecessary fakeouts. The pacing is teeth-grindingly slow. This is a 2-hour movie, but it felt way longer.  The acting itself is good, for the most part. Matthew McConaughey brings his A-game, proving to be the movie’s main bright spot. Bryce Dallas Howard plays the girlfriend character, and she does a good job herself. The same can also be said of the performances by Edgar Ramirez and Corey Stoll (playing a Wall Street guy). The problems I have with this aren’t huge. It took me a while to warm up to the chemistry between McConaughey and Howard. The one performer who I really didn’t care for in this movie was Bruce Greenwood. I like Bruce Greenwood. He’s usually a pretty capable actor. Here, I never bought into his fake accent. Overall, Gold has a talented cast giving solid performances to a movie that is beneath them, as well as good ideas that should have been executed far better than they ultimately were.

4 / 10