Jason Bateman is a versatile actor, but Carry-On puts a lot of weight on his shoulders as key bad guy of Carry-On. Like in any action thriller, the bad guy is just as important as the main protagonist, here played by Taron Egerton. But, sadly for both of them and the audience, the film never manages to find the right formula between their interactions and the subsequent anticipation, where this tale of Novichok ends up - ironically - very lacking in the department of on-screen chemistry.
Instead of something that will be the new version of Die Hard 2, the film sends us into the grotto of the Transportation Security Administration or TSA in a huge Los Angeles airport. Here, Ethan, played by Egerton, has a day from the depths of hell when the mysterious Traveler pulls him into a web of lies, deceit, and mortal danger. In the heart of it all is a case with the Novichok agents that the Traveler needs to put on a plane at LAX, no matter the cost. Ethan, on the other hand, has to stop him and still keep his life and the life of his pregnant girlfriend, or trade these for countless victims of the deadly compound.
The entire Carry-On could have been somewhat improved by shortening all of its phases, as well as taking out the completely redundant sequence in the luggage facility. It feels incredibly laden with CGI and ultimately serves no purpose other than to try and chase (pun intended) some relatively novel action thrills. However, the sequence, like the entire film, needed a bit of afterthought from the director Jaume Collet-Serra, as well as some cutting down of runtime. This wouldn’t have turned Carry-On into a masterpiece of action cinema - that ultimately lies in the lacking dynamic between Bateman and Egerton - but would have made it a bit more compact and appealing.
Movies, Films, and Movies
Watching movies and writing about them.
Friday, January 24, 2025
Film Review: Carry-On (2024)
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Acceptance is the Beginning - Crowdfunding Campaign for a Powerful Faith-Based Film
Stephen L. Satterfield is a true movie industry veteran, with over 30 films under his belt. He began his career back in 2017 and has worked as a producer, writer, and actor since then. Back in 2022, he wrote a script called Acceptance is the Beginning, and now, with the help of an Indiegogo campaign, he is working to turn it into a reality. Here's how Stephen describes his upcoming project:
Acceptance is the Beginning is truly about sharing the message and promises of Christianity. I do warn that the film has an unapologetically evangelical perspective, and I ask all to consider that when donating as I respect free will, too. The main character is depressed and without faith and hope. The main character also has an opportunity to unwittingly share his problems and his grief with an angel and demon.
The premise of the film looks really interesting and engaging, especially from the perspective of the Christian faith. At the same time, Stephen aims to produce his work where he also resides. That means that the film should be shot in the coming summer at a location in the US, more precisely in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Here's where the crowdfunding campaign comes in. Stephen is raising the first target of a very modest $500 in a flexible Indiegogo campaign and it is presently at 59 percent, with 28 days to go. If you'd like to see Acceptance is the Beginning see the light of a day as a finished project, consider helping Stephen either by donating directly on the film's Indiegogo page or by spreading the word about the campaign on social media!
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Film Review: I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
As someone born in the 1980s, I too, just like I Saw the TV Glow, can attest to the power of great television. In my case, the shows of choice during my childhood include a narrow band of science fiction, mainly seen in The X-Files, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, and Star Trek: Voyager. In these shows, as a kid, I found almost total immersion, where I truly got lost in each episode into a very believable world that is so much unlike my own reality.
I Saw the TV Glow focuses on that mental and emotional space for its two main characters, Owen and Maddy. Both of them are growing up in the US suburbs and finding life incredibly challenging as teens in 1996. However, what also binds them together is The Pink Opaque, a fictional TV show that features two characters with a psychic connection who are fighting an ever-present, but subtle evil force seen in the form of Mr. Melancholy.
The film was written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, who clearly also understands the power and horror of finding escape from both the real world and the physical bodies that inhabit it. The experience of watching I Saw the TV Glow is thus very odd, as it mixes tones of teen bonding and finding solace in each other's company, with a sharp sense of dread and despair, even utter horror. The latter come from the lifestyles that are to a point forced on the main characters, as well as their controlled and asserted perceptions of themselves.
Here, in this space filled with so many feelings, the fantastic musical soundtrack only enhances this unique experience of belonging and very much sticking out. Both main characters, played by Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine, do a great job in trying to communicate this sense of split self to each other and the audience, which is so hard to explain with words. That is why both of them, just like the film in its entirety, succeeds brilliantly in showing just a glimpse - but still a powerful one - of lives where people never belong, yet yearn so much to do nothing more than fit in somewhere.
