Ghostbusters: Afterlife

 

I went into Ghostbusters: Afterlife with pretty high expectations. I had been looking forward to seeing this movie for so long only to have the release repeatedly delayed due to the pandemic. Now that is has finally arrived, I am happy to report it was definitely worth the wait as a worthy follow-up to the first two films. The question is, how does it stack up to the first two films?  

Facing eviction from their apartment, Callie (played by Carrie Coon) is forced to move with her two kids, Phoebe (played by McKenna Grace) and Trevor (played by Finn Wolfhard) are forced to move to the home her estranged and recently deceased father left her in Summerville, Oklahoma. Her father, of course, was former Ghostbuster Egon Spengler. He was a bit of a recluse and lived alone, with no one really knowing what he was up to, known around town as the Dirt Farmer due to his digging around his land, but never growing anything. Soon enough, they settle in for the Summer at least, with Trevor getting a job at the local diner and Phoebe being enrolled in a summer school science course taught by Gary Grooberson (played by Paul Rudd), who passes the time by showing the class old VHS movies. Bored with the movies, Phoebe and her new friend known as Podcast (played by Logan Kim) go to check out what Gary is doing while the class is watching movies. He explains that Summerville has been experiencing earthquakes on an almost daily basis with no earthly reason why. He is researching to try and figure out why when there are no fault lines, no fracking, not even any loud music. Meanwhile, Trevor accompanies his co-worker Lucky (played by Celeste O'Connor) and a bunch of her friends on a ride through the countryside, winding up at an abandoned mine outside of town. The quickly leave when some strange rumblings come from deep within the mine. While exploring the house, Phoebe discovers a hidden panel in the living room floor and upon opening it, discovers a Ghost Trap inside. Further exploring also reveals a PKE meter and Egon's old proton pack. Likewise, Trevor finds in the Barn the old Ecto-1 under a large tarp and begins working on getting it up and running. When Phoebe brings the trap to school to show Podcast, Gary recognizes it immediately. After school, the three power it up and try it out, opening the trap and unwittingly release a ghost trapped inside, which leaves the area immediately and flees directly to the mine. Researching the area, they discover the old Mine was owned by Ivo Shandor, who also was the architect of the building Dana Barrett (played by Sigourney Weaver) lived in and was the head of the cult of Gozer. Realizing that deep in the mine lies a temple for Gozer worship and the same thing that happened in New York in 1984 is about to happen again in Summerville and Egon was trying to stop it. With no other choice, the suit up to face down Gozer once and for all, with some well timed help from their Grandfather's old friends, Peter Venkman (played by Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (played by Dan Aykroyd) and Winston Zeddemore (played by Ernie Hudson). 

The film was directed by Jason Reitman from a script he co-wrote with Gil Kenan. For the most part, this film is a welcome breath of fresh air for the series. With the previous three Ghostbusters movies (yes, I said three!) all taking place in New York, the change of scenery to a small Midwest town makes for an interesting change of pace. There is a bit of a mystery to the film as well, as Egon's grandkids start uncovering what Egon was up to and what he was trying to do with his very unique set-up around his house that keeps the plot pushing forward as they weave in bits and pieces of the Ghostbusters mythos we know and love. There is a certain joy in watching these kids uncover their Grandfather's past that they knew nothing about, especially Phoebe who is in some ways very similar to Egon in her love for science and her intellect. It's heartwarming in the way they show her sort of posthumously bonding with her Grandfather as she uncovers her research and even manages to fix his proton pack. Jason Reitman handles these scenes perfectly and I'll admit, I even found myself getting a bit choked up. Trevor likewise has his own moments as he starts fixing up Ecto-1 and getting it running again. It's pure joy when they have their first field test as Trevor, Phoebe and Podcast find themselves chasing a unique ghost with a taste for metal through the town, and in true Ghostbusters fashion, leaving plenty of destruction in their wake. As a fan of the animated series, it was also a thrill to finally see the gunner seat and remote controlled traps incorporated into Ecto-1 as well. The only place the film begins to falter for me is at about roughly the two-thirds mark when Gozer starts to make her appearance and the plot starts to feel really familiar for anyone who has seen the first film. Still, Reitman and Kenan manage to work in enough surprises to keep things entertaining, even if I knew exactly where it was going.  

