Movies & TV |

WESTWORLD Season 2

August 14, 2018 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

The second season of the HBO series WESTWORLD starts off promising but gets tangled in contrived subplots, resulting in a hot mess. I liked it, but it lost the gravitas of the first season.

In the first season, we engage with numerous characters who either visit, control, or are enslaved to a giant LARP-oriented Wild West theme park populated by cybernetic humans. The androids live out their day in endless programmed loops or “stories,” offering park patrons the chance to go on quests and live out their adventure-, violence-, and sex-related fantasies. Ford (the great Anthony Hopkins), the park’s creator, plays God in this place, fighting with the owner while possibly working toward an extraordinary next step for humanity–self awareness and liberation for the androids, followed by an uprising with bloody results.

In season 2, we see the aftermath, where guests are ruthlessly hunted, only some of the androids are aware while the rest continue to go through their loops, and the main characters all work together or at odds to escape. This season is as philosophical as the first, but with different themes involving freedom, what means are necessary to achieve freedom, and immortality.

As with season 1, the story plays out along different timelines, a device initiated by Bernard (the very likeable Jeffrey Wright), whose memories return to him in fragments. We get to visit two other theme parks, one built around colonial India, and the other medieval Japan. There are a couple of set pieces that are amazing, such as a battle set to the powerful second movement of Beethoven’s seventh symphony.

Unfortunately, the crisp beginning devolves into heavily contrived subplots, some of them going nowhere. Characters go off on side quests that drag down the story, William’s (the fantastic Ed Harris) quest fizzles out, Delores makes endless speeches along the lines of “the tables are now turned,” the park security forces are just cannon fodder, a character has something like a superpower but rarely uses it, and you have scenes like one where a character takes five minutes to say goodbye and then sacrifices herself instead of everybody just leaving and surviving.

So overall, WESTWORLD’s season 2 was an enjoyable watch, but it was uneven, and too often felt like regular “TV by numbers” than what I expect from HBO.

THE DOMESTICS (2018)

August 13, 2018 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

In THE DOMESTICS (2018), the U.S. government spread a pathogen to kill its own citizenry, resulting in America’s collapse into warring gangs and a film that promises a cross between MAD MAX and THE PURGE. Amid the insanity, the Domestics are people who go on trying to live their old normal lives as best they can. Two of these people are Mark and Nina, about to divorce when apocalypse struck, and now taking a road trip across the Midwest to get Nina to her parents. Along the way, they encounter one crazy gang after another, resulting in Nina toughening up into a killer and Mark finally finding a way to rekindle their love.

It’s an okay, kind of fun movie that could have been great and really fun. Going into it, I was hoping it would strike me the way ZOMBIELAND DID, serious in the action sequences but light and humorous in the characterization, dialogue, and overall delivery. Nina (Kate Bosworth) is morose for most of the movie and in complete denial about the danger she’s in, making her a bit of a frustrating character. What would have grabbed me far more would have been if she was as tough as he was, and they bickered and fought the entire time they were battling the gangs. The result is pretty flat, with Mark and Nina encountering one gang of homicidal maniacs after another.

Overall, again, it was okay for me, but it was overall kind of flat, and it could have been amazing.

THE HANDMAID’S TALE Season 2

July 30, 2018 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

THE HANDMAID’S TALE, the Hulu show based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian classic, wowed me last year with its faithful representation of the best of the novel, while innovating on it in ways that were both enjoyable and respectful to the novel’s original vision. I wondered if the second season, which would go beyond the novel, would be as powerful. Indeed, it was.

In many ways, the second season is more ambitious than the first. Instead of focusing on June’s life at the cold and periodically cruel Waterford house and her flashbacks to the Handmaid indoctrination center and her life before the revolution, we see a lot more of Gilead. This occurs alternately through June’s eyes, as she tries to escape and ends up seeing different aspects of the brutal society, and also Emily’s, as she ends up at one of the Colonies. We also get inside Mrs. Waterford’s past as she tours college campuses promoting her message, only to be greeted with rage and intolerance.

This is a theocratic America ruled by the religious right in a way that would make the Taliban proud, its warnings of Sharia Law coming to America realized as Christian law with an Old Testament emphasis. From the brutal prison camps where non-believers and gays are worked to death to the offices of the BOSTON GLOBE, where the journalists were massacred, THE HANDMAID’S TALE is an immersive, harrowing visit to a totalitarian state. Overall, it’s a tough watch, but it’s thrilling drama, and it’s important.

Unfortunately, the last episode didn’t work for me. It has a jury-rigged aspect to it, with multiple plot threads slamming to an end. Instead of some much-needed catharsis, June makes a very frustrating decision that angered fans, this one included. I get why the writer did it as it sets up a strong season 3, but I was disappointed.

Overall, though, THE HANDMAID’S TALE is bold, brilliant television, and I’ll be excited to catch season 3.

MOM AND DAD (2017)

July 24, 2018 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

MOM AND DAD (2017) is a delightfully trashy, gonzo, sort-of-a-zombie dark comedy about a mysterious signal that makes parents want to kill their children. It’s cartoonish at times, punctuated with hilarious moments, and far more poignant than it has a right to be. Where MAYHEM ably went with the modern office, MOM AND DAD hurls itself at the modern family.

