Author Archives: Leonard Wilson

V/H/S/85 (dir. by Various Artists)

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

The full list of directors for Shudder’s V/H/S/85 includes David Bruckner (The Night House), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Bingo Hell), Scott Derrickson (The Black Phone), Natasha Kermani (The Imitation Girl), and Mike P. Nelson (2021’s Wrong Turn).

I’m not completely familiar with the V/H/S series. I stopped after the very first one, with the “I Like You” segment rattling me enough to never want to delve into that found footage mayhem again. It only caught my interest because Scott Derrickson (and by extension C. Robert Cargill and Gigi Saul Guerrero were involved. Cargill and Derrickson have worked together since Sinister (as far as I know). Guerrero’s Bingo Hell was a fun watch, as horror films go. While the found footage format still bothers me when used in large doses, the effect here really makes sense. You’re working in the 80s, pre-cell phones and most major technology. Home movies were common back then as well.

The format for the film is similar to most horror anthologies (like Tales From the Darkside), where there are 4 or 5 mini tales and another that you see in between those. David Bruckner covers the main story with “Total Copy”, where a strange specimen in a lab is kept under close study. Of all the stories in the group, this one really didn’t hold me very well, though it does work well as filler between the other, stronger tales.

Mike Nelson’s “No Wake” starts us off with a camping trip to a nearby lake. Despite discovering No Trespassing signs, the crew of young adults set out for a nice time in the water. This ends up becoming rather treacherous and the result leaves them wanting to take revenge on their perpetrators. It was a strange and refreshing take on a familiar tale that I liked, though it was somewhat short.

We move on to Gigi Saul Guerrero’s “God of Death”, which I enjoyed. This tale follows a cameraman during an earthquake in Mexico, as a rescue crew tries to evacuate a collapsing building. Guerrero is in this piece as the reporter, Gabriella, and if you watch close enough, you’ll see a picture of her father on one the walls, looking like the Mayor of the town. I thought that was sweet. There’s quite a bit of blood and gore, as much as Shudder likes to give.

Natasha Kermani’s “TKNOGOD” was the only one in the series that I didn’t care for. Not that I was bothered about the argument of God vs. Technology, but it felt more like those slam poetry sessions you find in Manhattan. I understand what it was trying to convey, and it does get somewhat chilling. Still, I kind of glossed over it and waited for the next entry. It was filmed well, at least. That I will give it.

“Ambrosia” brings us to a family reunion and celebration, though the family itself might not have the best intentions at heart. This one surprised me a bit and I liked the connection to earlier events.

And finally, we have a Sinister reunion of sorts with Director Scott Derrickson, writer C. Robert Cargill, and actor James Ransome (Deputy So & So himself) in “Dreamkill”. Working in a similar vein to Sinister, Dreamkill focuses on some deadly murders occurring in a town that also happen to be recorded on home video before the events take place. A detective (Freddy Rodriguez, Grindhouse’s Planet Terror) tries to piece together the clues before more victims are lost. This was the best of the bunch, by far, I felt.

Overall, if you can handle the shaky cam of the V/H/S films, 85 is a treat. While I personally wished some these weren’t using the cam, the film finds a way to keep the floating camera in the picture. It’s an interesting set of scares if you have the time to watch.

Horror on the Lens: At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (dir. by Jose Mojica Marins)

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

There isn’t a whole lot I can say about 1964’s At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul.

It was something I caught on AMC or TCM about a decade ago very late at night. I was on the phone with a close friend when I saw this guy walking around a town in Brazil beating people with a cane. The film and it’s sequel, This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse were played back to back. I lost the name of the movie over time and searched what I could remember (“spanish movie man with cane”) to no avail. I found it again about a year ago via Youtube. It was one of those movies you wouldn’t really recommend to anyone, but you also couldn’t (or at least I couldn’t at the time) keep yourself from looking away. I low scored it because It’s not something I’d see myself running back to, but it was just weird.

The story focuses on Ze do Caixao, or Coffin Joe (Jose Mojica Marins), who is looking for the right girl to give him a “superior child”. Joe is clearly not a nice individual nor is he the hero of this story. He has a love of his own, but he soon takes an interest in one of the town girls, Terezinha. How can Joe get rid of his wife, Lenita (Valéria Vasquez) and get close to Terezinha (Magda Mei), despite the fact that she’s currently in a relationship with the town doctor? Apparently, it’s nothing a tarantula can’t fix in a particularly creepy scene.

