Great movie. The chicken scene may scar you for life.

It was as silly as it was messed up tbh so it wasn't too bad for me.

Who knew Leigh Whannell had it in him? Axel from The Matrix Reloaded? The guy from the first Saw film? The guy whose first directorial debut was Insidious: Chapter 3 a few years ago? Yes, that Leigh Whannell. That was the first thought I had after watching Upgrade. The aussie whose buddy buddy with another fellow aussie director, James Wan. With Upgrade, Whannell takes this Blade Runner-esque story and injects his exploitation tendencies I also didn't know he harbored inside him. I was thoroughly floored by this neo-futuristic grindhouse flick. If you took the classy, old-school feel of Blade Runner and ripped out it's fucking brains, you might scratch the surface of Upgrade. The budget for this film was 3-5 million dollars. Whannell stretches that budget to it's outer reaches because it looks like it was made for at least 20-30 million. It somehow maintains a low-budget vibe but this has to be one of the best examples of a high-concept sci-fi film made for almost nothing (relatively speaking).

Upgrade is a film about revenge. Nothing more, nothing less. Old school story of a man out to avenge his wife that was brutally murdered right in front of him. The story gets no points for originality, what surrounds the story is what gets points. Grey, played by a pretty excellent Logan Marshall Green, becomes paralyzed in the scuffle that leaves his wife dead. Ready not to start his new life, but to "turn the off switch on", a man comes to him with a micro-chip called STEM that will give him the opportunity to walk again, Grey becomes a little skeptical. After the police have no leads of the men who murdered his lady, he takes the offer and tries to take vengeance into his own hands. What he didn't know after the operation, is that STEM is what controls his body, not himself. He's given strength he's never had before, he's given a voice in his head that tells him what to say once the police start questioning him, and he's agreed to keep the world under the impression that he's still supposed to be paralyzed to a wheelchair. Shit starts to get out of hand, bodies start appearing in various disreputable locations, and the sanity of this man depletes the more he crunches bodies in half and nearly rips people's faces off.

Upgrade is the greatest exploitation film I've seen since Hobo With A Shotgun. The only thing that separates this kind of film from Hobo or Planet Terror or Machete or other contemporary exploitation flicks is it's high-concept design. Yes, heads explode. Faces get nearly ripped, but it looks like the year 2101. The production design in that respect is spot on. Like I previously said, Logan Marshall Green's performance is great. The amount of praise he received in "The Invitation" and the amount of praise that film received in general was way overrated. I'm glad he bounced back from that with Upgrade. Also, the cinematography is hands down some of the best I've seen this year. It's not beautiful landscapes or Oscars fare, but the way Whannell utilizes the camera during fight scenes has to be some of the greatest looking fight scenes ever put to screen. The Raid, or a movie to that effect have incredible choreography, which this does in spades, but what separates this from those films are the way the cameras are used to create these sequences. It's utterly jaw-dropping. I've never seen shots so incredibly accurate during a fight scene in my life. The way the camera moves to the punches being thrown and to every movement each person makes is really something that's never been done before.

Upgrade was a huge surprise. It could've been the feel-bad flop of the Summer. What we get is easily the greatest achievement Leigh Whannell's ever been apart of, and a bright future behind the camera for this guy. We need more smart, well made bloodbaths like this more often. I highly recommend this and if it's still anywhere in theaters near you, I recommend catching this on the biggest screen you can get. B+

2001: A Space Odyssey. Stanley Kubrick's unbridled, defining film. Changed the course of Sci-Fi and the better part of film completely. Basically took the idea of French art-house films of the early 60's and turned it into one of the greatest spectacle achievements ever put to celluloid. Kubrick made his fair share of masterpieces, more than enough any filmmaker can hope to achieve, and yet 2001 feels more than just a masterpiece. It's a towering monolith of creative forces pushing and pulling together, shoving to the side any conventional aspects of normal filmmaking. It's the light peaking above Clavius from the sun. It's the moment the ape smashes the bones to György Ligeti's "Requiem For Soprano". It's when HAL takes matters in his own hands and kills every member while in cryo-sleep. It's the moment Dr. Poole goes spiraling into the vast sea of stars along with the pod he was in. It's pure, unadulterated creations of movement. It's Kubrick unhinged. It's one of the best artistic creations in any medium.

