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Top 10 Action Films of 2019
The State Of The Union remains strong… just not as strong as 2018
When it comes to action, my unabashed favorite genre in all of cinema, I must admit that 2019 didn’t feel as mind blowing or groundbreaking as the past couple of years did. I don’t mean that to be a shot across the bow at any of the worthy films in this list, but rather an admission that with the unimaginable highs of last year, with a one-two punch of The Night Comes For Us and Mission: Impossible — Fallout, something’s just got to give.
But the Mission: Impossible and John Wick series’ have been duking it out as the premier action franchises coming out of Hollywood over the last few years and 2019 did indeed bring us the next chapter in Mr. Wick’s misadventures! This list isn’t always about Hollywood, however. Frequently the best action cinema in the world is coming from all across the globe. Routinely it’s the international market that convinces me that while the pure, unadulterated action film is somewhat dormant or infrequently being produced in Hollywood, it’s alive and well and accessible to those voracious fans who will seek it out from all corners of the globe.
Solid Middle Tier Picks
Revenger, Triple Frontier, Alita: Battle Angel, Stuber, Abduction, Point Blank, The Wedding Guest, Hellboy, The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil, The Hard Way, The King, Terminator: Dark Fate, Gemini Man
Honorable Mentions
The Wandering Earth: China’s mega-budget space disaster epic yields some absolutely enormous action set pieces in a love letter to Hollywood excess.
Triple Threat: This is a very solid Expendables-style men-on-mission film with a huge international cast that just couldn’t entirely live up to the enormous expectations I placed on it.
Rambo V: Last Blood: While not a great Rambo movie, the final act of Last Blood takes on a splattery level of exploitative violence that would’ve felt at home with an old school X rating.
Iron Fists & Kung Fu Kicks: A must-see documentary about martial arts cinema that isn’t itself an action film, but is essential viewing for action lovers.
Close: Noomi Rapace is the queen of Netflix films, and this is perhaps her most successful star vehicle on the streaming platform in which she’s a highly competent bodyguard for hire thrust into a dire situation filled with strong action and sparse, effective character work.
Shadow: A stunning Zhang Yimou wuxia spectacle that’s pretty great and shows you things you’ve never seen before… but makes you wade through a lot of castle intrigue that you very definitely HAVE seen before first.
Ad Astra: Not really an action movie, but Ad Astra features a few sci-fi space travel sequences that are some of the most thrilling big screen moments of 2019 and have to be acknowledged by this action junkie.
10: ANGEL HAS FALLEN
Undoubtedly the best Has Fallen film in terms of overall quality, Angel Has Fallen was quite the 2019 anomaly. In many ways the REASON to enjoy the Has Fallen series is the salacious, borderline amoral R-rated shenanigans of Gerard Butler’s secret service Die Hard knock off hero Mike Bannon. But Angel Has Fallen inserted some genuine pathos, exploring broken intergenerational relationships, PTSD, and the consequences of violence. The film did huge box office, took the series in a more somber and potent direction, and filmmaker Ric Roman Waugh breathed some legitimacy into what was previously a vacuous, if satisfying, gloriously hard-R action bloodbath.
9: WAR
If you’re a western action movie fan that has yet to open up your heart and mind to Indian action cinema, I encourage you to do so at your earliest convenience. I’ll admit that my interest in exploring international cinema is largely through the lens of action cinema, but I’m THRILLED about the dozen or so Indian action films I’ve watched in the past several years. War is simultaneously a legitimately great action epic on par with anything American action cinema has to offer, and a fine example of some of the more ridiculous, colorful, musical flourishes present in virtually all Indian cinema. Come for the martial arts and giant explosions, stay for the vaguely homoerotic dance numbers shared between the on-again, off-again friends and enemies played by chiseled gods Tiger Shroff and Hrithik Roshan.
8: IP MAN 4: THE FINALE
One of our greatest modern kung fu franchises spawned not just one, but two entries in this year’s best action cinema list. Ip Man 4 continues the grand tradition of this series: mixing genuine drama and heroism of character with impeccable martial arts set pieces. Under the capable eye of director Wilson Yip and featuring the fourth round of the fantastic actor/subject pairing of Donnie Yen as historical figure Ip Man, The Finale tackles issues of racism and adds action superstar Scott Adkins to the mix for a grand showdown. It’s a highly satisfying piece of action cinema to conclude a wonderful series.