The cast for the film is phenomenal. McKenna Grace is a joy to watch as Phoebe. She brings such a unique presence to the film and makes her character so endearing. She is smart and adventurous, not unlike her Grandfather. She loves science and discovering new things. I also loved the little touch that when she gets nervous she tells "Dad Jokes" to try and break the tension, which of course pays off beautifully in the climax. Finn Wolfhard does well as Trevor too. It would have been so easy to play him as this angsty teen who's mad he has to move to the middle of nowhere, but Wolfhard downplays that aspect and while we get a sense of Trevor's displeasure at their situation, it feels genuine rather than forced and it helps that his character does try to make the best of it rather than sulk all the time. Carrie Coon has a trickier role as Callie, Egon's daughter. For much of her life, she's believed her father abandoned her and her mother and resents him for that. Made even worse, she now has to deal with his house and mountain of debt. Still, she's trying desperately to look on the bright side despite it all and Coon manages to balance those two sides of her character quite well. Paul Rudd is a delight as Gary Grooberson, who works as a science teacher at the local high school, but is using his Summer School gig to pay the bills while he does his own research. Rudd plays Gary with plenty of adorkable charm that he has down pat by this point, but I still find a joy to watch. A lot of the exposition about what is going on falls to him but he handles it quite well as he explains what happened back in 1984 New York to the kids and relates it to what is happening in Summerville now. Of course, there is a bit of a blossoming romance between Gary and Callie, which Rudd and Coon make work effortlessly. Logan Kim is a delight as Podcast and makes a great partner in crime for Phoebe as the two bond early on over their own unique interests. Celeste O'Connor gives a fun performance as Lucky, who has a bit of a flirtatious relationship with Trevor and soon gets pulled into the new generation of Ghostbuster antics as well. And last, but certainly not least, it was an a real thrill to see the remaining three Ghostbusters show up on screen again with the return of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson. Of the three, we get to spend the most time with Ray Stantz, who shares with Phoebe during a phone call what had happened to the Ghostbusters since we last saw them. I also appreciated that they finally revealed what had happened to Winston after the Ghostbusters initially disbanded in this film. But all three slip back into their iconic roles with ease. 

Overall, as a life long Ghostbusters fan, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is everything I could have wanted in a belated follow-up. It has plenty of humor, adventure and a surprising amount of heart as well. It's not only a worthy follow-up, but it's also a loving tribute to both Egon Spengler and also Harold Ramis too. They handled both aspects perfectly but I'll leave it to the viewer to discover just how. It will be very interesting to see what the future holds for the Ghostbusters, because if the post-credits scenes are any indication, we're not done yet and I for one can't wait.  

Ghostbusters II

 

It took five years for us to get a sequel to Ghostbusters and once it finally arrived, it may not have been what people expected. With some curious plot choices and a somewhat darker tone, this proved to be a far more divisive film than the original. Still, it's one that I've always enjoyed despite it's flaws. 

The film picks up five years after the events of the first film. The Ghostbusters have since disbanded and pursued other jobs. When Dana Barrett (played by Sigourney Weaver) and her newborn infant Oscar are on the way home from the store, she unwittingly rolls the stroller through some pink slime that has oozed up from below the sidewalk. To her shock, the stroller takes off on it's own racing down the sidewalk and then stopping suddenly in the middle of the street. Frightened and not knowing what else to do, she pays a visit to Egon Spengler (played by Harold Ramis), who agrees to reach out to Ray Stanz (played by Dan Aykroyd) and the two will investigate. Although she requested they not include Peter Venkman (played by Bill Murray), he gets the information out of them when he pays a visit to Ray's occult bookstore and discovers what the two of them are up to. The three of them arrive at Dana's apartment and when they discover nothing unusual about Oscar, his room and toys or the stroller itself, they investigate the street where the stroller stopped where they get PKE readings that are off the charts. Posing as utility workers, Peter, Ray and Egon start digging and discover to their shock that way below the street, in an old subway tunnel there is a huge river of psychokinetic slime running under the city. Meanwhile, Dana is working in a New York museum restoring works of art. One of the works being restored by one of her co-workers, Janosz Poha (played by Peter MacNicol) is a huge portrait of Vigo the Carpathian, who was a 16th century tyrant and magician. Turns out the painting is haunted by Vigo's ghost himself and possesses Janosz, ordering him to bring him a child to be reborn into. Because of his infatuation with Dana, Janosz chooses Oscar. When Dana and Oscar are attacked again, this time in their apartment, they flee to Peter's apartment since they didn't know where else to go. This spurns the Ghostbusters to begin investigating Vigo's portrait after Dana mentions how much it creeps her out. Upon closer examination, they discover the portrait shows the same river of slime they found running under the city. Mounting an expedition underground, they discover the river of slime leads all the way to the museum...and Vigo. 

