Frailty (2001)

"Sometimes truth defies reason."

That dude from 'Titanic' is one crazy motherfucker...

A man confesses to an FBI agent his family's story of how his religious fanatic father's visions lead to a series of murders to destroy supposed "demons."

Scrolling through Netflix after a busy weekend I stumbled upon 'Frailty', a film that was on my list of films to watch but had been lost in the scenery. It was a quiet Sunday so it seemed the perfect opportunity to sit down and watch something new. 

Actor Bill Paxton makes his directorial debut with this unusual and complex film about religion, family and murder.

The film kicks off with Matthew McConaughey confessing to an FBI agent that he believes his brother is a wanted serial killer. Obviously, at first, the FBI agent is sceptical but, after hearing McConaughey's story, he is more inclined to believe him. 

There is a lot of atmosphere that hooks you into this film early on, there's movie rain falling hard outside, McConaughey is monologuing and there's quiet talk of murder. You instantly get on board with the characters and you are transported back in time to the early 70's where the main story takes place.

It actually felt similar in tone and style to 'True Detective', which McConaughey also stars in, it's moody and atmospheric and isn't in a rush to get to where it needs to go. 

It centres around two young brothers who, in the middle of the night, are disturbed by their father, played by Bill Paxton, who claims that God has spoken to him and told him that they have to rid the world of demons. He is sent weapons from god and a list of those who have to die.

What 'Frailty' does extremely well is that it allows you the space to decide for yourself what is going on. It balances the both the possibility that their father has been visited by an angel and the idea that he's simply out of his mind. Bill Paxton plays the part perfectly, he's calculated and calm about the whole scenario and genuinely makes you believe that he's spoken with God. He doesn't look or sound insane, quite the opposite. He's the authoritative figure in the home of the two boys and, not having a mother present, he is in total control.

It no uncertain terms, it explores some pretty wide yet relatable themes and ideas such as religion and nature vs nurture. It's all mirrored in the two young brothers who are subjected to the insanity that follows their fathers divine visions.

There's a lot of tension and an uneasy sense of dread that builds up as things begin to spiral out of control for the two young boys. The young actors do a pretty solid job, they are believable and have some really tough scenes to act. Alongside Bill Paxton, the three as a family unit are realistic which makes it all the more tense when those ties.

Underneath the human themes there's another level, if you want to dig deep enough, that throws what you've seen into question. There are a few plot twists and turns that will keep you interested and it's hard to tell exactly where it's going. The ending throws up a lot more questions than it answers and leaves you on an eerie and ambiguous note, which some will either love or hate. 

This ambiguity is present all the way through the film and is part of what makes it so intriguing. I'd love to watch it again with the knowledge that you gain the first time round. 

Overall, 'Frailty' is a surprisingly interesting and complex film with a lot of hard concepts to think about but, not only that, it's also an entertaining thriller that stays with you after you've seen it.

McConaughey McConaughoo again proves that he's one of the best in the business and Bill Paxton proves that he can be an axe-wielding religious fanatic and direct a movie at the same time. 

Good job.

Criminal (2016)

"Hurt me... 
I hurt you worse"

Oh the cheese... The cheese!

A dead CIA agent's memories are implanted into a death-row inmate in a last ditch attempt to stop a diabolical scheme. 

This high concept "sci-fi-esque" film boasts an impressive cast so, as you do when a film features the likes of Kevin Costner and Gary Oldman, I went in on blind faith that it'd be worth seeing. 

Unfortunately, 'Criminal' proves that logic to be deeply, deeply flawed...

The film kicks off with Ryan Reynolds, a CIA agent, on the run from some bad guys in London. It had the same feel of films like the 'Bourne Identity', Gary Oldman was shouting orders in some anonymous government HQ, it was pretty action packed and had some decent atmosphere. Safe to say I was on board. 

As the film progressed from the hopeful opening, the problems began to appear. Literally, like 10 minutes in. The clichés started rolling out in full force and the plot falls into "straight to DVD" B-Movie obscurity. You've even got the evil, foreign mastermind hacker in an abandoned building, why do these evil genius hackers never hack in the comfort of some nice surroundings? Maybe with a sofa and a nice view? 

The sci-fi concept of this film was actually quite interesting, take someone else's memories and transfer them into someone else. Throw a CIA agent and a dangerous criminal into that mix and I'm sold. However, the way the concept is executed in the film is nothing short of a mess. For such a promising idea they manage to dilute it down, extenuate it to the point that it becomes boring and toss it carelessly in with a convoluted plot. Nothing is explained and there are so many plot holes that you end up just giving up. 