7: IL PRIMO RE (THE FIRST KING)
Unlike anything else on this list, and frankly unlike little else, Il Primo Re aka The First King offers a pre-civilization, primordial tale of brutal violence in service of the creation of society as we know it today. A gritty, muddy, earthy take on the Romulus and Remus myth and the founding of Rome, Italian filmmaker Matteo Rovere delivers up some spectacular battles and action sequences that serve a unique drama of deference to the gods versus striving to godhood ourselves. This shouldn’t be missed by anyone seeking an entirely non-traditional action film that is equal parts art house and skull-splitter.
6: MASTER Z: IP MAN LEGACY
An official spin off of the Ip Man franchise, Master Z ends up slightly higher on this list than Ip Man 4 simply because of how unassailably FUN it is. Directed by martial arts choreographer and absolute living legend Yuen Woo-Ping, this all-star international cast feels fresh and puts rising star Max Zhang in the spotlight and squaring off against Dave Bautista, Michelle Yeoh, and Tony Jaa. There are some dramatic elements and it takes advantage of being a historical period piece, but ultimately it all serves the purpose of being a swashbuckling martial arts adventure and it works like gangbusters.
5: NIGHTSHOOTERS
Another very unique title on the list, Nightshooters has a meta structure going on, and is equal parts comedy and gangster film mixed with mind-blowing action and martial arts sequences from rising star Jean-Paul Ly (Jailbreak). When a film crew shooting all night in a questionably legal condemned high rise, they witness something they shouldn’t have, and soon it’s a fight to the death between a ragtag film crew and bloodthirsty gangsters… and only their filmmaking skills can save them. Writer/Director Marc Price is not only one to watch, but managed to make one of the year’s very best action films (and love letters to filmmaking) on what was likely a shoestring budget. Hilarious, inventive, and badass, Nightshooters comes out of nowhere to become can’t miss action cinema.
4: AVENGEMENT
It’s absolutely no secret that action superstar Scott Adkins is my very favorite action leading man working today. He consistently brings us the kind of “one man army” action cinema us ’80s kids grew up on, only he does almost all of his own fight work and does it on half the budget and half the production schedule that our ’80s heroes did it. Adkins brings his A game to every project, and his recent collaboration with director Jesse V. Johnson is just stellar. Avengement is down and dirty, and provides Adkins with his most ferocious leading role to date (which is saying something since a previous character from this filmmaking duo once ate a man’s liver). Avengement is grimy, street level, British gangster revenge… and it’s glorious.
3: DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE
One of the very best films of 2019 period, Dragged Across Concrete is another work of staggering genius from provocative writer/director S. Craig Zahler. Likely the best overall film on this list, it’s probably not (strictly speaking) an action film, so it doesn’t take the top spot on this list. But this sprawling cops and robbers epic is controversial (what with Mel Gibson being involved at all, much less playing a dirty cop with outdated views and dubious racial motivations), smart, and tugs at the very darkest potential for human depravity. What action is there is masterfully staged, always advancing its characters, and the almost three hour film will undoubtedly leave you thinking, with jaw-agape, if you’ll give it a shot.
2: FURIE
The breakout action banger of 2019 has to be this Vietnamese instant action classic. Veronica Ngo proves in a single movie that she should be headlining action films the world over, and sent me tracking down some of her stellar previous work, which includes stuff you’ve probably seen (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Bright, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny) and stuff you probably haven’t (Vietnamese action films Clash and The Rebel… both of which absolutely rule). Is Furie simply a gender swapped Taken with Ngo’s tiger mom stopping at nothing to rescue her kidnapped child? Yep. That’s literally all it is. But its breakneck pace, dazzlingly unstoppable lead actress, potent drama, and the way in which it puts Vietnam on the map as a destination for great action cinema make this the second best action film of 2019.