The movie does get very dark, even by 1960s standards. There’s torture, random beatings, a possible rape and murders. Coffin Joe manages to continue his streak of bad deeds and finally does get to Terezinha by way of removing the doctor (Ilídio Martins Simões) from the equation. It all backfires on Joe, however, when a witch in the woods warns that by Midnight, his soul will be claimed. Not believing in the mystical or religious, Joe scoffs at this at first. He soon finds out that there’s a balance to things, leading to an ending that I particularly enjoyed.

A sequel to the film was made to the film in 1967 called This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse, which is mostly the same, though it does offer some great use of color midway. The first film is currently available to watch on YouTube.

Garfield’s Halloween Adventure (dir. by Phil Roman)

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

Remembering Halloween as a kid, there were two animated staples that marked the season. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is indeed the one to never miss, but there was also Garfield’s Halloween Adventure. I was a Garfield fan growing up, and even had my own miniature plush Garfield named Nermal (which matched my older brother’s larger version, named Garfield, of course). Directed by Phil Roman and written by Garfield’s creator Jim Davis, it was a 30 minute special originally released under the name Garfield in Disguise, based off the comic version with the same title. I remember the skull and crossbones on Garfield’s pirate hat taking on different expressions in each frame – when Garfield was scared, it was too. I have to see if there’s any way to track down the original book. It was the one I always tried to catch, since it also included spooky pirates (much like John Carpenter’s The Fog). The Halloween Special can be found on NBC/Universal/Comcast’s Peacock streaming service, along with the Garfield & Friends channel on YouTube at the time of this writing.

We open on Halloween morning, with Garfield being lazy as usual. When he’s awakened by Binky the Clown’s morning broadcast, it’s business as usual – turn it off and go to sleep. Catching the word “candy” reminds him of the reason Halloween is so special. Garfield comes up with a plan to go trick or treating and bring home as much candy as he can. The idea is improved upon when Odie, the house’s ever faithful canine companion, is brought into the mix. Double the candy, all for Garfield.

Their first job is to find some costumes, and thankfully, everything they need is in the attic. Jon Arbuckle, the pets’ designated Human, kept boxes of clothes. Garfield and Odie manage to come up with OrangeBeard the Pirate and his first mate, Odie the Stupid.

The two begin to have their Trick or Treat, with some spooky (and musical) moments throughout, until Garfield has the idea to across the river for more candy treasure. Like true pirates, they find a boat and sail off until they find an old house. Inside, a old man tells of them of an ancient treasure that was buried on the island and a group of pirates who would return in 100 years on Halloween Night to reclaim it. Shortly after the old man finishes his tale, he disappears, stealing Garfield & Odie’s boat and leaving them to deal with the pirate ghosts.

One element missing from the show (but kept in the book) had the pair actually finding the treasure and stealing part of it in the form of a ring. In the animated piece, Garfield & Odie are chased by the pirates, and swim for their lives. Thankfully, they make it ashore to their side of town, discovering their stolen boat and the candy bags still on board. They finally arrive home and as thanks for saving his life, Garfield awards Odie with one of the candy bags. In the book, the pirates follow Garfield back home, where he gives them the ring. Either way, all is well, and it’s a Happy Halloween for all.

Again, the show is a fun watch for anyone of any age.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (dir. by Sam Wrench)

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

I know how it feels to get caught up in someone’s music. Two short stories, and then I’ll get into it. My apologies for rambling here.

Way back in the early 2000s, my best friend and I got into The Foo Fighters something huge. Anyone who’s followed me for a while knows of my adoration of Prince, Underworld and Nine Inch Nails, but this was something different. We knew all the band members names, watched all their concerts and even bought guitars to learn how to play them. I still have the songbook for the In Your Honor album back home, with the guitar. I didn’t learn it as well as I liked, though I’ll admit that the game Rocksmith helped me more than anything I tried beforehand. Eventually, all of the Foo Fandom reached a head when my friend suggested that maybe we should go to a concert. We caught the Foos in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the former stadium of the New Jersey Devils, where Weezer opened for them. In the mosh pit area, we had a fantastic time. All of the band members were in screaming distance from us, and we enjoyed it so much that we caught them again at Madison Square Garden. Serj Tankian (lead vocalist for System of a Down) opened for them that night. We were once again in the mosh pit area and almost got in a shoving match. The energy in the stadium was amazing.