The film was once again directed by Ivan Reitman from a script by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. This film does tap into some very interesting ideas, especially the idea that the slime running under the city is a physical manifestation of all the anger and hate that is festering in the city and is literally bubbling up to the surface at various parts of the city, as well as feeding directly to this film's big bad, the genuinely creepy Vigo the Carpathian. It is certainly something that reflects the New York City of the 80's. The idea that part of defeating the villain this time around is the Ghostbusters having to figure out a way to turn the tide of all the anger and misery of the city is a unique idea. Where the film stumbles a bit for me is in the beginning, where we discover the Ghostbusters not only are no longer in business but that they were sued for the destruction they caused during the first movie, have a court order preventing them from working as Ghostbusters and the general public seems to think they're frauds. It just doesn't seem to jive with the climax of the first movie as we see thousands of witnesses and plenty of press documenting everything. I'd especially love to know how they think the Ghostbusters faked a 100 foot tall marshmallow man rampaging down Central Park West and climbing a high rise, while on fire, like King Kong. Still, it's not long before the band is back together and on the case again to stop the end of the world...again. Once that happens, the movie picks up significantly. I did appreciate that this film is a bit darker and creepier than the original film, although a lot of that may have to do with Dana's infant son being in jeopardy several times in the movie (the ghost nanny in particular always freaked me out as a kid). Also, in-between the two films there had been the animated cartoon series, The Real Ghostbusters, so the filmmakers do their best to bridge the gap between the movies and the animated show, with an increased presence of Slimer, the little green spud shaped ghost, is notably different and more in line with his character in the show than the first film. Since the first film and animated show had become incredibly popular with kids, there is also an overall softening of some of the coarser elements we saw in the first film (no crazy sex dreams for Ray this time around, for example).  

The film reunites pretty much the entire cast from the original film. Bill Murray slips back into the role of the wise-cracking Peter Venkman with ease. As we catch up with him, he is now hosting his own paranormal talk show, but still remains friends with Egon and Ray. Ray, meanwhile, is living the quiet life and running his own occult bookstore. As always, Aykroyd perfectly captures the wonderfully pure and eccentric Ray Stantz. Likewise, Harold Ramis does great as Egon, although he gets to loosen up and have a bit of fun in this one at times, which is a refreshing change. Sigourney Weaver is given a bit more to play with this time around as Dana is now a new mother, having both been married and subsequently divorced in the five years since we last saw her. Clearly things hadn't worked out with Venkman, and the movie makes it clear he is not Oscar's father. Still it's not long before those same sparks are flying between Dana and Peter again and the two continue to play off each other wonderfully. Ernie Hudson is given a bit more to do this time around as well as he actively participates in investigating this new slime with Egon and Ray. My only complaint is his character shows up at the beginning of the movie to work a birthday party with Ray as Ghostbusters to entertain the kids and then disappears for a large stretch of the movie until the Ghostbusters are back in business. It would have been nice to get a scene where Ray, Egon and Venkman have to talk him into coming back and see what Winston had been up to since the Ghostbuster were largely out of business. Rick Moranis also gets a bit more to do this time around since Louis Tully is working as not only the Ghostbusters' accountant but also their not entirely effective legal representative as well. He also has a bit of a romance going on with the Ghostbusters' receptionist Janine Melnitz, played memorably by Annie Potts. Peter MacNichol is memorably goofy as Dana's boss at the museum, Janosz, who sports a unique and undetermined accent throughout the film that always cracks me up. MacNichol also does well with the creepier side of the role once his character gets possessed by Vigo.      