The believability factor in any sci-fi film is extremely important, it must be believable within the world that the story takes place for us to buy into the advanced ideas and none of what happens in 'Criminal' is believable.

The cast of the film are totally wasted. You have the likes of Kevin Costner in the lead role acting alongside Gary Oldman and Tommy Lee Jones, this should have been a fun and exciting 90's throwback action flick but, instead, they are reduced to cheap dialogue and hammy performances. 

Tommy Lee Jones looks as if he couldn't be bothered but showed up for the free food and the cheque...

Gary Oldman shouts his way through the film in a blind rage and Ryan Reynolds is chucked away in the first couple of scenes. 

Kevin Costner tries out a pretty strange criminal character that punches his way through innocent civilians to get to whatever giant plot hole is conjured up for the finale. He does some very despicable things to some pretty ordinary people which makes you question every plot point that follows it. Should we really be rooting for such a horrendous character in the end?

As it all begins to draw to a close, the cheesiness becomes stronger and stronger. It's like a cheesy 90's action film without the fun. It's over the top and not in a good way. It runs to the end like a TV movie and, if you weren't in the cinema, you'd have probably changed the channel long before then.

The violence in the film is gratuitous, it's violent for the sake of being violent and there's no call for it. I'm all up for a violent romp in the right context but in this film it's just bizarre. There are some scenes that are so violent that you begin to laugh because it's so ridiculous. It's like watching 'Taken' but instead of Liam Neeson breaking the necks of criminals, he's breaking the necks of innocent people. It's not fun anymore it just becomes a little uncomfortable.

Coming in at just shy of a two hour run time, for a film like this, that’s verging on the ridiculous. It seems to lumber from one convoluted plot point to the next with clunky dialogue and disposable scenes. It’s a sloppy plot that hangs together by a thread. 

Overall, 'Criminal' is a shoddy piece of filmmaking that wastes its fantastic cast.

Only thing criminal about this film is the fact that it robs you of nearly two hours of your life...

Zootropolis (2016)

"We may be evolved, 

but deep down we are still animals."

What the hell is going on with Disney these days? Churning out god awful remakes of all their original films and then, out of the blue, they hit out with an awesome little movie like this?

In a world run only by evolved animals, an up and coming bunny cop and a cynical con artist fox must team up to solve a mystery. 

If that synopsis doesn't hook you in then I don't know what would.

There are a lot of awful kids movies that the grown ups have to sit through but this film stands among the best that prove adults and children can enjoy the same film. 

Straight off the bat, this film gets everyone laughing. No matter what age you are, when those lights go down, everyone gradually progresses from chuckles into giggles and then into full blown laughter. 

You start the adventure with a very likeable bunny named Judy Hopps, voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin, but nobody takes her dreams of being a cop seriously because she’s a bunny. After moving to Zootropolis, she meets a cunning fox named Nick Wilde, voiced by Jason Bateman, who is a bit of a con artist and the two clash immediately. For being animated animals, the pair have some really good chemistry on screen. The voice acting is perfect for their personalities and you instantly warm to them. When a film can make you care about a bunny that wants to be a cop and a fox that dresses like Charlie Sheen, you know you've got a unique movie on your hands. 

The animation is top quality and, with any good animation, you barely notice it after a while because you become so engrossed with the plot. It’s no longer an "animated film”, it just becomes a film that happens to animated. 

The film has a lot of fun playing with various different film & television references which are great to pick out if you notice them. Some are a bit more in your face than others but they are so well done and so apt for the situations. The best references in there have to be ‘The Godfather’ moments, they had my sides splitting.

From Idris Elba to J.K. Simmons, there are a lot of famous voices playing various different characters and they all do a fantastic job. All the characters are comical and really come alive on screen. The fluid animation does a lot of the heavy lifting but the voice actors all bring so much life and charisma to the characters.

The story is fun and intriguing and it actually tackles some pretty interesting themes and ideas. One of the main issues explored in ‘Zootropolis’ is discrimination. It breaks it down in a fun and childlike manner, in true Disney fashion, and holds up a mirror to our own society. It tackles racism along with sexism and does a great job of explaining it in a way that children will understand and enjoy. For a film about cuddly animals dressed up as humans, it actually has a lot of depth to it. It has a moral and it makes its point eloquently, something that is lacking in a lot of "grown up" movies.

Overall, ‘Zootropolis’ is a great movie for young kids but also an extremely entertaining movie for adults. It’s smart, it’s funny and it’s just really good fun.

