Tag: drama

Climate of the Hunter A Movie A Day Journal Entry

by chrisA Movie A Day / Journal EntryLeave a Comment on Climate of the Hunter A Movie A Day Journal Entry

Climate of the Hunter (2019) – A Movie A Day 2021 #25

Climate of the Hunter poster

I was looking for another newly released horror movie to watch when I came across the trailer for Climate of the Hunter, and it intrigued me the most out of the handful of new horror movies released this month. With its strong 1970s vibes, its fullscreen/1.33 aspect ratio, and its promise of some arthouse indie weirdness with vampires, the trailer sold me on a VOD rental. After watching Climate of the Hunter I would debate its categorization as a horror movie, but it did turn out to be an enjoyably quirky and darkly comedic psychological thriller. 

So what is Climate of the Hunter about? That might be difficult to pin that down exactly, but I’ll give it shot. A large part of the movie is about family. The story focuses on sisters Alma (Ginger Gilmartin) and Elizabeth (Mary Buss) and their strained relationship. The sisters are staying together in a vacation cabin owned by their family, and the two of them range from passive aggressive to downright hostile in their interactions throughout the film. Their relationship is further tested when a charming and worldly writer named Wesley (Ben Hall) comes to stay in the cabin next door. Alma and Elizabeth are both attracted to Wesley, and Wesley is content to accept affections from them both which, of course, exacerbates their sibling rivalry. 

Through multiple dinner conversations (usually involving immaculately prepared 1970s-era dinners, the contents of which are narrated to us, the audience) we learn that Wesley has his own struggles with family, specifically his wife who was recently committed to a mental institution and his son who blames Wesley for his mother’s condition. Add to all of this the fact that Alma’s daughter Rose visits after being somewhat estranged from her mother for years, and you have all the makings of a tense family drama. 

Climate of the Hunter is also about mental instability. The very first thing we see in the movie is a typed report describing the mental condition of one of the characters. The prognosis isn’t good, and with delusions, psychotic episodes, and more being planted in our brains right away, it sets us up to expect a difficult time for the people we’re soon to meet. So in a way, Climate of the Hunter is about experiencing the mental decline of one of our main characters. But with the way the story is told, there is a lot of room for us to wonder if that character is sane and has just been put in an insane situation. Why? Because Wesley might be a vampire. 

Now don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler. We see vampiric images in the trailer, and every writeup for the movie explicitly states that Wesley might or might not be a vampire. Throughout the many conversations, hints are dropped about his possible blood-sucking proclivities. We also see certain things that would make us believe he is, in fact, a vampire, but there is still some doubt because of how the movie is constructed.

There is a lyrical nature to many scenes throughout Climate of the Hunter. Wesley has an eloquent way of speaking even when he’s talking about some of the most crude things imaginable. Also, Wesley likes to talk a lot. I’ve already mentioned the conversations in the movie a few times, and that’s because most of the movie is centered on long conversations with highly stylized dialogue. The dialogue and deliveries from the actors give the movie a sense of a heightened reality, and that leads into the visuals. Stars shine brighter than they should, lights appear where they shouldn’t, thoughts are represented visually, and dreams blend with reality. Visuals like that aren’t used excessively, but they’re used often enough to keep the audience a bit off balance. But is what we’re seeing simply meant to evoke certain emotions, of are we sharing the delusions of one or more of the characters? Or maybe both? No clear answers are given, and your willingness to accept ambiguity is going to be one of the deciding factors for if you will enjoy Climate of the Hunter or not.

I enjoyed Climate of the Hunter, but it’s definitely going to be an acquired taste for many people. It’s quirky in ways that reminded me slightly of a dark, alternate-universe version of a Wes Anderson movie. Maybe I kept thinking of Wes Anderson because of how the movie is shot (very symmetrical, straight-on shots of characters, quick zooms, etc.), but I do think it’s a valid comparison as far as the aesthetic goes. And really, the 1970s aesthetic is one of the things I really love about the movie. It’s convincing in a way that most modern filmmakers just can’t pull off. 