Overall, Ghostbusters II is not as good as the original but the more times I see it the more I love it. Yes, I do have my nitpicks with it as I detailed above but it also has a lot of heart and charm to it. I do wish we got a third film with all four original Ghostbusters together (Bill Murray was notoriously the lone hold out for a third film) but I am grateful for the two that we do have. It may not be perfect, but it still is a worthy follow-up to the iconic original film. 

Ghostbusters (1984)

 

I was really young the first time I saw Ghostbusters, probably like 1987 or 1988 because I remember being really excited when Ghostbusters II was coming out in theaters in the summer of 1989 (more on that one later). We owned the movie on VHS and I watched it countless times to the point where I had the movie memorized (in fact, I still do). I've just been a huge Ghostbusters fan and I struggle to recall a time in my life when I wasn't. So, naturally, I thought that with the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, now would be a perfect time to take a look back.   

After being thrown out of their labs on the campus of Columbia University, three paranormal researchers, Peter Venkman (played by Bill Murray), Ray Stanz (played by Dan Aykroyd) and Egon Spengler (played by Harold Ramis) decide to go into business for themselves starting a business offering their services in capturing and removing ghosts. Their efforts start off a little rough as their first real call ends with them causing some serious damage to a posh New York hotel. Their other client is Dana Barrett (played by Sigourney Weaver), who believes her apartment building is haunted when she sees a vision to another dimension in her refrigerator and a dozen eggs she just bought bust open and start frying on her kitchen counter. Business starts booming, leading the group to hire a fourth Ghostbuster, Winston Zeddemore (played by Ernie Hudson). In fact, they get so busy, the guys start to get the feeling all of this increased paranormal activity in the city is leading to something big. With further research, Ray and Egon discover that the Dana's building was designed by a worshipper of Gozer, a Sumerian God of Destruction. Her building was specifically designed to draw in and concentrate spectral energy to allow the return of Gozer and bring about the end of the world. With no other options, the four Ghostbusters have no choice but to suit up and try and stop it.  

The film was directed by Ivan Reitman from a script by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Dan Aykroyd came up with the initial concept, drawing inspiration from his own beliefs in the paranormal, which in turn came from his family's history of paranormal research dating back to Aykroyd's great-grandfather. When I started getting interested in the Paranormal myself, I was surprised to see the terminology that carried over from actual research, especially with the supposed occurrences of Ectoplasm dates back to the late 19th century). When his initial scope for the project proved too ambitious to film, Harold Ramis was brought in to help refine the story and craft the final shooting script grounding it in a sense of reality. The partnership worked well though as they crafted a dynamite movie that perfectly mixed comedy and chills that suited the film perfectly. Reitman likewise does a great job balancing the two moods of the film with both the comedic and practical special effects blending together seemingly effortlessly. The filmmakers do manage to pull off some pretty impressive effects in the film, with a number of them being completely practical, such as the mayhem the ghosts unleash, such as the aforementioned exploding eggs in Dana's apartment (which was accomplished by carefully inserting air hoses into the bottom of the eggs and disguising a giant griddle to look like her kitchen counter). Not to mention the climactic appearance of the 100ft tall Stay Puft Marshmallow man that remains an iconic element of the movie. Although, not all the effects have aged well, most of them have quite well. Bringing it all together is the fantastic score by Elmer Bernstein that really captures both the fantastical and comedic elements of the film perfectly.  

