Elle

Damn fellas, Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers) has still got it.  This creepy sexy thriller about a woman (Isabelle Huppert (Heaven’s Gate)) who launches a solo investigation to find the identity of the man who raped her one afternoon is prime Verhoeven material (and even has some stink of Joe Eszterhas (Jade, Showgirls) but he wasn’t involved at all).

Huppert is so strong in the lead as a confident successful owner of a video game company.  She refuses to let this agonizing incident ruin her life by attempting to carry on as normal.  But her attacker keeps sending her dirty messages, masturbating in her house while she’s not there and even goes for another rape.  She has to figure out who this monster is and stop him.

What adds to the strange atmosphere of the film is that we find out our protagonist’s father was a murderer who killed many children in their neighborhood.  He’s been locked away in prison for a long time but the past is frequently dragged back to the surface with people giving Huppert dirty looks and throwing garbage on her.  So she doesn’t know if the rape is part of this national hatred towards her family or if it’s completely unrelated.

There’s a lot of weird ass psychological shit to dig into as per usual with Verhoeven.  And of course he knows how to build suspense and create nervous knee tension.  You’re still the fuckin’ man Paul.  Keep on keepin’ on.

A Ghost Story

A Ghost Story would like you all to slow down and smell the roses for a moment.  Take in a deep breath, examine your surroundings, go to a place in your mind where you can meditate.  You know, like ponder life and the universe ‘n shit.  What does it all mean to you?

I know that sounds insufferable but I’ll give the movie some credit for exploring the headiest of heady ideas in not the most pretentious way (still kinda pretentious though).  Casey Affleck (Triple 9) walking around as a ghost trapped in his former house watching many different people live there over the years, including his windowed wife (Rooney Mara (Song to Song)), does make you think beyond yourself.  It does help to give perspective to your own existence and how meaningful or meaningless that may make you feel.  If you step outside yourself does your life and everything in it seem more precious or less precious?  These are all good notions to grapple with and the movie mostly doesn’t shove it in your face that this is what you should be thinking about, or ask: why haven’t you thought about this you selfish asshole?

However, I do have an issue with the scene in the middle of the picture where a guy at a house party spouts his own theory of the universe and tries to sway the audience.  I think if this were done as a conversation between two or more individuals with some back and forth it might’ve worked better.  Instead this guy basically delivers a monologue making him look more smug than smart.  Really I would’ve preferred if this scene were cut entirely and people were left to come up with their own philosophy of what the film presents to you.

Aside from the message/themes there are a bunch of pretty visuals throughout, especially the old fashioned sheet with two eye holes cut out ghost look.  It’s a touch creepy but sad too because the holes droop a bit and you know that a human soul is stuck under there that can’t do much of anything.  The filmmakers were successful in making the sheeted ghost sympathetic and real but also distanced from humanity.

You need to have patience with these ghosts and their stories.  They’ve got nothing but time on their hands so they’re in no hurry to lay something on you.  But if you’re willing to turn off the outside world for a moment and let the movie wash over you it can be rewarding.

Brawl in Cell Block 99

Pretty incredible action thriller about a drug runner named Bradley Thomas (Vince Vaughn (Domestic Disturbance)).  He gets busted, goes to jail and is then blackmailed by a mob dude to kill some asshole or they’re gonna mutilate his unborn baby. 

In order to reach the target Bradley needs to get transferred out of medium security prison into maximum security prison.  He immediately fucks up a bunch of guards which does the trick rather efficiently.  Now that he’s in the new joint he needs to get to the very scary cell block 99 that’s reserved for the absolute worst of the worst.  It’s a prison within a prison as warden Don Johnson (Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man)) calls it.  If Bradley wants to prevent the bad guys from severing his fetus daughter’s limbs then he’s gotta get in there.

One of the smartest things writer/director S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk) does is take the time to build up Bradley’s backstory.  The movie starts with him getting fired from his tow truck driving gig and then coming home to discover that his wife (Jennifer Carpenter (Seeking Justice)) has been cheating on him.  He’s had enough and can’t play by the rules anymore so he goes to work for his cousin as a drug courier.  Eighteen months later he’s making a shitload of money and he and his wife are expecting a baby and seem truly happy.  So going through the ups and downs with Bradley makes his ultimate downfall fucking heartbreaking.

This one plays like a Greek tragedy.  The story feels big yet intimate at the same time.  Bradley must journey into hell like a valiant warrior to free his family from the clutches of evil.  At each turn he has to battle crazier and more difficult foes who attempt to thwart his mission.  And the deeper he ventures, figuratively and literally, into the catacombs of the prison he gets farther from reality and who he used to be.  It’s horrific how bad the conditions get with shit clogged toilets, glass shards covering the dirt floor and a belt he’s forced to wear that induces crippling electric shocks at the push of a button.  It’s also outrageous how violent Bradley gets with the folks that cross his path.  Let’s just say that a lot of heads get, uh, sorta smashed.

You gotta check this out.  It’s very Refn-esque with the level of viciousness, the fantastic characters and an elevation of the material through excellent storytelling that only a few can pull off.  If you’re a fan of badass cinema get yourself to the brawl.