Over the years, though, the world changed. With the lockdown, pandemic and shifting ideologies, my friend no longer enjoyed the Foos the way I did. They went against what he believed in. Despite this, I look back at the shared concert experiences with joy, happy to be able to say “We did that, it was the best.”

Earlier in the year, my sister was able to score tickets for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour. She drove out from North Carolina to Kentucky with her kids to see it, which amazed me. If you ever have the chance to take a good long road trip, don’t hesitate. Trust me. Pack up your favorite ride with snacks and friends and just head out. It’s truly the best.

Anyway, she told me about the concert and how much her family enjoyed it. She kind of went off tangent (much like I do, we are family after all) and mentioned that Swift likes to leave clues around for different projects she works on. I’ll admit that I was jealous. I don’t usually do jealousy when it comes to people. Everyone comes from a different walk of life. Some have advantages, others have great mindsets and approaches, all of which we can aspire to. With my siblings, however, we all had the same starting point. While I won’t say I have to take the lead in any race I have with them – I was more than happy for and proud of my sis and her family – there was a part of me that truly felt that fear of missing out with it all. So finding out that The Eras Tour was coming out in theatres was a chance to maybe capture that same sense of euphoria my sister did.

If you’ve ever found yourself unable to stop humming “Shake it Off”, “Delicate” or “Wildest Dreams” or perhaps suffered through all of Cats just to see and hear “Macavity” – yeah, you just might be a Swiftie. To get a feeling of what The Eras Tour is like, you could even watch the Retribution Stadium Tour on Netflix. Even if you haven’t, it’s easy to appreciate Swift’s work in The Eras Tour. There isn’t much one can say about a concert. It’s either music and a performance you appreciate, or you don’t.

“Wait,” you may ask. “Why throw a concert using songs from ages ago instead of just focusing on her latest album?” Good question. It’s a long story, but Swift had most of her music collection bought out by a third party and held under lock and key. Since she couldn’t buy back the Masters of her recordings, she went ahead and start re-recording them as “Taylor’s Version”. The Eras tour covers music from Lover, Red, Evermore, Folklore, 1989, Reputation, Speak Now, and Midnights. That is a lot of music to cover. With a runtime of 3 hours, there’s a lot of music, and it’s edited well enough to keep everything moving along at a nice pace.

It’s not perfect, though. To be able to keep the runtime low, five songs were removed from the playlist:

The Archer
No Body, No Crime (with Haim)
Long Live
cardigan
Wildest Dreams

Additionally, I would have liked to have seen more of the behind the scenes that went into the show. The staging for the show is pretty elaborate, with an LED dance floor that’s used just like a screen. Although this doesn’t have the floating stages of the Reputation tour, it still packs a visual punch. One of the best sequences had Swift diving down beneath the stage and appearing to swim through it, only to show up somewhere else. Christopher Nolan would be proud, I’d imagine.

Despite not having the ones listed above, I had a great time with the concert. I listened and noted the songs I was unfamiliar with and belted out the ones I did from my seat in the front row. Thankfully, my showing was so early in the evening that it wasn’t really packed. I’d say there were probably maybe 10 people total in my showing. A pair of women approached me at the start, and I told them about my sister’s trip. They laughed and also remarked on how empty it was. They were as shocked as I was. We didn’t have anyone dancing in front of the screen (which I can imagine probably happened at the Lincoln Center IMAX), but there was much joy to be had. At the end of the day, the whole thing put a smile on my face and I walked out the theatre humming songs.

I still don’t know about the importance of the number 13 (which seems to be a big thing), but I guess that’s something to figure out later down the road.

Matt Vaughn is back in the spy game with the Argylle Trailer!