The film is perfectly cast with Bill Murray leading up the cast as the rascally Peter Venkman who is almost always ready to go with a sarcastic one-liner makes him an easy favorite among the group. There is something so adorably pure about how Dan Aykroyd plays Ray Stanz and the almost childlike excitement he has for every discovery they make, whether it's finding actual ectoplasmic residue or their first encounter with a ghost. You also get the sense there is a slightly more off kilter side to Ray, if a certain dream sequence he has that went right over my head as a kid is any indication. Yet, Aykroyd plays it all perfectly. Harold Ramis is great as the always serious and academic Egon Spengler. He plays the comedy of the role quite well without ever playing Egon like a stereotypical nerd. Sigourney Weaver does well in her role as Dana Barrett, who finds herself in way over her head with the sudden occurrences of supernatural activity in her life. She plays off Murray quite well, as Venkman takes a personal interest in her case. Ernie Hudson makes a nice contrast to the original three Ghostbusters, coming into the group initially as a bit of a skeptic but needing the job regardless. Still, Hudson does great in the role and adds a real everyman realness that helps ground the film. Rick Moranis has an amusing supporting role as Lewis Tully, Dana's accountant neighbor who gets pulled into all the supernatural happenings as well and has a recurring joke of constantly accidentally locking himself out of his apartment. Annie Potts has a memorable supporting role as the Ghostbusters' secretary and receptionist Janine, who also has a bit of a flirtation going with Egon as well. 

Ghostbusters naturally turned out to be a massive hit with all ages, spawning a sequel, two different animated series and a reboot in 2016 that proved to be a bit more...divisive (I, for one, loved it.). Still, it all started here with the 1984 original and it is easy to see why I caught the cultural zeitgeist so well. There have been a number of movies that have attempted to replicate this film's unique blend of the fantastical and comedic but none have quite managed to recapture it the way this film did. There are some films that truly fit the term "lightning in a bottle" and this film definitely is one of those. 

Home Sweet Home Alone

 

When it was initially announced that they were re-booting Home Alone I was a bit apprehensive. Hasn't this film series basically been done to death by this point with just re-hashing the same plot over and over again? Even Macaulay Culkin bowed out after the second one and really there was no more story left to tell. Still, this one is starring the adorable Archie Yates, who I loved in Jojo Rabbit, so I went in with an open mind. What followed only proved by initial fears. 

Jeff and Pam McKenzie (played by Rob Delaney and Ellie Kemper) are experiencing financial hardship and are putting their house on the market since Jeff is out of work and they can no longer afford it on Pam's salary alone. Crashing their open house is the mischevious tyke Max Mercer (played by Archie Yates) and his mom Carol (played by Aisling Bea) so Max can use the rest room. While there, Max briefly discusses a box on antique dolls Jeff finds in the closet and Carol mentions those can be worth a lot of money, especially one that was mistakenly produced with the face upside down. When Jeff realizes the doll is missing later, he believes that Max had stolen it. After a search on eBay and realizing similar dolls are going for $200,000 and more, Jeff and Pam set out to retrieve the doll. Meanwhile, Max's house is besieged by relatives on the eve of everyone departing for Tokyo for the holiday. To escape the madness, Max finds solace in the garage as he climbs into the back of the family SUV and eventually dozes off. When he awakes the next morning, he discovers his entire family has already left for the airport and he is now, you guessed it, home alone. Since the family is split between two flights due to a flight cancellation no one notices he's missing until they get to Tokyo. When Jeff and Pam show up initially to retrieve the doll, Max overhears them and misunderstands them, thinking they intend to kidnap and sell him. Afraid that if he calls the cops, they'll put his mother in jail for negligence, he has no choice but to defend himself and his home against the hapless couple. 

