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 Big Bad F*cking WolfCop

WolfCop(2014)

Writer/Director: Lowell Dean

Starring: Leo Fafard, Jonathan Cherry & Sarah Lind

"...I'm the fuzz."

I liked this movie, but probably more than I should have. There are plenty of flaws that just beg for me to consider this movie as bad, but I just found it to be too awesome. Let's start with how cool of a concept this is. It's about an alcoholic cop who's suddenly turned into a werewolf then decides to go around and use his new abilities to eradicate crime. Well, sort of. But when you sum it up in that respect, it could've easily been a superhero movie. In fact, if this had the budget like one of those big superhero movies, with the story it has, it could've been a great one. Though, it probably wouldn't have all the things that make it cool like ripping people's faces and arms off. That's one of the main things that contribute to me liking this film; the vintage practical effects. Lou's(Fafard) first transformation is the high point of the film for me and rivals that of the eye-popping classic one in 1981's The Howling . And speaking of "eye-popping" there's a scene where a guy literally gets stabbed in the eye by one of the film's villains and it's absolutely glorious in all it's gore and exaggerated sound design.

The movie is pretty short clocking in at 78 minutes so it kicks off fairly fast. It opens up with an alcoholic Lou falling out of bed dragging his hungover body out the door to his job at the sheriff's department which he's regularly late for. As Lou cruises through his schlocky small town, we're made aware of current mayoral election going on and are introduced to front-runners; the longstanding incumbent, Mayor Bradley & an up-and-comer, Terry Wallace. We also quickly get a feel for how much Lou cares for his job or at least a picture of just how non-relevant local law enforcement is to the townspeople. This is made even more clear when Lou pulls up to the station and the front of the building has a busted door and is vandalized with the word "PIGS" (one of the many wolf-related puns in the movie.) Lou walks in trying to duck everyone, but is immediately grilled by his coworker/supercop, Tina(Matysio.) & his Chief who claims that Lou's father would be disappointed in him. Lou doesn't seem to care about that much which points me to an element of the film that I consider quality & a flaw: the overall casualness of the movie.

It's quality because it doesn't take itself too seriously, but it's a flaw because that overall casualness about it dampens some important scenes concerning the story with apathy. The perfect example is the scene after Lou's cursed and has his first transformation where kills a bunch of bad guys at a bar... the next day he comes back and the bartender says to him that he wasn't himself when he did what he did, but he saved her. The exchange is just so drab that the scene feels like a throwaway. It's not that I feel she should've been freaking out or anything, it just that even with a black comedy, scenes like that should at least make an effort to mount some kind of tension or suspense when there's a mystery at play. And there is definitely one at play, but the overall casualness that I mention doesn't allow for you to feel it enough to care that there is. It instead leaves you waiting for the next wolf-up, scene of carnage or whatever campy craziness you expect coming into this. And it does deliver on those expectations, but not enough for you to say "story be damned, this is great." Like  I said, the story is actually pretty good, but due to it being poorly handled I wish the filmmakers would've scaled back on the story and focused more action. Luckily there's a sequel on the way so I know there'll be plenty of fun to be had now that they've gotten this out of the way. 

Hot Fuzz does everything tried here better even the horror stuff, but I still liked this for what it was. Campy genre fare that fails to balance elements of Mystery-Cop & Black-Comedy Horror movies, but entertains anyways. Especially worth watching if you're a die-hard genre fan like me.