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

I was just thinking about Matthew Vaughn this morning, with the passing of Layer Cake‘s Michael Gambon. Vaughn’s teamed up with Apple Films on Argylle, which looks like another spy caper similar to James Mangold’s Knight and Day, as well as own Kingsman series.

Argylle stars Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World) as a writer who’s work may be hitting a little too close to home for a network of spies. Alongside a really cute cat, Argylle also stars Henry Cavill (Mission: Impossible – Fallout), Academy Award Winner Sam Rockwell (The Nice Guys), Emmy Award Winner Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Dua Lipa (Barbie), Emmy Award Winner Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Academy Award Winner Ariana Debose (West Side Story), John Cena and Samuel L. Jackson.

Argylle premieres in theatres next February.

All will be carved in Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving Teaser trailer!

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

I was kind of hoping to hear John Harrison’s “Something to Tide You Over” from Creepshow in this trailer, but I guess that requires some copyrights. Eli Roth looks like he’s keeping it simple and close to the original fake trailer he created for 2007’s Grindhouse.

Thanksgiving is set to release just in time for the holiday, on November 17th.

Here’s the teaser for Michael Mann’s Ferrari!

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

Everyone’s popping up with movies! First Scorsese, then Fincher, and now Mann. It looks like Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) is back with Ferrari! Adam Driver stars as Enzo Ferrari, who would turn his love of cars into something legendary. While I’m hoping to see a ’61 GT California somewhere in the mix, this looks interesting. Ferrari also stars Penelope Cruz, Hugh Jackman, Shailene Woodley, Patrick Dempsey and Sarah Gadon. The film is written by Troy Kennedy Martin (Kelly’s Heroes) with the screenplay also by Mann.

Ferrari is due in theatres this Christmas.

Barbie (dir. by Greta Gerwig)

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

I may be the wrong person to be writing about Barbie. As a guy, I can’t really empathize with all of the elements of womanhood. I’ll never experience childbirth, nor fully understand all of the issues women have to deal with (though watching the women in my family proved insightful over the years). The closest I’ll know is either through writing or having a girl character in Grand Theft Auto Online and having to deal with players shooting my character to hell for not getting into their ride when I clearly have one of my own.

Still, I can appreciate both the fun and the serious notes that Barbie offered.

I spent last Christmas with a friend’s family, watching as they passed gifts between each other. During the gift giving, my friend passed along a small wrapped box to his wife. She smiled up at him from the sofa, but looked at the box with a hint of confusion. Tearing into it, she gasped and then broke into tears, which silenced the room.

The unwrapped present was a Barbie Doll, complete in a luxurious dress. I think it might have been the Oscar De La Renta one.

She explained that when she was little, living in Colombia, she had always wanted a Barbie. Sure, there were dolls to be had, but nothing like a Barbie. I listened to this and smiled, associating it as the female equivalent of asking your parents for a Transformer but only ever receiving GoBots instead. I could relate.

It also reminded me of my little sister, who had the Dream House, the Car, and a box full of clothes. She’d humor me with my Transformers, I’d humor her with Barbie life, either borrowing a Ken or her Kimber from her Jem line. We’d hop in the convertible and drive.

I can imagine James Earl Jones’ character in Field of Dreams noting that Barbie “has marked the time” throughout history.

So, when it was announced that there was an actual Barbie movie being made, I knew I’d check it out, especially with all of the Oppenheimer madness on the same weekend. I decided to watch Oppenheimer first (a 5pm showing), and then Barbie (at 9:30pm) this past Thursday. This proved to be a good idea. Barbie‘s lighthearted approach was a stark contrast to Oppenheimer’s tone.

I enjoyed Barbie, which opens with a homage to 2001: A Space Odyssey and a narration by Dame Helen Mirren. It’s the tale of a Barbie – Stereotypical Barbie, if you need particulars (Margot Robbie, Babylon) who lives her life in Barbieland with all of the Barbies and the Kens. One Ken (Ryan Gosling, The Gray Man) has his heart set on Barbie. Life is nice in Barbieland, sunning by the beach during the day and partying at night. However, once our Barbie begins to have thoughts about death and her existence, the magic around her begins to be disrupted. With the help of a Crazy Barbie (Kate McKinnon, DC’s League of SuperPets), our Barbie finds herself on a quest towards the Real World to find her companion – similar to Toy Story‘s toys and their owners – and fix what’s gone wrong. Adding to the mayhem is Mattel, whose CEO (Will Farrell) discovers the breach between Barbie Land and the Real World and sends his own agents after Ken and Barbie.

