Reel Film Chronicles – Page 18

Ghostbusters (2016)

For whatever reasons, call it fate, call it karma, call it creative bankruptcy, I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe that we were destined to get a Ghostbusters remake. It’s a real shame that the dialogue around the Ghostbusters remake released in 2016 was tainted by misogyny and general vitriol from armchair critics and trogloditic neckbeards that dwell in the deepest, dankest corners of the interwebs, because it was a genuinely mediocre summer blockbuster that in most other universes probably would have have been the start of a movie franchise. Or at least, some more marketable merchandise that would have helped grease the wheels for all those involved for a little longer. I remember being pretty sour on the general concept of a remake of the 1984 cult classic Ghostbusters. Admittedly, it has to do at least in part with the fact that this was a beloved film from my childhood. I grew up watching Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II as well as the animated The Real Ghostbusters. To this day, I will still sometimes find myself randomly singing quietly to myself or in my head the Ghostbusters theme song, or the…

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of a New Trailer

For those of us with our fingers on the pulse (and not far from the pulse and straight up somewhere very uncomfortable (no, not the back of a Volkswagen)), news of a teaser trailer for the upcoming Star Wars film was not entirely unanticipated. This past week in Chicago, Star Wars Celebration was underway, an annual expo dedicated to all things Star Wars related. With the end of the Skywalker saga slated for release in December of this year, this is prime time for the release of updates, teasers, and various other miscellaneous info to start dropping for one of the most highly anticipated films of… let me check again… ah yes, ever. And drop the trailer for Episode IX has. And along with the trailer came the reveal of the name, which is (drum roll please) The Rise of Skywalker. Now, those who know me know I’m not prone to rash decisions, but my initial reaction is that this title sucks. Hard. I know I risk falling into that old cliche of “Nobody hates Star Wars like a Star Wars fan,” but I’m not suggesting that the film is…

Beginning

Hopefully your eyes don’t hurt too much after rolling them when you came upon my latest site because yes, it’s true: Ryebone has launched another site. If nothing else, it’s what I do. And you’re at the latest iteration. The Chronicles of Ryebone has been suffering for quite a while, which is probably a good indicator of my state of mind over the past few years: I simply could not write. It’s not for trying either; over at Letterboxd, I tried my hand at some short reviews, and even some longer ones, but nothing really felt good. There are numerous document files on my computer with half-written articles and my trash bin became full of my own failures. I kept asking myself two things: first, does anyone care? Second, why am I so bad? Does anyone care? They may not, but that’s never been the point. I’ve spent a lot of time reading and watching great essays and reviews on movies and other favourite pop culture, and I never felt like my voice could be heard in the environment. I’m…

Fantastic Beasts, Where to Find them and the (Unrelated) Crimes of Grindelwald

It’s entirely possible that I don’t really understand Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Upon seeing the movie in theatres a few short years ago, I felt indifference. Sure, there were beasts. Yes, they appeared fantastic. But I didn’t really understand why we were focusing on them so much, in a film where the plot didn’t seem to necessarily revolve around them. Knowing that this was the first in an ambitious series of movies set in the Harry Potter Wizarding World, I could chalk up my confusion to a few things: This movie is an introduction We meet Newt and his friends, as well as enemies and locations and I would think, most importantly, we meet all these beasts. When we jump into Newt’s infinite bag of tricks, we’re seeing some pretty bewildering creatures doing their thing, and I have to assume that those creatures, with their abilities and quirks, will play into the plot either later in this movie (preferable) or perhaps later, already planned sequels. I haven’t read the books Are there even Fantastic Beasts books? A published screenplay, perhaps, but I tapped out of reading…

Thoroughbreds

“Heathers meets American Psycho” so, I guess it’s a good thing I’ve seen Psycho quite a few times over the years, and watched Heathers late last year during my project to consume the most popular films of the eighties. Honestly though, the tagline didn’t need to be said to push me there, as just a quick glimpse of the trailer, combined with the talent involved had me sold from the get go. But when did I watch that initial trailer? Yeah, it’s practically an afterthought: apparently the film had been sitting in post-production and doing the festival circuit for a while before receiving a wide release in March of 2018. Here we are, practically a year later and I have an opportunity to watch this film. Comparing it to Heathers, I suppose, is fair to the dark humour present. American Psycho, perharps because of the calculating and unfeeling nature of one of our protagonists (Amanda), played fantastically by Olivia Cooke. I first saw her turn out in the television series Bates Motel, and it’s been a pleasure to see her in consistently good projects…