The comedy in Climate of the Hunter is dark, and for the most part it’s very, very dry. It’s more of a smirking movie than a laugh out loud movie, though I did chuckle a few times when a situation caught me off guard. The biggest takeaway as far as a recommendation goes is that the movie is dialogue-heavy. If you enjoy a talky indie movie that gets weird and slightly uncomfortable, then Climate of the Hunter might be for you.

You know, the more I think about it as I’m writing this, the more I’m finding to love about the movie. My initial reaction when finishing it was, “yeah, that was fun,” but now I kind of want to watch it again. I’m sure I will at some point.

So did I answer my question from earlier? What is Climate of the Hunter about? On the surface, it’s not about much. The characters’ fates seem as inevitable as the typed mental report shown to us at the beginning of the film. It’s about a brief moment in the lives of a handful of people whose personal problems begin to become each other’s problems as they discuss life and philosophy over some colorful and not-terribly-appetizing food. But is it about vampires? Maybe. 

Tagged : / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Future Fear A Movie A Day Journal Entry

by chrisA Movie A Day / Journal EntryLeave a Comment on Future Fear A Movie A Day Journal Entry

Future Fear (1997) – A Movie A Day 2021 #15

Future Fear DVD

Wow. I did not know what I was in store for when I picked Future Fear for my daily movie. I expected a good amount of low-budget cheese since it’s a movie produced by Roger Corman and starring B-movie queen Maria Ford, but yeah, I got way more than I expected. And that’s definitely not a bad thing.

Future Fear is a sci-fi action movie starring the aforementioned Maria Ford as Anna, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, Jeff Wincott as John, a geneticist who has been drawn into a nefarious scheme, and the always entertaining Stacy Keach as General Wallace, the brains behind the nefarious scheme. The main plot of the movie focuses on a slightly futuristic game of cat and mouse as Anna chases John into and through some sort of secret military installation. John is carrying something Anna wants (or more precisely, something General Wallace wants Anna to get for him), and she seems like she might just kill John to take it.

As the chase continues through the entire course of the movie, the background of the story is told through numerous flashbacks. We learn about how John was dragged into the nefarious scheme that General Wallace talks about to himself from time to time, we learn about the romantic history between Anna and John, and we learn about how Anna and John got to the point to where they’re (maybe) trying to kill each other. The background is pretty wild and involves a global pandemic, the origins of life, religion versus science, and the rise of a Fourth Reich. Bear in mind though, the majority of the movie more or less only involves the three characters I’ve already mentioned while they’re living and working in an underground bunker. So all of that grandiose background information? We learn about it through conversations primarily between Anna and John. We are told, not shown, that the planet is dying and Anna and John are fighting to save or destroy it.

The way the story is told is what really hooked me. At first the constant cutting back and forth from action to the dialogue-heavy flashbacks was a bit off-putting. I didn’t know if I was going to get into the movie, but by the end of the opening scene I was all in. The movie opens with Anna chasing John, both of them in helicopters armed with machine guns. While they continue the chase for what feels like a really long time, the flashbacks start with “one year earlier” flashing across the screen. We see uptight and disciplined Lieutenant Anna meeting laid-back and free-spirited John as Anna informs John that he’s going to be working for the military. John resists the demand, but he can’t resist Anna. Meanwhile, in the future (or the present depending on your perspective) Anna and John continue their helicopter chase. Then, slightly less than a year back in the past, Anna and John are having an Alice in Wonderland themed dinner complete with Alice and Mad Hatter cosplay for Anna and John. They get intimate on the table, but back in the future/present, the helicopter chase is coming to a dangerous end. Then the chase moves into the underground bunker. At this point, about fifteen or so minutes into the movie, I was hooked.