Brent Ryan (Nicholas Cage at his zaniest) is Dad, struggling in the midst of a raging midlife crisis. Kendall (Selma Blair) is Mom having her own midlife crisis, frustrated with her teenage daughter rejecting her and finding out the job market doesn’t want her after setting aside her career for 15 years to be a stay-at-home mom. Carly, their daughter, is a stereotypical bratty teenager, who has a boyfriend that Brent doesn’t approve of because he is a year older than Carly. Josh, their son, is a playful boy who leaves a mess wherever he goes.

The opening credits kick off the movie with a Grindhouse vibe, promising it’s going to follow through on its dark premise, before we’re introduced to a typical day for the Ryan family. When the disorder strikes, parents line up at the school, eagerly awaiting their children. The authorities are already on to the pandemic and rush police onto the scene, and in the ensuing chaos, Carly escapes and tries to get home to Josh. Meanwhile, Brent and Carly, out for the day, rush home out of worry for their kids, whom they love more than anything and will soon want to kill.

The movie is shrill, clumsy, over the top, and ends with an awkward misstep, but I had way more fun with it than I thought I would. It’s not very deep, but writer/director Brian Taylor has something to say about the relationship parents have with their kids, that “You gave my life meaning, I love you more than myself” conflicting with, “I gave up what was left of my youth to raise you, and I lost my identity in being a parent,” suggesting all parents have a deep resentment buried in all that love.

In his film, Taylor clearly sympathizes with Mom and Dad, who are far better developed and outright funny. They’re zombies in a way, but only when it comes to killing their kids. Otherwise, the parents in this movie act like it’s an average day, which sets up a barrage of hilarious moments both big and small, such as Kendall giving a polite wave to an off-screen neighbor before resuming her hunt for her children. Mom and Dad share some bonding moments while trying to figure out a way to get at their kids, otherwise bickering the whole time like a married couple. The kids, meanwhile, aren’t very well developed as characters, particularly Carly’s boyfriend who’s there to alternately help and get his butt kicked, but this sets up a comedic conflict for the viewer: We sympathize with the kids because we don’t want them killed, but we empathize with the parents, whom we like far more.

In the end, MOM AND DAD has its missteps, but I just went with it and had a ton of fun watching it.

A QUIET PLACE (2018)

July 21, 2018 by Craig DiLouie 2 Comments

A QUIET PLACE (2018) is in many ways your typical post-apocalyptic horror fare but distinguishes itself as very good because of its primary conceit–making any noise earns you a grisly death in this world. This conceit skyrockets the tension and demands audience participation, where you find yourself holding your breath.

It’s 2020, and most of the world’s population has been wiped out by monsters (likely aliens) that are attracted to and attack anything that makes noise. On a rural farm, the Abbott family continues to survive along with other scattered survivors in the area. There’s Lee, the patient dad with mad survivalist skills; Evelyn, his warrior wife who is pregnant; deaf daughter Regan; and sons Marcus and Beau. When a noise at the house attracts the creatures, the family must fight to survive the night.

I’d thought this was a screen adaptation of Tim Lebbons’ novel THE SILENCE, which I’d read and liked. Lebbons’ novel was adapted, but this isn’t it, despite some on-the-nose similarities. THE SILENCE is coming out in December 2018.

A QUIET PLACE starts off well, immediately establishing the rules of this world (though with a heavily contrived moment that didn’t work for me until I considered it a suicide). All dialogue is sign language. The characters are continually terrified they’re going to make noise. This conceit draws the viewer in and makes for very tense viewing throughout. I would have preferred if the monsters stayed hidden to heighten the mystery and fear about them, but they’re revealed fairly early, and honestly didn’t do that much for me. (See THE RITUAL for a monster done really well.) The film takes itself very seriously on a dramatic level, though there isn’t enough depth in the family relationships to reach it.

In the end, A QUIET PLACE is a horror movie, with smart people doing dumb things and all, but with a fresh conceit powerfully executed. It’s clever in its great attention to detail and all the little mechanisms the family uses to communicate and survive. While the film isn’t as deep as it seems to aim, the characters are all likeable, and we want them to survive under constant harsh rules and with very high stakes, making this top-notch survival horror. Overall, THE QUIET PLACE is a good story with a strong execution, and while it didn’t hit every note for me, I really liked it.

SWISS ARMY MAN (2016)

July 16, 2018 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

SWISS ARMY MAN (2016) is a dreamlike, funny, bittersweet fantasy about a castaway (Paul Dano) who discovers a dead body (Daniel Radcliffe) that can do anything, helping him to survive in the wilderness as he tries to fight his way back to civilization.

This is one of the most oddball movies I’ve ever seen. Paul Dano does a great job as Hank, whose long isolation may have driven him insane, a reality he accepts and simply runs with. Daniel Radcliff, however, chews the scenery as Manny the corpse who eventually learns to talk and ask questions as he tries to remember his life. Manny is a true Swiss Army man, every part of him useful as a survival tool that produces a swathe of laugh-out-loud physical comedy. His innocence, meanwhile, adds to the film’s charming tone of wonder. It all leads Hank back to the real world in more ways than one, as Manny forces him to examine how he ended up a castaway and confront the aspects of his life that had ground him down.

Unfortunately, it all leads up to a wreck at the end. Bittersweet and oddball to the last, though blowing an opportunity to complete Hank’s psychological journey more definitively and to a more positive conclusion. I felt this was owed the viewer, as the character arc itself was thinly explored as the repression that drove Hank away from reality made for some touching reveals but overall was fairly weak as a reason to quit one’s life.

SWISS ARMY MAN is weird, fun, and funny, and while I respected its demand to be taken for the oddball it is, I was nonetheless unsatisfied by its conclusion and its lost opportunity.