Shin Godzilla

Immediately upon starting this film you have no choice but to notice how damn fast the dialogue and ensuing scenes are. As we cut through from scene to scene, and through dozens of characters I find myself nearly exhausted, especially since I simply can’t listen to the dialogue: I have to read everything. Later on I would see in the IMDb trivia that the movie could be described as a Aaron Sorkin written political with a healthy injection of monster for good measure. The end result is brilliant, and a refreshing take on the classic Japanese monster film that I’ve enjoyed through my life. If memory serves me right – in quite frankly it probably doesn’t – I found that most Godzilla films would focus around a few characters as they traverse the chaos of a giant monster attack – that monster being either Godzilla, or another beast, or a beast that needs to fight Godzilla. Shin Godzilla takes a different approach with an absolutely gigantic cast of characters, all depicting the various levels of government and decision making that must fall…

The New York Ripper

As I delve deeper into the world of horror movies of the 70s and 80s, I often skip across the surface of these famous Italian directors and producers. I was really impressed with Inferno and Pieces, and with that, I probably saw The New York Ripper on a list and managed to get my hands on it. I feel so dirty now. Gore is definitely a major factor in these films, but Ripper takes it a step further. The director, Lucio Fulci, takes New York and allows the city to breathe its dirty eighties breathe all over, not unlike what William Lustig’s 1980 film Maniac. I thought it interesting that Maniac takes place, for the majority, in the dark, while Ripper embraces the daytime. They both showcase everyday places that you would find yourself and cranks the horror and gore to untold levels. This lit approach to the film leaves nothing to the imagination; it leaves nothing for you to hide yourself behind. You have no choice but to look away, as each murder escalates in intensity and terror. While I…

Assassin’s Creed

Tackling Hollywood’s latest video game adaptation was always going to be an interesting exercise. It’s a wonder that any of these become made; even in the face of an abysmal track record, producers will always make an attempt at adaptation when some semblance of a built-in audience is already around. Indeed, I got right into the video game when it first came out, and eagerly played the second (which was even better). I played the hell out of the third title, Brotherhood, and got burnt out on the fourth: Revelations. I believe there have been eight or nine main entries in the series to date. With that many titles in the series, there’s a lot of story to pull from, and it’s easy to see the variety of ways that you could adapt these scenarios into compelling action and drama on the big screen. The base concept is interesting enough: it’s the story of two groups – the Templars and the Assassins – waging war for centuries in the hunt for pieces of eden, which apparently when combined, would allow…

Cape Fear

Finally sitting down to take in Cape Fear was a bit of a cathartic experience; we had the VHS kicking around the basement when I was younger, and I had vague memories of the film itself, although truth be told, most of those memories were probably formed by the smartly done Simpson’s parody episode. The chilling music is something that would pop into my head on an alarmingly regular basis, but actually watching the film somehow slipped my priority until recently, and I’m quite taken aback with the idea of having seeing this as I was younger: it was quite a bit more disturbing, in both content and style, than I was prepared for. Indeed, the basic premise was straightforward enough: ex-con Max Cady makes it his mission to terrorize and ruin the life of Sam Bowden and consequently, the Bowden family. Robert De Niro plays the creep too well, and I can’t help but feel that Nick Nolte is over-amped in his portrayal of father Bowden. These aren’t complaints, mind you: it all fits into the psychological warfare that…

Arrival

Ah yes, it’s November, which means we’re due for our psychological science fiction film of the year. Now that the summer is over and the memory of those action movies masquerading as scifi is over (re: any movie with more special effects – especially robots and spaceships – than character) we can get onto the heavier stuff. A couple of Novembers ago, we were treated to Interstellar; now, we’re in the presence of Arrival, a slow moving yet highly anticipated movie about humanity’s first contact with alien life. The initial trailers had me hooked right away, as it turns out I’m kind of into “first contact” movies. Is that even a thing? Yeah, I love my scifi and this is right up my alley, so we’ll roll with it for the time being. There wasn’t much revealed in those first teases, save for an introduction to our characters, the general structure of the film and perhaps most importantly: the atmosphere of the film. What I didn’t know beforehand is the films director, one Denis Villeneuve; having not disappointed yet, Denis’…