I'm baffled at how this got made. Not baffled by how producers decided to green-light it (which also baffles me), but baffled at how Kubrick actually fucking made this film. Some of the different frames and camera angles and shots still puzzle even the most ardent filmmakers and cinematographers to this day. For good reason as well. How could he have positioned the camera in certain ways. It's jaw-dropping material, literally dragging my jaw across the aisle at how beautiful this film looks. The atmosphere as well sets the tone right from the beginning. The first 2 minutes are of a black screen with ominous, sort of disturbing string music playing. Then the MGM logo appears. Right from the start, it takes you to a place that might not end well, and this is before the movie even starts. Before even the first shot begins. It's creepy, unnerving stuff. On the other hand, music as triumphant as the last song when giant fetus baby hovers over Earth is smile-inducing. Everything works for this film. The performances, the writing, the music, the visuals, the special effects. There isn't a single flaw to be seen throughout this film.

The single greatest moment in this entire film is when Dave is floating to the satellite to presumably change the battery in it. It's a simple task. Float over to the satellite, replace the battery thingiemadoo, but the way he floats over to the satellite in his red space suit is the single greatest shot I've ever seen in a theater experience, much less an IMAX experience.

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the greatest achievements in the history of man. It stands high above any Sci-fi film made before or after, and the benchmark will never be topped. 2001 is in a league of it's own and if you have the absolute chance to catch it in 70mm IMAX, you'd be the biggest fool in the world to miss out on such an experience. I walked away a changed man. I've seen it a few times before, but to see it on such an immaculate screen was very life-changing in fact. If there was a score better than an A+, I would happily give it that. A+

Watch Ninja Scroll already, you hussy.

I downloaded the torrent for "Upgrade". Now I can't wait to download and watch it!

Its fucking sweet broseph. Thoroughly watchable with incredible action set pieces.

William Friedkin's one of those old Hollywood anomalies. For every lackluster film he directed, he seems to put out a classic. The Exorcist clearly being his pièce de résistance. He straddles that line between sexuality and violence probably the best. Killer Joe being a killer example of just that. Even the Exorcist with a young possessed Linda Blair stabbing herself in the you-know-what with a cross. It's very offensive stuff, but for a man like Friedkin, it's almost just a slap on the wrist. Maybe because the way he films such scenes come off disturbingly watchable. There's a grittiness that permeates throughout some of his best films. Cruising is a great example of controversy overload. Exposing the world to late night gay bars in seedy 1980's New York where lubing up your arms to fist men spread eagle all the while still trying to be a by-the-books investigation film didn't sit well with many. It sure sat well with me I can tell you that. But William Friedkin's M.O is to punish you. His M.O is to make you never forget the films he makes. His M.O is to be controversial for controversy's sake. I think he nails that with Bug. Bug tells a convincing story of white trash locals stuck in a Podunk town they can't seem to get out of and the main protagonist Ashley Judd reeling with an abusive husband who just got out of jail she most likely sent him too in the first place. The film starts off with a shot of a dead guy on the floor in a bathroom. The film later on explains the context but to simply begin the film with that shot is completely attributed to Friedkin. He wraps you up in this small, claustrophobic hotel room immediately and sets the tone for what you aren't going to expect. As the film progresses, Ashley Judd's character meets a shy, tall timid man in the form of Michael Shannon (who puts on his most manic performance and a performance I've not seen in a loooong time) who with his knowledge of bugs and trivial things sweeps Judd off her feet and into the bed. Perhaps through this sexual contact, a bug (or is there even a bug at all?) is transmitted from Shannon to Judd and now together they start to undergo extreme body lacerations and bruises and something that's eating them from the inside. I don't want to delve into too many details because I implore anyone whose a fan of Friedkin and films in general to go see it as soon as you can.

