Movie Review: Spring

Spring(2014)

Director: Justin Benson, Aaron Moorehead

Writer: Justin Benson

Starring: Lou Taylor Pucci(Evil Dead), Nadia Hilker, Jeremy Gardner(The Battery)

"Pick your poison."

I *think* I read about this over on thefilmstage.com. I do remember watching a little bit of the trailer then cutting it off after I got the gist of what it was about to avoid seeing anything that would lead to ruining the entire story. As I said before in my The Dead Lands review, when I hear/read a film is up my alley, I like going in knowing as little possible. I went into Spring thinking it was a horror. It turns out to be more than that. 

It starts out with our lead, Evan(Pucci), sitting beside his cancer stricken mother as she lay dying in bed. Not unlike many horrors. You know the ones... the lead has either just dealt with a tragedy or is still reeling from a traumatic experience in their past. For a minute it had me worried, but when the cops show up at Evan's house because he almost beats a guy to death in a bar forcing him to flee for Italy, the film takes a really, really good turn. He gets to Italy, there's a quick montage of him doing tourist-y stuff. And then he meets up with two Brits who seem like roughnecks at first, but are nice enough and invite him to go to the country with them and so they go to this beautiful, and I mean BEAUTIFUL town, Conversano I think it is, I only know from looking up the filming locations on IMDb, I watched this movie twice and didn't hear them say.

Evan and these Brits stay there for a few days, during the stay Evan meets a beautiful young woman named Louise(Hilker) at the bar, a local, who tries to seduce Evan, but turns around and cuts out when he asks her out on a date to try to get to know her. A few days go by and the Brits decide to leave, Evan stays behind and gets a job. He runs into Louise again and finally she goes out with him and they hit it off. There's a quote on the poster for the film that says "A HYBRID OF RICHARD LINKLATER AND H.P. LOVECRAFT." I've only read two Lovecraft books and I don't know, I could probably stand to read more to get a full grasp on the nature of his works, but from what I did read, he doesn't have much of an influence here outside of maybe some of the monsters? However, the former comparison to Linklater mostly rings true. Has all the elements intrinsic of his work(The Before trilogy mainly.) The fluid, subtle camerawork, the walk-and-talk motif & the naturalistic dialogue. Although, nothing particularly thought-provoking is said(mostly in Evan's case), the genuine chemistry between the two characters is definitely there. 

Pucci portrays a tortured, but surprisingly optimistic character in Evan. The guy has the absolute worst luck in the world, but still plays it down, what a trooper. Despite all of that I really didn't care for him. Thought he was bit pushy & badgering to be honest. I don't really know what Louise saw in him, but what do women ever see in us? And I could be surely reaching, but I think that's one of, if not the biggest, the themes of the film along with exploring some of the dangers women face in society, it also shows how big of deal it really is when what women start a family with a guy, just on a grander scale. And that's not to say Louise was "perfect" in comparison to Evan, because she could be impatient and dismissive at times, not to mention a whole lot of other things, but to say that women in general are amazing creatures(see what I did there? No? Just watch the film) that sometimes give up things to settle down and that's nothing to be taken lightly. 

Hilker plays a wise, free-spirit type well, but didn't care for her character much either. But together, Evan & Louise are great. Their banter, the flirting, moments of vulnerability they share, etc. Like I said, genuine chemistry between the two. The horror element  is there with some great VFX(CGI & practial), but I haven't said much about it because I don't want to ruin anything. Plus, even though I am a huge genre fan, I say it's only the second most interesting part of the story AFTER the romance. You can trust it's that good because films that focus heavily on romance don't usually impress me. All in all, it's good film. An intriguing genre splicer equipped with fangs, tentacles & claws, but most important of all: a heart.

Movie Review: The Dead Lands

The Dead Lands(2014)
Director: Toa Fraser
Writer: Glenn Standring
Starring: James Rolleston(BOY, The Dark Horse), Lawrence Makoare(LOTR trilogy),Te Kohe Tuhaka

"...Death is not noble. Nor is life."