1: JOHN WICK CHAPTER 3 — PARABELLUM
It’s like this: the John Wick franchise leads the pack in terms of American, A-list, blockbuster action in the tradition of classic action cinema at its zenith. You’ve got a cast stacked with legends (and even Oscar winners), the 87eleven action design team bringing game changing choreography and boundary pushing set pieces, and an engrossing, hard-R story that sends our hero, The Baba Yaga himself, through deeper and deeper levels of hell on each outing. There are heights of mind melting action in Parabellum that go beyond anything this series has offered before (dogs, horses, Mark Dacascos, and motorcycles come to mind). That said, as a total package it doesn’t blow Chapter 2 out of the water in terms of the perfect mix of expanded world building and face-melting action. Nevertheless, the box office was obliterated by Chapter 3, and this franchise is doing more to bring classical, hard-R action cinema back into American multiplexes than anything else in the world. Keanu Reeves and Chad Stahelski appear have no limits in how hard they’re willing to go to entertain us, and the entire nation is ready and willing for Chapter 4.
And I’m Out.
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For Your Consideration: Two Cents Tries to Catch Up with FAST COLOR
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
We are over-saturated with superhero stories these days, but even in the crowded market place, there’s nothing quite like Julia Hart’s Fast Color.
A former high school teacher, Hart gave up that job to pursue screenwriting, going on to pen recent films like The Keeping Room. Working with her husband, the writer/producer Jordan Horowitz (who produced La La Land), Hart made the leap to directing with Miss Stevens in 2016.
Nothing in either talented spouse’s filmography would suggest their interest and skill in a sci-fi/superhero adventure, but Fast Color came out of nowhere last year with one of the freshest recent takes on super-beings and their amazing powers.
Set in a near future where everlasting drought has dried up not only the land but also the hope and spirit of the populace, Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is on the run from both shadowy government forces and her own nature. When Ruth experiences a seizure, the ground seizes with her, and it’s clear that the toll of this power is starting to wear her down.
With no place left to go, Ruth returns to her childhood home to face her mother, Bo (Lorraine Toussaint), and daughter Lila (Saniyya Sidney). Both the older and younger woman are possessed of extraordinary powers as well, and as the three generations come together it becomes clear that the only way to heal the ruined world is to heal one another.
Fast Color did not get much theatrical play, but it immediately became an instant favorite for some viewers due to its eccentric nature, its intimate scope compared to the blockbuster smash-fests of other superhero stories, and for the primacy it places on powerful black woman, a field in which the mainstream comic book films are still woefully lagging.
Fast Color is currently being developed into a TV series for Amazon Prime through Viola Davis’ production company, with Hart and Horowitz continuing to guide the story along.
Next Week’s Pick
I Lost My Body is the age-old, well-worn story of loneliness in the big city, of the awkward stages of young romance, and of a severed hand battling its way through the horrors of underground urban life to rejoin its body.
The bizarre, entirely metaphoric animated opus was a surprise nominee for Best Animated Feature (along with another Netflix original, the surprisingly wonderful Klaus).
I Lost My Body is available to stream on Netflix Instant.
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday!
Our Guests
Austin Wilden:
I feel like, no matter what I say about how strongly Julia Hart’s Fast Color made me feel, I still haven’t seen the full picture of this wonderful multi-generational science fiction tale that uses the concept of superpowers similarly to how Arrival used the concept of first contact with aliens.
The sheer power in some of the imagery speaks for itself, like Bo resolving the standoff with the authorities at the end nonviolently by dissolving their guns with her abilities. However, other times I almost felt like I was in the same position as Ruth was for most of the runtime, unable to see the colors that give the magic at play its real beauty. Which is to say the moment that got to me most was when Ruth discovers her true power and sees the colors for the first time. That rapturous joy, played perfectly by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, of fully connecting not only to her powers but to what her daughter means to her put such a smile on my face that was only. Topped by the ending, when Ruth reads the last message from her mother. (@WC_Wit)
The Team
In a year where the highly anticipated Dark Phoenix film was released and proven to be thoroughly mediocre, we were actually treated to two fantastic films about characters with narratives that would fit exquisitely into the X-Universe. One of these is Freaks, starring Emile Hirsch, which is already described by many as 2019’s best X-Men film – despite having zero association with the Fox franchise or Marvel comic. The other is today’s Two Cents selection, Fast Color.
The reason these films strike me as fantastic fits in the X-Men landscape is a central idea that drives both films: people are scared of what is different. While Freaks displays a manic xenophobia that manifests in righteous paranoia, Fast Color feels move nuanced and contemplative in its approach. With the government chasing our protagonist Ruth as is she were ET, there’s still a paranoia and a sense of danger throughout, but it’s less manic than it is a background looming force.