Given the small scale of this film, it doesn't surprise me that it was adapted from a play who Shannon also starred in before filming this movie. It's a low-budget, grimly disgusting film and I think the smallness of it actually makes it more terrifying. It never feels like these characters can escape from what's eating them from the inside and that's in no small part due to the claustrophobia of this tiny hotel room they're trapped in. The supporting characters all make there mark as well. Harry Connick Jr. playing his best I-Don't-Give-A-Shit abusive ex-husband role to the Tee. Lynn Collins is fine as Judd's sorta lesbian lover, but the focus of this film is between Judd and Shannon. They bring this bloody, sticky chemistry I don't think any two other actors would've been able to pull off. Not that Friedkin is used to making huge grandiose "Lawrence Of Arabia" scope films but to see him scale it back a bit and film inside one location is hugely rewarding. Bug doesn't go for silly jump scares or torture porn that was prevalent throughout the 00's, he goes for something deeper. More psychological in nature. Deep rooted terror that no matter what can be done and is done, it won't stop until these characters are completely lost within their own minds. To bring it back to The Exorcist for a sec, that film was psychologically terrifying as well but the underlying tone of it was rooted in religion. So to compare these two films just because they share that same type of horror is like apples and oranges. The one thing this film has over The Exorcist is the paranoia. Paranoia drives this film until it all goes up in flames. The dialogue between Judd and Shannon in the final act is complete made up mumbo jumbo. Something about the Government out conspiring against Shannon's character and implanting him with bugs and nano-machines. It's wild stuff, and basically dialogue that would only be said from someone suffering from a severe debilitating personality disorder. I would imagine that's what Friedkin's trying to convey with this film, but to try and describe the way these characters bodies are becoming bruised and deteriorated from this microscopic bug is what's truly terrifying. This takes us to the end of the film now. This third is completely devoid of any logical sense, especially the dialogue. It's the paranoia that makes it watchable. To try to understand such nonsense that is being said is a chore, but a chore you eventually give up on and just let ride out. The final shot happens with not even the slightest of climactic clarity. It just happens. There you go. Credits roll. Have a great rest of the day. It's powerful stuff especially for a horror film.

All In All, Bug is a great later career effort from Friedkin who still has brilliant ideas stored inside him. To go from this to Killer Joe just a few years later only goes to show that as long as William Friedkin is alive and making films, he won't stop haunting all of us. B+

Ninja Scroll when?

I'll add it to the queue how about that?

Extreme French horror almost seems like a thing of the past at this point. Films like High Tension or Inside aren't made anymore, at least by the French. They really seemed to have had a grasp on the genre and pumped out a few unforgettable films in the mid to late naughts. To to get away from that for a second, The Night Eats The World is a french zombie horror film. That's just an irrefutable fact. Is it extreme in it's depiction of gore and fingers through your eyes horror? Depends on who you are I suppose. I for one am very impressed with this film, despite the fact that I enjoy my French horror with disgusting amounts of blood shed. What sets this film apart is exactly what I admire about it. To deviate for a minute, this film is fairly simple. Man goes to ex-girlfriends flat during a party to pick up some mixtapes he left behind. I presume while they were living together and he happens to fall asleep in a locked room to avoid anymore party-goers. He stumbles the next morning to find out the world has befallen bedlam. No one's in the blood splattered apartment anymore and it's only him and the window looking down the street where he realizes his world now consists of surviving whatever is going on. Zombies are parading the streets of Paris looking for their next brain. At this point zombie films are a dime a dozen (thank you almighty George A. Romero) but what this film does differently is actually give an atmosphere that seems unrivaled in modern zombie fare. It takes place in one location and rarely gets anywhere else. It's grounded in realism that felt very refreshing. The lead protagonists was a sympathetic enough character that handles the situation with a stoic enough approach until the moment he doesn't. Obviously the film doesn't end in the same place it began but getting to that point I really felt for the lead character and his method of staying alive. Back to the atmosphere for a second, the zombies in this film are quieter than a mouse. They rarely gargle and grunt their way to flesh, they're more ghostly and their presence is felt more because of it. They're running zombies though, not the zombie of the old that walks their way to murder. For the most part they stand around to look menacing, and it truly works. The Night Eats The World is a great telling title because it's exactly how the film starts. Overnight, this apocalypse of our worst nightmare becomes true and no amount of military help or aid is anywhere in sight. It never feels stringed along either. It never hobbles to the finish line so to speak. It's perfectly paced and lean and mean when it needs to be. A few zombie heads get popped here and there but the focus of the film is the main character doing what he can to gather food and clean water and to maintain his sanity. With all great horror films, the sanity of this man completely depletes by the end but everything he did up until that point are noteworthy. There's also a great scene where he opens up the window to this 5 story apartment he broke into for supplies and finds this young punks drum kit and shreds for a few minutes. The noise attracts hundreds of walking dead and it brings a wee bit of levity to this story. The film isn't like Shaun Of The Dead in that it's trying to exploit us for laughs, which I think perhaps brings my score down a bit. It takes itself a little too seriously and for that I think a few more laughs would've been great. Although I admit there's a paintball scene and I was nearly in tears.