Well done Disney, now just stop what you're doing with all the classic remakes and we'll be happy.

I cannot recommend this film enough. 
Release the inner child in you and go see ‘Zootropolis’!.

The Girl Next Door (2007)

"One sound down here and I promise I'll kill the both of you. 

Not just punish you, kill you. Dead."

I was not physically or emotionally prepared to watch this film...

After her parents are killed, a young teenage girl is subjected to unspeakable abuse by her aunt whom she has been sent to live with.

After spending some time looking for new and unusual horrors to watch, I stumbled upon 'The Girl Next Door'. A film that I had never even heard of but apparently had a reputation behind it for being powerful and disturbing. I had to import it from the U.S. but when I finally got down to actually watching it I was totally taken aback. 

It's not 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' or 'Halloween', where you're egging on the killer and having a pretty fun time revelling in the horror, 'The Girl Next Door' is a serious and harrowing look into a severe case of child abuse. 

This film isn't even just a horror. It is truly horrific drama.

Based on Jack Ketchum's novel of the same name, the film is set in 50's America in the suburbs of a sweet little town. It plays on the expectations of the glossy, romantic feelings we have of that time period. Teenage kids having fun, drinking coke and riding their bikes. Underneath this picturesque 'Stand By Me' type town lies a dark and horrific underbelly of violence, abuse and torture. All this fuelled by "Aunt" Ruth Chandler.

The film centres around young David Moran and his orphaned crush - Meg Loughin - who, along with her crippled sister, has just moved in with her Aunt Ruth. Things begin to take a turn for the worse for Meg as David notices some strange goings on in the Chandler household.

There is an ever present sense of dread throughout the whole first act of 'The Girl Next Door'. This isn't an enjoyable tension that a lot of horror fans thrive on, this is the uneasy feeling that things are going to go from bad to worse and you're not sure if you even want to stick around for it. You're not waiting for a masked killer to strike, this horror comes from the home and from a figure in authority. A mother.

The level of realism that the film creates is both fantastic and unbearable at times. You genuinely feel shocked at what you are seeing and it can be hard to keep looking at the screen. A lot of this believability comes from the acting talent in the film. When you think horror, great acting is not normally what springs to mind for a lot of films but 'The Girl Next Door' actually had some really solid and engaging performances.

Blanche Baker as Aunt Ruth was the standout performance of the film. Ruth abuses her power as the authoritative figure over the group of young teenagers and convinces them into doing her bidding. Her portrayal of Ruth is terrifying, calculated and unhinged but most importantly, alongside director Gregory Wilson, she brings a psychology to the role that a lot of directors and actors would miss. Despite her manipulative personality and blatant abuse of power, you get a sense of where she is coming from. To her, it's perfectly rational what she is doing. This is what is even more terrifying about her character and makes her all the more devastating when she's in control of the young group of boys.

The two young leads of the film - David and Meg, played by Daniel Manche and Blythe Auffarth, are both very confident in their characters and have some extremely challenging scenes that even the most seasoned actors would find daunting. 

The torture and violence in the film isn't gratuitous, fetishised or exploitative. It's integral to the plot and, unlike modern torture porn that continually crops up, it's not there for enjoyment. What happens is sickening to even think about let alone watch on screen. Despite the extreme nature of the scenes, it's handled very creatively and tastefully for what it is. Child abuse is always an insanely grey area and is so borderline that few filmmakers have the ability, vision or balls to do it. It can so easily go wrong for any director of any level.

The film deals with some really challenging themes and ideas and pushes you to the limit of what you can emotionally handle. It makes you feel uncomfortable and makes you question your own involvement as an audience member. By watching these scenes along with the characters, it implicates you and makes you feel involved. By watching David struggle it makes you want to scream at the screen and you feel powerless to help, as he does. 

Overall, 'The Girl Next Door' is not an enjoyable experience but it's an experience nonetheless. It hits you in the gut with some really hard to swallow ideas and images. It's got a crystal clear message and hammers it home with a sledgehammer. Even I barely managed to finish it. I found myself groaning in shock and horror at the events that unfold in the climax. I'm glad I've seen it but I don't think I'd like to watch it again, once was enough and certain scenes will stick with me for a long time.

For all it's gruelling to watch, it's got some really important things to say. Child abuse is still happening in this day in age and this film gives us a pretty clear insight into what needs to be done and the consequences of not acting. 

It's a hard film to get through and I can't really say that it's rewarding to get to the end. If you're strong enough to sit through it until the credits without flinching or cringing then you've got cajones man...