The film was directed by Dan Mazer from a script by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell. The resulting film is a pretty blatant and straight-forward re-hash of the original film almost beat for beat. To their credit, the filmmakers do mix it up a little bit. One interesting choice was to make the robbers, Jeff and Pam in this case, more sympathetic characters who are just trying to overcome their hardship and save their own family home. I also liked that they had their own houseguests for the holidays and therefore had to keep tryin to explain their whereabouts when they were off trying to sneak off to go and get the doll back from Max. However, with this set-up, it makes an already implausible scenario even more implausible because everything could be cleared up with a quick conversation that neither Pam nor Jeff seize the opportunity to have. The weaknesses for the film are many and readily apparent. The biggest one is by making the intruders more sympathetic, they make Max less likable as a result. Much of the time, he comes off as a spoiled brat and is missing the same character arc Kevin went through in the original film and therefore remains somewhat unlikable. Also, if we are sympathizing with the plight of Jeff and Pam, it makes watching them go through Max's house of pain far less satisfying as each fall victim to one booby trap after another, with a couple of them leaving me wondering which Macaulay Culkin movie are they really remaking: Home Alone or The Good Son. They also re-do whole scenes in the film with little difference from the original film which makes this new film just feel like a cheap imitation. The laughs in the film is few and far between while also missing any of the heart or sentiment that made the original the beloved Christmas classic it is. The filmmakers do manage to make this film somewhat a legacy sequel and it was fun to see Devin Ratray return as Buzz McCallister, now working as a police officer. I also got some amusement out of learning through his character that Kevin McAllister now owns a home security company (Macaulay Culkin had the good sense to stay away from this though).  

The film does feature a solid cast and you can tell they are doing their best to try and make the film work. Archie Yates displays the same sort of charm that I enjoyed from him in Jojo Rabbit throughout the film, but the writing does not do his character any favors. Much of the time he comes off as a bit spoiled and entitled and doesn't seem to learn anything from his situation. Still, Yates does his best with a characterization that is seemingly all over the place and only sporadically sympathetic. Rob Delaney is amusing as Jeff, whose bantering with Max is what sets up the whole huge misunderstanding the plot of the film hinges on. He makes his character largely likable, if a bit dumb, who is driven to do some unlikable things out of sheer desperation. Ellie Kemper plays off Rob Delaney quite well as the two become more and more determined to retrieve the doll so they can save their home. Neither one of them come off as particularly unlikable throughout the film and made the movie watchable for me. Devin Ratray makes a cameo appearance as Buzz McCallister from the first two films and manages to recapture the character pretty well. I did find it amusing when he reveals every year Kevin calls in a report of a child left home alone to mess with him. Kenan Thompson makes a few amusing appearances as Jeff and Pam's relator who finds himself in a frequently awkward position since Jeff and Pam don't want the kids to know they're selling the house until after Christmas and has to try and explain why he's there to the kids. 

Overall, there is very little in Home Sweet Home Alone to justify it's existence. The few changes the make to the formula wind up actually hurting the film overall. It's hard to tell what the filmmakers were intending with this one. I can appreciate them trying to mix things up a bit with this entry, but the plot is a mess as I found myself sympathizing with the adult characters more than the kid. For a Home Alone movie, it had me wondering who this was made for. Today's kids are going to be turned off by the fact that much of the focus is not on Max. The adults who grew up with the original films are going to see this as a shallow cash-grab. It left me scratching my head as the disappointment set in. All the more so because the film had potential with a good cast but it all just falls apart with a very ill-thought out script.  

Last Night in Soho

I've been a fan of Edgar Wright as a filmmaker ever since I first saw Shaun of the Dead way back when it was first released and my love for his work has only grown with each subsequent film he's made. Naturally, I was looking forward to seeing his latest, Last Night in Soho. However, I went in to this having only seen the first trailer and knew nothing else about the film beyond that. I had only a vague idea of the plot and nothing else and while I intend to fully review the film below, I will say if you are already interested in the film, just go. I went in pretty much blind and had a great time with this one. I fully believe that would be the best way to watch this one.

Ellie Turner (played by Thomasin McKenzie) is an aspiring fashion designer who loves the culture and music of the 1960s. She is also able to see ghosts, especially her recently deceased mother. She has just moved from her countryside home she shared with her grandmother, Peggy (played by Rita Tushingham) to the West Side of London to attend the prestigious London College of Fashion. When she finds herself paired with an obnoxious roommate in the college dorms, she moves out and finds an affordable bedsit in a building owned by the elderly Ms. Collins (played by Diana Rigg). That night, as she sleeps she has a vivid dream where she is transported back to 1960s London and observes as a young aspiring singer, Sandie (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) inquires about becoming a singer at a popular club and in the process meets manager Jack (played by Matt Smith). She awakes the next morning feeling inspired and begins creating a dress inspired by the one Sandie wore in her dream. As she continues to dream, Ellie begins to recognize places in real life that she had only dreamt of previously. She realizes that her dreams are not just dreams but visions of the distant past and as the dreams take a darker turn, she becomes more obsessed with finding out what happened to Sandie, who it turns out had lived at one time in the same bedsit she did. 

