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“Rough Night” Packs Comedy, Filth, and the Macabre into a Bachelorette
Lucia Aniello’s Rough Night is what happens when you let five raucous friends cut loose during a destination bachelorette party in Miami. All the normal accoutrements are here: beachfront rental property, alcohol-fueled bar crawls, penis-shaped everythings, cocaine, a shredded male stripper, and involuntary manslaughter. Hmm, maybe things got out of hand somewhere . . .
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“It Comes at Night” Is an Expression of Pure Pessimistic Horror
Consistency of tone is essential for a successful psychological horror story. In It Comes at Night, writer-director Trey Edward Shultz establishes an unyielding bleakness that completely permeates the entirety of his post-apocalyptic story. The constant pressure of this mood grows and oppresses the viewer, like an emotional constrictor squeezing all hope and joy from the proceedings. In short: It Comes at Night is not a fun or pleasant viewing experience, and it is clear from the opening shot that this is not a world where things turn out well. Its dogged pursuit of desolation is not mere pessimism – it’s an exploration of human fear, mistrust, and desperation.
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“My Cousin Rachel” – a Period Romantic Mystery with Gorgeous Visuals
Roger Michell’s adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier novel My Cousin Rachel peddles in interesting camera work, astonishing visuals, and solid performances, but lacks a thorough command of tone. The film feels obsessed with the ambiguity of its central romantic mystery, while at the same time laying on the cinematic clues with an unbelievably heavy hand. There’s fascinating technique in the expression of the mystery and the characters involved in it, but the execution misses often enough to infuse the film with an uneven mood. This makes it hard to understand when to take the ambiguity seriously and when to embrace the apparent obviousness of it all.
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“The Mummy” Something Something Stupid “Wrapped” Pun
There’s an off-hand moment early on in The Mummy when Egyptologist Jenny Halsey (Annabelle Wallis) draws attention to the importance of the discovery that she and Nick Mortion (Tom Cruise) have made by referring to the age of the sarcophagus: 5,000 years. Trouble is, Wallis clearly mouths “three”, not “five”. Oh well, ADR happens. Maybe there was a re-write where they realized that 3,000 years wasn’t enough for the Egyptian period they wanted. So they fixed it. That’s fine, if a bit distracting. Later, Tom Cruise calls “the chick” 3,000 years old. They left that one in. Maybe Tom Cruise is too busy to do ADR. Maybe no one caught it. Maybe no one cares.
Ladies and gentleman, this is The Mummy in a nutshell: falling over its own presumed intelligence, never paying enough attention to what it is doing for it to matter.
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CSFF 2017: Hillsborough
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The Heroism of “Wonder Woman” Is Worth Celebrating
It seems folly to discuss Wonder Woman outside of the greater context of the DC Extended Universe, but Patty Jenkins’s film begs to be discussed in isolation – it’s simply in another stratosphere. So, that’s it; that’s all the comparison to the DCEU that will be contained in this review. The rest of the time will be spent heralding Wonder Woman as a superhero film that knows precisely how to tell a refreshing origin story, establish stakes and pathos in a fantastic world, and champion a powerful theme of heroism, strength, and love. With a stunning performance from Gal Gadot, a brilliant fish-out-of-water skeleton, and action sequences that contain spectacle and depth, Wonder Woman is potent storytelling.
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State of the Blog – June 2017
As we inch towards the halfway point of the year, blockbuster season is now in full swing. Here at Plot and Theme, things are going swimmingly, and I’ve got a lot of cool things going on, plus neat flicks and pieces on the blog to look forward to. But, we’ll start by looking back on what went down during the month of May, both in the greater landscape of cinema, and here on my humble little blag.
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Interview: Director Steve James talks Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Here’s the interview I mentioned with my previous post!
Hop on over to my patreon page for even more discussion! -
ABACUS: Small Enough to Jail
This is another great documentary from Steve James, who also made “Life Itself” and the 30 for 30 on Allen Iverson’s Trial. I was also fortunate enough to interview the director about this film, so look for that in the near future!
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Post #300 on Plot and Theme!
For my 300th post here on Plot and Theme, I decided to update all my readers by explaining the next phase of my blogging, which involves getting the word out that the blog is growing and rewarding readers who support my nonsensical writings.
Film Criticism and Fiction Writing by Derek Jacobs