Can Barbie make things right? Will Ken just tag along for the ride?

Written by Greta Gerwig & her husband, Noah Baumbach, Barbie‘s plot is pretty straightforward. Barbie is lighthearted throughout and the audience (which was pretty packed) seemed to enjoy it. My showing lost a mother and two kids in the front row around the time the story reached the Real World, however. Or perhaps they moved back to a higher row. The story gets itself involved with the complex role of women in society, which is both welcome and expected. While it’s not as heavy handed as The Handmaiden’s Tale in what it’s trying to say, I thought the story worked well and was extremely accessible, for the most part. Like many movies these days, Barbie has something to say about the times we live in. I’m not entirely sure how everyone else will handle it. I’m curious to know more about Gerwig’s other works. Although the film is shy of the 2 hour mark, it moves quite quickly.

Barbie is on par with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer for the casting. There’s such a great line up here. Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Kingsley Ben-Adir (Marvel’s Secret Invasion), and John Cena (Fast X) as some of the Ken’s in town. From Netflix’s Sex Education, you have Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey and Connor Swindels They’re paired off with Alexandra Shipp (Love, Simon), Nicola Coughlin (Netflix’s Bridgerton), Rhea Perlman (Matilda) and singer Dua Lipa. Longtime Barbie fans will also recognize Midge (Emerald Fennell, director of Promising Young Woman) and Allen (Michael Cera) in the mix. Barbie feels like a labor of love, with both the acting and the set design. Gosling and Robbie as the leads are fantastic. I can’t imagine a better person than Robbie for Barbie and Gosling gets a bit more with the songs he gets to sing. All in all, it’s a great party, and they’re both at their comedic best here.

The standouts, though happen to be both America Ferrera (How to Train Your Dragon) and Ariana Greenblatt (65). If Robbie and Gosling are the perfect Ken and Barbie, than I would argue that Ariana and America had the perfect characters for helping the audience understand some of the parts we (guys, in particular) don’t get. The audience loved their interactions, and there was at least one part that garnered some applause and cheers from the crowd.

From a production design standpoint, everything is there in Barbie Land. The Barbie Dream house, the car, the pool. Whoever worked on these designs obviously played with the toys growing up and made a near flawless recreation. It felt like Bumblebee, with Transformers that were more like their animated counterparts than jagged pieces of shrapnel.

While there isn’t anything particularly special in the sound department (that’s more Oppenheimer‘s territory), music plays a big part in the Barbie experience. Whether it’s Gosling singing his heart out while pining for Barbie, or a lovely piece by Billie Eilish, it’s all fun and caring.

Overall, Barbie really surprised me. It manages to take something extremely simple – a doll loved by many – and surprisingly turn it into a thought provoking piece that may have you thinking differently about your mothers & grandmothers (or any of the women around you). At least, after you’ve stopped chuckling and or nodding with the music.

Timothee Chalamet weaves some magic in the Wonka Trailer!

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

When it comes to Willie Wonka, I’m at a total loss. I know there was Wonka gum and candy. There’s also the classic film with Gene Wilder and the adaptation from Tim Burton (both I’ve never really watched). This new version from Paul King (Paddington) appears to be prequel, with Timothee Chalamet (Dune) in the lead role. Patterson Joseph (Neverwhere, The Beach), Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), Hugh Grant (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves), Olivia Colman (The Father), Matt Lucas (Bridesmaids), and Sally Hawkins (Paddington).

Wonka premieres in theatres this Christmas.

Joaquin Phoenix and Ridley Scott reunite for the Napoleon Trailer!

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

With a little help from Radiohead’s The National Anthem (off Kid A, a fantastic album in its own right), Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix are back in the saddle. The trailer for Napoleon seems to be pretty epic in scope. I’m hoping this is will be more along the lines of Gladiator and my favorite, Kingdom of Heaven.

Napoleon also stars Vanessa Kirby (Mission Impossible: Fallout), and will premiere in theatres this Thanksgiving. The film is produced by Apple Films.