All In All, The Night Eats The World is a low enough budget film where getting away with a premise like this is extremely admirable. The French might've gotten far enough away from extreme horror, but if this is the alternative, I'll be okay with another French revolution. B+

Oh, hey, you're back from jail

Now watch Ninja Scroll

Did you toss the salad?

I watched it. It sucked.

Yeah, right. Now stop being a bitch and just go watch it already.

Did anyone ever suspect that the director who created such shimmering films as Call Me By Your Name and I Am Love had such this inkling that he insisted on unleashing this beast upon us? The openly gay Italian man that drenched us in summer sweat with A Bigger Splash? Evidently the guy's been kicking around this very idea in his head for sometime now and here we have arrived. A reimagining of the Giallo classic directed by the beloved Dario Argento. A decent horror remake usually consists of taking mediocre to good quality source material and fattening it up, injecting a modern flair not only to try and appeal to a newer generation, but compliment the original film in the process as well.

Shitty remakes a dime a dozen thus far but every here and now something slips through the cracks. Suspiria is not one of them. Before I explain any further, I wouldn't consider Suspiria anymore a remake of the original than I would consider Funny Games a complete reimagining of the first one. It's simply and emphatically not true. The way I see it is that they might share the same title and may or may not contain a plotline involving a coven of witches at a dance academy. That's about it. Aside from that nothing about this version is creatively in line with anything the first film succeeded in conveying. So because of I consider this a reimagining. I do believe these terms are mutually exclusive and you'll see why once you watch it. The main component that sets these films apart is absolutely the look and atmosphere. The feel of these two pictures couldn't be more black and white. The original film famously is known for being an incredible tapestry of light and color. Without a doubt one of the few authentic arthouse horror films of the past 50 years. Nevertheless it does feel dated because sure, it is dated. Like all great art, it holds up still as one of the best to this day. This reimagining was determined to utilize nearly all natural lighting throughout its very decidedly dim 152 minute runtime. I never once checked my watch though. What it lacks in vivaciousness it easily makes up for in exquisite cinematography. This is a wondrous fairy tale to behold. Logic is yes, sometimes thrown out the 4th story balcony and just when it seems like it can't delve any deeper into hell, we get to the final act of the film (the one before the epilogue). It stars Dakota Johnson as an American from Ohio coming to Berlin to study and dance for this prestigious academy run by a woman named Helena Markos. A woman you don't see until the end of the film. That's all I'm willing to mention. Each performance was perfectly fine, aside from Johnson who felt pretty stiff for reasons beyond her control (I'll discuss why later on). The absolute standout was Tilda Swinton. She continuously proves time and time again she is one of the best actresses of our generation. She apparently plays three roles in this film but her lead character is a madame named Blanc who is also the lead dance instructor of the academy. The way she moves her head and gauzes indirectly and smokes her cigarettes, Swinton brings an incredibly complex multi-faceted performance to a character that could've otherwise been completely hacked apart. She really brings this film together more often than not.

My biggest complaint with this film (unfortunately too big) is the stiffness between some characters due to a very weak script marred by some absolutely dreadful dialogue. Particularly a scene involving Johnson's character and Madame Blanc where they're in a room together talking about something or other and the exchange of words not only hardly make any sense, but it's just not written well at all. A complete devoid of any coherence which could've been mysterious and creepy only ends up being cringey and produced a yawn as well. Had the screenplay decided to take itself as seriously as it does until those certain moments, I could've easily looked past one or two scenes, but it's very sporadic throughout the film. To go back to the lighting again for a second, yeah I'm not sure who decided that was a good idea. The lighting is way to dark in certain scenes and I might as well have been closing my eyes for Christ's sake. The cinematography as I mentioned is all there, but I was completely taken out of this film when moments of pure darkness consumed the screen and even more frustrating when it seemed to only take place when I was really delving into it.