The film was directed by Edgar Wright from a script he co-wrote with Krysty Wilson-Cairns. Together, they crafted a very unique ghost story that was refreshingly unlike anything I had seen before. Edgar Wright and his crew bring the mid-Sixties London to life in brilliant color with an incredible soundtrack to back it up. Wright and Wilson Cairns were clearly pulling from the horror and thriller films of the era with the sort of dream-like visual palette that recalls the best Italian Giallo films. I loved the way used mirrors to show how Ellie was experiencing what Sandie was throughout each of her dreams, where we would see Sandie, but the reflection would be Ellie. It's a neat trick the re-occurs throughout the film and shows just how connected the two are across time. There also some impressive single takes where Edgar alternates between Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomasin McKenzie as Sandie throughout a single sequence that had to be a challenge to pull of, but was quite visually impressive. Wright and Wilson-Cairns also take the time to really focus on the struggles of their two lead female protagonists go through in a very real and tangible way that is relatable and at times terrifying in a very real way. By taking the time to do this, I felt more connected to them and more invested in what happened to them. I also appreciated the way they built the mystery inherent in the film and it was only when I got to the end that I saw all the pieces that had been there from the beginning start to come together. I love it when a movie can keep me guessing until he very end. The film includes a lot of familiar plot elements that recur throughout Edgar Wright's films, but in a very different and much more serious way with this film. It is a different film than he usually makes and I was thrilled to see a new side of him as a filmmaker.  

The film has an impressive cast led by Thomasin McKenzie and Anya Taylor-Joy. Thomasin McKenzie does a fantastic job as Ellie, who at the start of the film is filled with excitement and wonder at starting college and traveling to London, but as her character starts connecting with Sandie in the past her character begins to become more and more obsessed, especially when she begins to suspect something bad happened to Sandie and needs to find out what happened. McKenzie does a great job capturing her character's emotional change throughout the film as she begins to unravel as bit as her visions of the past start to become too much for her. Anya Taylor-Joy is equally great as Sandie, who is a counterpoint of sorts to Ellie, who likewise traveled to London to make her own dreams of being a singer come true and was prepared to do what it took to make those dreams come true. She does a great job not only portraying Sandie's ambition, but also the toll the darker side of London takes on her. Matt Smith, who I will probably always know best as the Eleventh Doctor, does well as the shady manager Jack. It was fun to see him play a character to far removed from his usual type and someone who may be a bit of a bastard. Diana Rigg has a good supporting role as the landlord of Ellie's bedsit. She's strict, but what she does is in what she believes is the best interests of her tenants. Terrance Stamp has an intriguing supporting role as a frequent patron at the local pub who may or may not have had a connection to Sadie in the past. 

Overall, Last Night in Soho is a very unique ghost story that in anchored by a compelling mystery. It's very well written and kept be guessing from beginning to end, which is always good for a movie like this. It's backed with some stunning cinematography and, as can be expected with any Edgar Wright film, a fantastic soundtrack. I really enjoyed this one and it is easily one of my favorites of the year so far.   

Donnie Darko

 

Donnie Darko turned 20 years old last week and remains one of the more enthralling and intriguing movies I have ever seen. Equal parts science fiction, psychological thriller, and satire make this a very unique movie. It's also a movie almost needs to be seen more than once to be fully and completely appreciated. 