This came under my radar a few months ago when I seen some blog post with James Cameron & Peter Jackson praising it(or something like that), so I didn't even bother watching a trailer or even reading the post in it's entirety. I just put it on the watchlist. Not that I'm a Cameron or Jackson stan or anything, though Cameron has made some great films I admire. It's just that when I hear high praises for films that sound up my alley, I like going into them without knowing as much as possible.

This film starts out like a horror. A man, obviously scared as hell, is running for his life through the forest and is caught and promptly killed in the most brutal manner by another man who looks as if he's possessed. Then it cuts to a scene with two rival tribes convening to make peace. The old chieftain explains to the visiting tribe that they haven't hunted in the lands they last fought them in since the battle ended long ago and by doing so they've honored the visiting tribe's dead. They allow the standing leader of that tribe, a young man named Wirepa(Tuhaka), to go forth and give their dead a proper burial. The son of the chieftain & our lead, Hongi(Rolleston), follows Wirepa out of curiosity. He trails him to a cave in the forest where the remains of Wirepa's ancestor's out in the open. Wirepa picks up one of the skulls and speaks to it for a moment and then he put it down, turns and takes a dump on it. He literally takes a dump ontop of the skull and then licks it. Not even joking. There's a character in this film who only eats other people's flesh and this guy, to me, is crazier than him. Hongi sees this act and throws a rock at him. Wirepa chases Hongi down then takes him to his father and lies saying that Hongi defiled the remains of his ancestors. The chief offers to kill his son to make it right. Hongi denies having done wrong, but accepts his fate. Wirepa, glory hungry, says there's no remedy for what has happened and that there will be war and then they go their separate ways. Wirepa and his men come back in the night and massacre Hongi's village and take the chief's head.

After that Hongi sets out for the titular Dead Lands in seek of a flesh eating "monster" to help him reap revenge on Wirepa and his men. This is where the film really starts. Hongi finds the "monster"(Makoare), the man from(and only a man), from the beginning of the film and he agrees to help. What follows could easily be a western, in fact, the whole movie could easily be a good revenge western. Rolleston is good here, he plays the young innocent, but rising warrior well. But Makoare absolutely steals the show. He brings depth to a seemingly savage character displaying a deep vulnerability and wide range of other emotions at the drop of a dime. He & Rolleston play off each other very well and would not mind seeing them in a western together. Tuhaka is great as the villain, reminds of a young Dwayne Johnson looks wise with the charisma Johnson has now.

The script is good. Nothing complicated, but it does offer a refreshing take on this type of story with the demythologizing of the warrior's code/honor. I like how it offers good and bad examples of going against that way of thinking. You hear/see the words "gritty" & "dark" a lot today when it comes to action movies, comic book adaptations particularly, but this film genuinely merits those terms with true grit... see what I did there? No? Okay, I'll be moving on. I don't have anything at all against today's CGI-heavy action movies. I actually love a lot of them, but I can say those CGI spectacles can get tiresome. I can't speak for everyone, but as an action junkie sometimes you just wanna see two people hit each other and actually see blood. The fight scenes aren't extensive like The Raid or anything like that, but they're still pretty gory and the choreography is good. I'm not sure it was intentional, but some of the visual language is right out of a classic Kung Fu movie and it's absolutely awesome so if you're into old Wuxias, that's another reason for you to watch. The only problems I had with is the pacing at times, but that's me just wanting to get back into the chase more than anything. And the logic in how some of the fight scenes are staged is questionable, sometimes I'd be sitting wondering "why don't they all just attack at once?" But that's nothing untypical for any action movie that involves a lot of fighting. All in all, this is one of the most visceral action movie's I've seen in a while and it while it may not land it's punch with everyone, I'd recommend it to hardcore action junkies like myself that are looking for an alternative to the sanitized PG-13 action movies that are the norm now.