The flashbacks are full of fabulous melodrama. Without spoiling anything, I’ll just say that Anna and John’s relationship goes to some spectacularly awful places, and it’s mostly a lot of fun seeing what tragic misstep they’ll take next. Some of the scenarios get pretty dark, but it all works to show why Anna is so angry but still seems to have such a hard time killing John as she chases him. Oh, and the Alice in Wonderland (i.e. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass) stuff continues throughout the entire movie. Alice metaphors have been utilized in countless movies and are really overdone, but the devotion to numerous and obvious Alice references in Future Fear is kind of endearing. John has an Alice in Wonderland obsession of sorts (with a bit of Humpty Dumpty thrown in), so Alice is a near-constant motif throughout the movie. John even starts dreaming about Alice in his recurring nightmares about his father. Oh yeah, John’s father was in the military and died, so John is traumatized by that, and that is also tied into everything else that’s going on. There’s a lot of stuff going on in Future Fear.

One person who didn’t have much going on when filming Future Fear was Stacy Keach. As General Wallace, Stacy Keach gives about 90% of his performances alone in a dark room. Wallace is in the movie quite a lot, but he’s often either talking on an intercom or just talking to himself. This is one of those instances where it seems like the biggest star in the movie was able to shoot nearly all of their scenes in one day in one location and be done with it. I’m not saying Stacy Keach is bad though. Quite the contrary. Wallace demands attention with his soliloquys even though no one is around, and his words build him up as the worst of the worst. Wallace is a Nazi-inspired, white supremacist, religious zealot who wants to use an alien virus to cleanse the planet. Did I mention the alien virus yet? Yeah, there’s an alien virus, and that’s what’s causing the global pandemic. See? Lots of stuff going on.

I don’t know if anything I just wrote makes sense, but really, Future Fear does make sense in it’s own way. Whether or not you as the viewer buy into the sense it makes is going to be an individual experience though. I enjoyed the movie for the over-the-top, melodramatic performances and the campy action told through an almost dream-like structure of flashbacks and dream sequences. It’s some high-concept stuff jammed into a low-budget movie, and it’s great to watch late at night when you’re already kind of tired and heading towards sleep. Will it put you to sleep? Maybe, but you just might enjoy it more than you expect. I know I sure did.

Tagged : / / / / / / / / / / / /

Prospect (2018) A Movie A Day Journal Entry

by chrisA Movie A Day / Journal EntryLeave a Comment on Prospect (2018) A Movie A Day Journal Entry

Prospect (2018) – A Movie A Day 2021 #12

Prospect poster

Like many other people around the world, I’m a big fan of The Mandalorian. I’m a fan not only because it’s a fantastic series that makes exceptional use of the larger Star Wars universe, but it also introduced me to Pedro Pascal. I know now that I’d seen Pascal in some of his previous roles including parts in Kingsman: The Golden Circle and The Equalizer 2, but The Mandalorian was the first time his name and face (what little we see of it) really stuck with me. I’m at the point now where I will watch pretty much anything he’s in. So when I was cruising through Netflix and saw Pedro Pascal in a sci-fi movie, it was an easy decision to stop searching and end my usually-too-long Netflix browsing session.

The movie I stopped down on was Prospect. It’s a sci-fi thriller/drama from 2018 starring Pedro Pascal and Sophie Thatcher. The story takes place sometime in the future where Cee (Thatcher) travels to an alien moon with her father (played by Jay Duplass). Cee’s father, Damon, is a prospector, and he and Cee are on the alien moon to dig up enough valuable gems to set them up for life. Naturally though, a score as big as the one Damon describes to his daughter comes with a lot of dangers and drawbacks. Not only are the gems volatile and dangerous to acquire, but Damon was given the information by a group of ruthless mercenaries who are currently guarding the site. On top of that, Damon and Cee’s landing pod goes off course and breaks on its way down to the surface of the moon, the air on the moon is toxic, and Damon and Cee have a strict time limit or they’ll be abandoned when the main ship in orbit departs on a set schedule with or without them. So yeah, lots of problems. Also, there are bandits/people trying to survive in the moon’s forest, and that’s where we meet Ezra (played by Pedro Pascal).

I don’t really want to go into any more detail about the plot beyond the setup, because the twists and turns that the story takes are really well done and deserve to be experienced rather than explained. All I’ll really is is that what follows after the setup is a tense and dramatic story of survival, trust, and humanity. There is some action here and there, but for the most part the movie focuses on the tense relationships between the characters as they try to move forward in what sometimes feels like a hopeless situation. 