Donnie Darko (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) is a troubled teen who regularly sees a psychiatrist, Dr. Lillian Thurman (played by Katherine Ross) and frequently sleepwalks, waking up in all sorts of places. One fateful night, he is awoken by a strange man in a ghoulish rabbit costume named Frank and told to follow him. By doing so, Donnie narrowly misses being killed when a jet engine crashes into his house. He is cryptically informed by Frank that the world will end in 28 Days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. The family is temporarily put up in a hotel while the FAA try to deal with this freak accident, all the more mysterious because no one seems to be able to figure out where it came from. Frank returns another night and instructs Donnie to break the school water main with an axe, which he does and causes the school to flood. Because of this and school getting cancelled, Donnie gets a chance to talk to the new girl in school, Gretchen (played by Jena Malone). Meanwhile, the authorities are still trying to figure out who vandalized the school. School teacher Kitty Farmer (played by Beth Grant) lays the blame at fellow teacher Karen Pomeroy (played by Drew Barrymore) for assigning the Graham Green story "The Destructors," which featured a similar incident. In response, Kitty brings in a local motivational speaker, Jim Cunningham (played by Patrick Swayze) to speak to the kids. The two hit it off and a relationship begins to form. When Donnie discusses Frank with his psychiatrist, she starts to believe that Donnie is suffering from daylight hallucinations and schizophrenia. Frank asks Donnie if he believes in time travel, which sends him to his science teacher, Kenneth Monnitoff (played by Noah Wyle), who discusses it with him briefly and gives him a book titled "The Philosophy of Time Travel." As Donnie continues to see Frank, his reality begins to spiral as he tries to figure out what is real and what isn't. 

The film was written and directed by Richard Kelly. Over the years, there have been two separate cuts of the film, with the theatrical cut and a longer director's cut that adds in an extra 20 minutes of deleted scenes. Of the two, the general consensus seems to be that the shorter, theatrical cut is the stronger version of the film with the longer director's cut tending to over-explain what is going on in the film. It is certainly my preferred version of the film as oddly enough one of the film's strengths is the ambiguity as to what exactly is going on throughout the story, with the film giving you just enough information to figure it out for yourself. The debates it sparked over the years since the film came out was part of the fun of the film, with each interpretation being just as valid as the last. It is also impressive what Kelly and his crew were able to pull off with the relatively small budget of just over 4 million dollars as they properly brought the more creative and outlandish aspects of the story to life quite well. Yet, what makes the film work so well is the fact that it focuses on the characters and their relationships, and how Donnie impacts each one of them throughout the roughly 28 days the film's story spans across. I also need to single out the very atmospheric synth score by Michael Andrews that perfectly sets the mood throughout the film.

The film has a great cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal who gives a magnificent performance as Donnie Darko. It's a challenging role but Jake really rises to the challenge playing a character whose sense of what is real and what is not is fracturing as he tries to make sense of it. The performance runs the gamut of the highs of calling others out on their bullshit, especially an epic scene as a school assembly where Donnie goes toe to toe with Jim Cunningham that is a joy to watch to the lows as Donnie begins to spiral emotionally. Jena Malone does well as Gretchen and plays off Gyllenhaal quite well as the relationship between the two characters grows. Drew Barrymore plays Karen Pomeroy as basically the English teacher we all wish we had. She is insightful and quite cool. Beth Grant is great as her polar opposite, the very conservative teacher, and school dance team coach, Kitty Farmer, who has gone all in on the swill local motivational speaker Jim Cunningham is selling. Grant really sells her character's conviction though, culminating in a scene late in the film as she, near tears, is trying to convince Donnie's mom to help chaperone the dance team's trip to Nationals with a line that has lived in my head rent free for the last twenty years, and fans of the movie already know what it's going to be, "Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparklemotion!" It is a moment that is genuinely hilarious all because of Grant's performance and just how out of touch her character is. Speaking of Jim Cunningham, Patrick Swayze is great in the role of this hack motivational speaker with some real dark secrets. It's such a departure from the roles he usually played that it was fun to watch, especially in the scene where Donnie calls him out in the middle of a school assembly. 

Donnie Darko is one of those films the defines the term "cult film". It is a film that didn't do well initially at the box office, but was discovered once it hit video and whose popularity slowly grew over the years. It is especially true of a movie like this that people naturally want to talk about and analyze. I could present my own theories about the film, but it would be far more fun to encourage others to check it out, experience it for themselves, and form their own theories.