Host

Host

Director: Rob Savage. Cast: Haley Bishop, Jemma Moore, Emma Louise Webb Radina Drandova, Caroline Ward, Alan Emrys.

I’ll come out clean straight away: Host is one of the best horror of the last few years and definitely one scariest films I’ve seen in a long long time. In my life I’ve seen more horror films that I’d care to admit. I think I’ve now become sort of immune to most of them these days (mainly because most of them are actually quite bad, but also because the tropes are pretty much always always the same), but this one caught me by surprise and had me glued to the screen, terrified and delighted at the same time (I know… I’m a bit weird: I love to be scared)It is incredibly timely: it was made during the lockdown and it capitalises on our fear and paranoia of being stuck at home alone with such ingeniousness and intelligence. Yes, it does rely on the “usual” jump scare tactics, but it’s so well executed that you can’t help by admire it. I loved how it slowly builds the tension, how real it all feels (well, up to a point: it probably goes slightly over the top in a few places towards the end), how each person is being framed within their screen and how your eyes are constantly moving from one person to the next, checking for those suspicious lights in the background, for that open door right at the back… and so on. Of course it’s not a masterpiece, but I had so much fun with this that it deserves to be up there with the best of this awful 2020.

The film is out on the 4th of December

and it’s available on Shudder.

And this is a lovely interview with the makers and my friend Mike

Fireball: visitors from darker worlds

Fireball: visitors from darker worlds ()

Directorsç Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer

Those familiar with Herzog’s documentaries will know what to expect: somebody may call them ‘indulgent mental masturbation’, others deep and philosophical reflections… I’ve always been more towards the first lot of people, though I do recognise at times there are some fantastic moments. The same goes with this one. In among the various detour and pointless jokes, some of this is undoubtedly fascinating. I know that if at work I came up with a documentary so unfocused and meandering like this one I would probably get my ass fired. But because it’s Herzog, all is forgiven (very unfair, but that’s how is is): lines like “I will not bore you with the details of what’s he said…” interrupting an interview with an expert or “I couldn’t resist interrupting the interview…” are just some of the most pointless flourishes from Herzog and come across pretentious and uninteresting. All we want to see is gorgeous shots of meteors, of the sky and listen to the voices of the experts. But the film doesn’t have too much of that, so it’s even interspersed with clips from other movies including deep impact to make it more visual.Also the film seems to belong less and less to him as most of it is given to interviews and led by Oppenheimer, so when his deadpan growls… erm I mean voiceover, comes in, at times it feels like it belongs to a different film… and one that’s really not as good as the rest and not as interesting as the subject it’s trying to cover. In the end there was just not enough to hold my attention.

On Apple+

If Anything Happens I Love You

If Anything Happens I Love You

Writers & Directors: Michael Govier, Will McCormack

I’m cheating a bit here: this is not quite a “movie” and yet this animated short packs more in its 12 minutes than at least 90% of the other films I’ve seen this year.

The strength of this is in its simplicity: not a line of dialogue, simple beautiful drawings and yet perfectly expressive, with stark black and white with just a few glimpses of colours.

This is heartbreaking and almost unbearable for any parent to watch (and not just for them). I was already tearing up within the first few minutes and by the end I was pretty much a wreck… In fact I’m still a bit shaken right now, a good half hour after watching it. A work of beauty, that somehow manages to feel emotional and more real (hence more impactful) than many films on the subject. Co-written and co-directed by the writer of Toy Story 4, Will McCormack and a little-known actor Michael Govier, this will certainly be heading to the Oscars, especially given its anti-gun message and I seriously hope it wins too.

On #Netflix right now (though try not to read anything about it, not even the synopsis on the Netflix page)

The Borrowers (1997)

The Borrowers

Director: Peter Hewitt. Cast: John Goodman, Mark Williams, Jim Broadbent 

Here’s a pleasant surprise I had completely missed when it was first released in 1997: a film aimed unashamedly at children (and all the better for it) and yet with production values as high as any big blockbuster of the time. The attention to details particularly in the set design and props is one of the things that makes this such a joy to watch as an adult, while the children will enjoy the action romp, the great pacing throughout with flashes of “Honey I shrunk the kids” and a lot of “Home alone” in it, lots of quirky little cameo roles from known faces (including a very young Tom Felton, the future Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies), all wrapped up in one of the many score by Hans Zimmer at the time.

One could not really ask for a lot more in a family flick.

“The Borrowers” was made in 1997, at the height of good practical visual effects which had yet been completely spoilt by the over-use (or abuse) of CGI: film-makers still had to find clever ways to actually stage their actions scenes, as opposed to lazily and slavishly relying on the computer. I was quite surprised by how well some of the effects actually still held up today. My only slight quibble was with Jim Broadbent’s performance. I usually like the guy both in comedies and dramas, but on this one I felt he was miscast as he was on a different register as everybody else, over-acting his way through as if to compensate for the small size of his character.

Other than that a big thumb up if you want to watch something with your kids.

The Rescuers

The Rescuers

Directors: John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman, Art Stevens . Cast: Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor, Geraldine Page 

I’ve always had very fond memories of this one. I remember watching it in the cinema when it was first released in ’77 and taking my little brother to watch it again in ’83 when it was re-released (accompanied by one of my ultimate favourite short “Mickey’s Christmas Carol”). Back then it was Disney’s first box office success in over 10 years (and it would be another 12 before the next big hit with “The Little Mermaid”) and interestingly it would be the first animated feature to have a sequel in the early 90s.Today it still considered as a (minor) classic, mainly for the lovely characterizations and expressiveness of the two mice-leads, the arrays of secondary characters (the albatross Orvel, and dragonfly Evinrude among the best), one of Disney’s scariest baddie (Medusa, a cardbon copy of Cruela De Vil, in fact in an easlier draft of the film Cruela herself was meant to be the in it) and while It may not be on the same league of those big early classic, its simple and effective story-telling, the edge-of-your seat thrills and the humour that infuse the whole film make it very pleasant one. The animation itself is a bit up and down (this was a time when they were trying to save money), some of the sequences are beautifully drawn and the backgrounds with their pastel palette are very moody and beautiful, but clearly the animators took often some shortcuts and some of the sequences are slightly rougher. The songs, performed by Shelby Flint are also fairly forgettable and definitely not up to the levels of the old (or new for that matter) classics. But hey, who cares about all that. Watching it tonight as a family, we enjoyed it immensely, my son loved it and was on the edge of the sofa. A big winner in the house.

Finally, a little bit of a trivia footnote. The film became also famous (or infamous) for 2 frames where you could see a topless woman from a window (google it if you don’t believe me ).

On Disney +