All In All, Suspiria is a flawed film, possibly even deeply flawed. Certainly not the masterpiece more than a few critics have been calling it. The best way to view Suspiria 2018 is through the lens of style over substance. The screenplay decides to give us only questions and not many an answer which I'm fine with in many cases, it's just that Suspiria hardly makes up for that ambiguity with anything other than looking pretty and giving the horror cinephiles a gonzo third act they waited over 2 hours to see. What's got me more excited is awaiting what Guadagnino has in store for another horror outing in the future. As for Suspiria, I'll just stick to watching the classic. B-

The end of the year is nearly kaput. Adios 2018! It's only fair we maybe start discussing the best films of the year. Off the top of my dome, I'll name off the best films I've seen this year and predict what the oscars might nominate for best picture. And periodically predict other categories, or maybe not I honestly don't care. Off the top here we go personal favorites:

Large List of Honorable Mentions: Mandy, Mom And Dad, A Prayer Before Dawn, Isle Of Dogs, The Rider, Hold The Dark, Halloween, Blindspotting, Searching, Beast, Sweet Country, Ready Player One, Overlord, Borg Vs. McEnroe, Upgrade, American Animals, Annihilation, The Night Eats The World, The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs

5.) Hereditary. The Exorcist is the best horror film ever made. Until now

4.) The Death Of Stalen. If there's one person who could pull a film like this off, it's Ianucci. I didn't think anything got funnier than In The Loop, but Ianucci seemed to have topped his own bar.

3.) Blackkklansman. Spike Lee hasn't been this black since Do The Right Thing. He's finally created his masterpiece. Lee's always been a fine director, but the labor of love is so deeply felt, not to mention Denzel Washington's son.

2.) You Were Never Really Here. Joaquín Phoenix might over act a bit here and there, but this is a near perfect film. The chick who directed We Need To Talk About Kevin finally follows up with her interpretation of a Travis Bickle like character, and it's a completely understated masterpiece.

1.) First Reformed. This. This is a film. The best performance of the year still goes to Ethan Hawke. Not to mention his beautiful narration throughout parts of the film. And the story, and the writing, and the direction, and cinematography. The most well made film that absolutely deserves to win best picture. Not just be nominated, but win.

The films I predict to be nominated for best picture are as follows:
Blackkklansman
First Reformed
Roma
Hereditary
Vice
Green Book
First Man

If Hereditary isn't nominated for Best Pic, I'll never have faith in the academy. Horror has encroached our society and lifestyle that maybe, just maybe the Academy can consider such a wild card and continue to spice things up year after year.

The only movie I’ve seen in a theater in probably the last five years but goddamn if it wasn’t a winner.

You can't keep me away from a movie theater. Much less 5 fucking years dude. Gotta get out more.

I Saw Widows tonight. It might be too soon to include it on all the lists, but gosh damn it was incredibly exceptional.

Top 10 films 2018

10.) Mid90s
9.) Halloween
8.) Upgrade
7.) American Animals
6.) Annihilation
5.) Ralph Breaks The Internet
5.)First Man
4.) Blackkklansman
3.) Hereditary
2.) Death Of Stalin
1.) Thunder Road

Honourable Mentions

Ready Player One (opening race scene alone is top 5 movie going experience I've ever had), The Predator (I was never not hooked after watching the blood drip across Predators face while in camouflage) , A Quiet Place (endings always been pretty corny) , Isle of Dogs (Clear best animated feature 2k18) , A Star Is Born (Bradley Cooper once asked Sean Penn a question as an audience member on "Inside The Actors Studio") Blindspotting (Good year for black social commentary this being up there) , Searching (If this turns out to be a trend the same way The Blair Witch became, one can only hope it's as good as this) Bad Times at The El Royale (Most Underrated film. Certainly takes it's time throughout but never less than an engrossing story) , A Simple Favor (FINALLY! Paul Feig has knocked it out) , Sweet Country (Tragic ending that might never be forgotten), First Reformed (I'll be surprised if Ethan Hawke doesn't win his best actor award this year) , Revenge (The French pulled through with a film that reminds me of their mid-2000s horror output), The House That Jack Built (Lars Von Trier films are semi-events, so therefore I'll probably love it before I even see it. This film is one of his best)

Most Underrated: Solo

Overrated: Black Panther, Sorry To Bother You

Foreign Language pick: The Guilty

That's 11.

It's a tie actually.

11≠10