Spooky, sweary, fishy and ’80s: the week’s DVDs reviewed
Directed by James Wan, and written by Leigh Whannell (the double-act responsible for the kick-starting the interminable Saw franchise), Insidious (Momentum) sees the duo change tack for a far more traditional creep-fest, and one that defiantly eschews the gore-streaked depravity of the later Saw movies.
As the movie opens, happily married couple Josh (Patrick Wilson, Lakeview Terrace) and Renai Lambert (Rose Byrne, Damages) move into an idyllic suburban home with their three young children. After hitting his head while playing in the attic, eldest son Dalton falls into a prolonged coma, which baffles doctors and defies medical science.
The devastated family try to get their lives back on track, only to find themselves plagued by a series of equally inexplicable events -culminating with the arrival of a handful of demonic presences. Unable to shake of the creeping feeling of dread, Renai seeks out an unlikely source of help in the form of Elise Reiner (Lin Shaye, 2001 Maniacs), who earns a living vanquishing paranormal entities
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What sets Insidious apart from a raft of similar material is its refusal to play the increasingly tiresome ‘found-footage’ card. Instead it drags the proceedings into overtly supernatural territory, unleashing a succession of increasingly creepy characters into the mix. Although none of the ghouls are as iconic as Saw’s sinister Billy the Puppet, their quirkiness gives them an appealingly spooky edge, and they complement the drip-feed of tension perfectly. Although Insidious fades slightly towards the end, with a suspiciously tame end-section, Wan and Whannell have plenty of fun with their smart premise, and the director proves that he can do old-fashioned horror as well as the next man. Entertaining stuff.
Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder detective novels are rightly heralded as one of the most consistent crime series of the modern era, and it is surprising that no one has exploited their rich potential for cinematic purposes. Or rather, it would be surprising if Hal Ashby hadn’t already tried back in 1986. While the books see alcoholic cop Scudder prowling Hell’s Kitchen’s dive bars, taking on cases as ‘favours’ for acquaintances, 8 Million Ways To Die (Second Sight)-which is very loosely based on the book of the same name -finds Scudder (improbably played by a pre-Dude Jeff Bridges) relocated to sun-kissed Los Angeles, where he becomes embroiled in a murky plot involving a sadistic drug dealer and a dead call girl.
Veteran director Ashby -making what turned out to be his final film -reportedly threw away the script written by a pre-Platoon Oliver Stone, and urged the actors to improvise all of their dialogue and actions. As a result the director found himself fired as soon as principal photography was completed, and studio PSO Entertainment (making its first major production) attempted to regain a semblance of creative control. On this evidence the studio didn’t do a particularly good job, and after an interesting start the movie becomes increasingly illogical, with too many scenes spiralling into foul-mouthed shouting matches. The film retains only the flimsiest connection to its source material, and with Scudder given an absurd Hawaiian-shirted makeover, the film plays out like a degenerate episode of Magnum. For all its faults, 8 Million Ways To Die is a genuine curio -for fans of Jeff Bridges, Hal Ashby and Lawrence Block alike -unfortunately it is also a pretty poor movie. Mind boggling.
Directed by cult Puerto Rican filmmaker Miguel Arteta (Chuck & Buck, The Good Girl) Cedar Rapids (20th Century Fox) follows the exploits of naïve small-town insurance agent Tim Lippe (Ed Helms, The Hangover), whose sheltered existence has protected him from the seedier side of life. When his high-flying colleague Roger Lemke dies in a auto-erotic sex game-gone-wrong, the reluctant Tim is pressed into service to represent Brownstar Insurance at the annual ‘Two Diamonds’ conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Not only is Tim under pressure from his boss to maintain Brownstar’s position at the industry’s pinnacle, he has been warned to steer clear of Dean ‘Dean-Z’ Ziegler (John C Reilly, Step Brothers) a notorious party animal, more concerned with getting trashed than networking. Inevitably, Tim is forced to share a room with the rambunctious Dean-Z, and finds himself sucked into the man’s warped social vortex.
Director Arteta is renowned for his unique sense of humour, but his previous movie Youth In Revolt failed to deliver the kind of laughs he presented in The Good Girl. Unfortunately, Cedar Rapids is a similarly patchy affair, with the film unable to expand on its amusing fish-out-of-water premise. Despite an engaging supporting cast, including Anne Heche (Psycho, Spread), who stars as flirtatious Joan Ostrowski-Fox, Cedar Rapids is forced to venture outside of its narrative curve for laughs, shoe-horning in an extraneous redneck party sub-plot in pursuit of humour. Cedar Rapids is never less than watchable, but Arteta’s quirky skills seem slightly wasted, and the slap-dash gag-rate does the film few favours. Approach with caution.
Take Me Home Tonight (Universal) is written by Jeff and Jackie Fligo, the duo best known as the creative force behind the long-running comedy series That 70s Show. Set in the naff-tastic late-80s, the film follows talented young MIT graduate Matt Franklin (Topher Grace, Spider-Man 3), who has walked out on his well-paid engineering job and taken a low-level job as a video store clerk, after growing frustrated by the materialism that surrounds him. Matt’s life takes a sudden turn for the better when sexy Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer, I Am Number Four) -his hitherto unattainable high school crush -returns to town, offering him an unexpected glimpse of happiness. In an effort to get reacquainted, Matt ventures to a Labor Day party held by local jock Kyle, with his sarcastic sister Wendy (Anna Faris, Observe & Report) and hapless best friend Barry (Dan Fogler, Fanboys) in tow.
Bearing a suspicious resemblance to the hastily cancelled That 70s Show spin-off, That 80s Show, Take Me Home Tonight is a lazily un-ambitious comedy that trudges through a series of clichéd scenes, with none of the playful verve evident in last year’s uproarious retro-fest Hot Tub Time Machine. In fact, so aimless is the narrative trajectory, although the film unfolds during a single day, it feels far longer. All in all: proof that some eras are better off forgotten
- Interview: Billy O’Brien and William Todd-Jones - March 2, 2017
- The Childhood of a Leader: the birth of a terrifying ego - February 10, 2017
- Hold your breath: Don’t Breathe, and more reviews - January 26, 2017
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