Prospect is a very pretty movie. The jungle of the alien moon feels familiar in many ways, but it also always feels slightly alien as well. At times the overgrown vegetation is pleasing to look at, but when you look closer and see the plants overtaking a rotting spacesuit or the remains of a previous dig gone wrong, you start to get a sense of the dangers the plants might be hiding. Also, the air feels thick with all sorts of things floating around, and if you have pollen allergies like me, you can really start to feel it in your head and chest just watching the movie. 

The acting in Prospect is great as well, and that’s probably the biggest reason why I enjoyed the movie so much. Thatcher and Pascal have great chemistry in their antagonistic relationship, and their performances help enhance the tension of every scene. Pascal in particular is wonderful. Without spoiling anything, there is one scene rather late in the movie where something gross and potentially traumatic has to happen. Rather than focus of the spectacle of the gross actions taking place though, the camera focuses on Pascal’s face as everything is happening just off screen. Pascal’s reactions tell you everything you need to know, and the range of emotions he conveys in that single shot are pretty amazing. 

I would recommend Prospect to pretty much anyone who enjoys a good, tense thriller/drama. If you enjoy science fiction as well, then that’s a great bonus. There’s enough sci-fi jargon to scratch that sci-fi itch, but there’s not so much that it’s going to block people out who don’t care about spaceships and alien worlds. The focus of the movie is largely on building characters with a bit of action, so if that’s your thing, definitely check out Prospect.

Tagged : / / / / / / / / / /

Omega Syndrome A Movie A Day Journal Entry

by chrisA Movie A Day / Journal EntryLeave a Comment on Omega Syndrome A Movie A Day Journal Entry

Omega Syndrome (1986) – A Movie A Day 2021 #10

Omega Syndrome poster

So I was clicking around on Tubi last night looking for something to watch before going to bed, and even though I usually end up watching some cheap horror movie when I’m cruising Tubi, I ended up going down a rabbit hole of 80s action flicks. When I don’t really know or care what I’m looking for, I tend to let the cover/poster artwork make a lot of the hard decisions for me. Painted posters rank higher than posters with photos (with exceptions made for supremely cheesy photo collages), and the more outlandish and wacky the painting is, the better. After a few minutes of clicking, I stopped down on a movie with a poster featuring a trashy-looking image of a maniacal guy in a leather mask with some sort of gun with a giant, smoking barrel. The movie has an intriguingly mysterious title, Omega Syndrome, and to me, the poster promises violent 80s action. Of course I’m not completely naive, and I understand that movie posters often oversell the movies they advertise, but hey, it could be fun. Omega Syndrome ended up being kind of fun, but only in short bursts.

Omega Syndrome is about a Vietnam veteran whose daughter (played by Nicole Eggert) is kidnapped during a liquor store robbery. Frustrated with the lack of police action, the vet, Jack, enlists the help of an estranged friend and fellow veteran, Phil. The two men launch their own investigation that leads them into a white supremacists’ plot involving kidnapping, blackmail, and lots of murder.

It’s a straightforward story that could lead to some decent action, but overall the movie feels like it was made for TV. I suppose the killing, language, and subject matter might push it a bit too far to be shown on regular TV (the movie is rated R after all), but the editing, cinematography, and even the music cues all give it a very strong impression of a 1980s made-for-TV movie. It makes sense considering the director, Joseph Manduke, is primarily a television director, but it doesn’t make the movie any more enjoyable. 

The poster’s promise of trashy action is never really met, and what we get instead is a fairly standard crime drama that mostly focuses on the investigation being carried out by Jack and Phil. Witnesses are tracked down and threatened, the police tell Jack to mind his own business, and eventually the culprits are tracked down which erupts in a big gun fight. Up until the final scene though, the action is sparse and underwhelming. It’s fine, but it’s also forgettable, which is really what I think about the whole movie. Fine yet forgettable. 