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Film Review: Immaculate (2024 film)
The plot of the film follows Sister Mary, a US nun who arrives in a remote Italian Catholic convent. At first, Mary, who is played by Sydney Sweeney, is greeted by a community of different characters, where her future fitting in could be a long and arduous process. However, soon after it is discovered that Mary is with child, even though her chastity remains intact.
Directed by Michael Mohan, Immaculate focuses on the idea of being entrapped by one's surroundings, by one's body, and by one's deepest faith. Here, Sweeney's interpretation of Mary is very striking, as she provides a very downtrodden and humble character, who still harbors a strong will to fight and overcome horrible situations. As the film progresses, these situations only grow in scale and frequency.
Ritualistic and visceral, Immaculate is a strong body horror that touches upon some very real issues of female reproductive rights and the ideation that this carries with it among the faithful. Unlike other horrors rooted in rituals, like Midsommar, the film does not get entangled in its religious source material but remains focused on its crucial entity - the character of Mary and her terrible experiences.
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Film Review: Trapped Inn (2024)
From its intro sequence and the first minutes, Trapped Inn shows that it's a different kind of movie. Starring the multitalented Matt Rife, it immediately sets the stage for its main characters - a US cycling team training in Europe. After a grueling session, the team goes back to their lodging inn, an isolated place where things look better than they should, but also come with an underlying sense of menace.
The great thing about the setup of Trapped Inn is that it uses the entire cycling team as its main character, quickly establishing different personalities, relationships, and rivalries. All of that feels very familiar, but it has rarely been presented in films, especially ones like this. The director of the film, Leah Sturgis, uses the setup in a refined manner, being that the risk there would have been for the movie to slide into a regular sports drama early on. However, Trapped Inn builds up its mystery and a sense of growing unease and danger just as effectively.
Besides Rife and his main team rival Greg, played by Robert Palmer Watkins, Brian Gross as the team's coach manages to perform really well in this kind of odd setup of things not being what they seem. Along with them, the entire team does a great job in molding realistic characters who find themselves in an unexpected, emerging hellscape. As the disappearances and the bodies begin to pile up, the film kicks into a whole new gear with the threat of a mysterious infection and death.
Trapped Inn is shot and edited perfectly, using the best out of natural light and gorgeous locations, both indoors and outdoor. All of the subtle special effects manage to blend into that almost seamlessly. This also offers a great counterpoint to the plot once the danger becomes very immediate and real. That further enhances the tension that the character begins to experience as survival becomes a desperate plight with no good outcomes.
From beginning to end, Trapped Inn is a masterful combo of genres and setups. I'm sure that the presence of big acting names will attract the viewers and the fact that the entire cast performed great, but the actual appeal of the film lies in its ability to blend and sustain its unique approach to its storyline. As the world implodes inside of the characters and outside of them, Trapped Inn offers the audience a world-ending ride that they will never forget.
Learn more about Trapped Inn on its official website and see where you can watch it right now!
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Film Review: 'Salem's Lot (2024)
Last year was brimming with fantastic new horror films. Movies like Oddity and Longlegs are just some of the titles that managed to impress and terrify both critics and the audiences. However, 'Salem's Lot, which has the most impressive pedigree of the bunch, was not able to do the same. For me, however, the film more than does justice both to its original source material and the modern horror genre.
Created by Gary Dauberman, a modern horror-making veteran, the film is based on the 1975 novel by Stephen King. In it, a writer comes home to a small town of Jerusalem's Lot looking for inspiration, but ultimately finds only terror and danger as an ancient vampire is slowly taking over the town. He and a small band of locals try to put a stop to it, or at least survive.
While the latest adaptation is not a masterpiece, Dauberman and a really solid movie cast still managed to turn it into a very entertaining horror. The use of light, especially in the form of glowing crosses, is exceedingly impressive from a visual side, while the photography overall manages to paint a bleak and scary picture of a small-tow-US slowly becoming a graveyard of both the dead and the undead. Yes, there is scant character development and some moments are abruptly ended by the director and the script, but I found that refreshing.
Instead of blindly trying to make a film copy of the book - necessarily in a limited TV series from - the director wanted to make a semi-original iteration of this famous tale, which is in itself basically a modern retelling of a generic folk story. Throughout this, 'Salem's Lot keeps a grip on the audience akin to the best horrors of the 1980s and early 1900s. While it might not be very innovative, it is still appealing from start to finish. Horror movies should not be judged too harshly if they end up in a position like that.