The few things I will remember about Omega Syndrome are some of the people in it. It was fun seeing Nicole Eggert as Jack’s daughter. She didn’t do a whole lot, but she did have a nice moment where she fought back against her kidnappers. Also, Colm Meaney has a small role as a bomb maker. I know Meaney best as Chief O’Brien from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, but I’m always delighted when he pops up in some of the crime and action movies I’ve seen over the years.

For me though, the star of Omega Syndrome is Xander Berkeley. Berkeley’s most high-profile role was probably as John Connor’s foster father in Terminator 2, but I remember him best for multiple roles including George Mason from 24 and from one of my favorite episodes of The X-Files, “Ice.” In Omega Syndrome, Xander Berkeley plays the scummiest of the scumbags, and his performance is one for the ages. He plays his character, Yo-Yo, as a dimwit with a short and violent fuse. He has these vacant looks throughout the film that show there’s not much going on up top, but he also feels like the most dangerous person in his whole terrorist group. If I could recommend Omega Syndrome for any reason, it would be to watch Xander Berkely, filthy teeth and red face and all. He’s great.

Tagged : / / / / / / /

Ava (2020) A Movie A Day Journal Entry

by chrisA Movie A Day / Journal EntryLeave a Comment on Ava (2020) A Movie A Day Journal Entry

Ava (2020) – A Movie A Day 2021 #9

Ava movie poster

With its exceptionally strong cast featuring Jessica Chastain, John Malkovich, Common, Colin Farrell, Joan Chen, and Geena Davis, I was excited to get home and watch Ava after coming across it in one my local Redboxes. The writeup promised exciting action with Jessica Chastain as Ava, an assassin who ends up on the run after a job goes awry, and I do enjoy a good assassin-on-the-run action flick. And while there absolutely are a number of fun action scenes from gun fights to hand-to-hand combat, the main focus of the movie was split between action and some heavy drama as Ava’s troubled past comes meets her dangerous present. Now, I love a good drama as well, but overall I did come away from Ava feeling like maybe the divided attention paid to both the drama and the action didn’t quite come together in a way that enhanced both. So overall, I enjoyed Ava, but I was hoping to enjoy it a lot more.

The movie starts with Ava on a mission. It’s a quick setup just to get you familiar with Ava’s work and a bit of her personality. Ava is an efficient killer, but people in her organization have problems with how she handles certain situation. Ava has had issues with getting too emotionally involved with the people she’s sent to kill (not romantically, more in a “what did you do to make me kill you” kind of way), and Simon, one of her superiors played by Colin Farrell, doesn’t trust her anymore. Ava’s direct contact, Duke (played by John Malkovich) is a disciplined and fatherly figure, and he seems to trust Ava to do what needs to be done. But when we see one of Ava’s missions go wrong and nearly get her killed, it seems clear that someone is gunning to put Ava away for good. This is the action part of the movie, and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

Meanwhile though, Ava takes a break from killing to go to her hometown of Boston, and that’s where the drama comes in. We learn about Ava’s dark past with her parents, sister, and ex-fiancé, and on its own I think it could be a good drama. Geena Davis plays Ava’s mom, and Common plays her ex-fiancé, so clearly the acting is great. I guess the thing that never really clicked for me is that Ava’s family life and her life as an assassin never really cross over. Obviously Ava’s troubles influence her character and affect her ability to survive as people are trying to kill her, but the drama side of the movie and the action side of the movie felt distinctly separate in a lot of ways. There’s never really a climactic scene where Ava is forced to reveal her new life to her family (well, there sort of is, but it’s very minor), and even though family ties end up being important to Duke and Simon and their work within the assassination organization, Ava is never really forced into the same position. I suppose that’s why I say the drama didn’t enhance the action and vice versa. It feels like a lot of dramatic buildup with no real payoff.

That being said, I did enjoy the movie. The actors are all great, and even though I would have preferred that the story took different turns, the people in the movie kept me invested in what happened to their characters. Also, there were multiple action scenes that I really quite enjoyed. Jessica Chastain is a good action hero, and I look forward to seeing her shoot and beat up a lot more people in the future (like in The 355 which I keep seeing trailers for in the theater).

Tagged : / / / / / / / / / / / /