Tons of heart and a compelling story of life, love, and escape – Fast Color is one of the best movies I’ve seen in some time. It has appeal for genre fans and those who beer towards more mainstream drama alike.
And, anyone who puts Billie Holiday and X-ray Spex side by side as the best music of all time is okay in my book. (@thepaintedman)
The worldbuilding is strong from the start, quickly establishing the action in an America suffering a multi-year drought. Fast Color’s setting is effective enough to make the viewer thirsty. Hart creates a tense environment — and the family’s calm haven in the midst of it — in a script infused with subtle moments of deep emotion. A synth-filled score by Rob Simonsen and the cinematography from Michael Fimognari emphasize the momentousness of Ruth’s self-discovery.
There is a certain beauty to casting women of color in these roles, adding further significance to the original concept of women with unexplainable powers being under attack. A scene where Bo faces down a threatening group of white men is even more gripping given the power dynamics on view. Mbatha-Raw, Toussaint, and even young Sidney are magical in Fast Color, a stunning and wondrous work that will undoubtedly be one of the best films I see this year.
Editor’s Note: Read the rest of Elizabeth’s thoughts in her full review. (elizabeth stoddard)
I second everyone’s enthusiasm for this movie, as the material with Mbatha-Raw and her mother and daughter is some of the most exciting work in a genre film in recent years. While Hart takes a deliberately-paced approach to a fairly small, tight story, the inter-character dynamics and tensions are powerful enough to always remain interesting. And the way that Hart uses the magical abilities of the family to underline and illustrate the emotional problems between one another is classic Twilight Zone stuff, very ably played.
My only real problem with Fast Color comes any time it cuts away from the farmhouse to deal with the other subplots. David Strathairn is so compelling a screen presence that he makes his somewhat flat manhunt story at least somewhat engaging, but the stuff involving the government agents stalking Ruth and her family is the most boring, obvious storyline Hart could have come up with and it reeks of filler.
My dislike of that material aside, Fast Color is still a terrific original superhero story, and I’m very excited for the Amazon show to return us to this world and see whatever other wonders Hart has in store. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
I enjoy science fiction tales of all stripes, but there’s something to be said for grounded futuristic stories which take place in slightly removed version of our real world.
Fast Color’s thoroughly engrossing and moving tale of a woman on the run, unable to control her telekinetic (and seismic) episodes and chased by mysterious agents, is a bit similar to the experience of many of the X-Men — but this isn’t a world of superhero teams or fancy schools for gifted youngsters. Instead it’s dealt with as a family, as three generations of women, each possessing these extraordinary gifts, try to work together to understand the extent and nature of their powers, and more importantly how to control them.
Thematically, this one’s right in line with the thematically and stylistically similar Midnight Special, which found a place in the hearts of so many film lovers — I consider Fast Color to be its equal, and would encourage fans of either film to experience the other. (@VforVashaw)
Further reading:
https://cinapse.co/the-seventh-annual-cinapse-awards-a6d3ab451cb0https://cinapse.co/the-seventh-annual-cinapse-awards-a6d3ab451cb0
Next week’s pick:
https://cinapse.co/the-seventh-annual-cinapse-awards-a6d3ab451cb0
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THE ASSISTANT: A Chilling Workplace Drama
Kitty Green’s film takes on toxic bosses and the staff who look away
A young woman walks out of a lit house and into the darkness of early morning at the open of The Assistant. The quiet drama, which stunned at last year’s Sundance, opens in Austin this weekend. Emmy-winner Julia Garner (Ozark, Dirty John) stars as Jane, assistant to an unnamed production mogul.
Events in Kitty Green’s (Casting JonBenet) film play out in one day in the early months of Jane’s career. The Assistant unspools in an unhurried manner while Jane completes repetitive tasks, calling to mind Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels. The monotony of such work is interrupted by the casual cruelty of her boss and office-mates.
There are hints as to the true nature of her employer, although he’s never shown onscreen. Jane finds a dropped earring on his office floor and has to clean spots off his couch. We hear his voice through the receiver of her phone as he berates her for talking to his upset wife. His impatience and verbal abuse set the tone for her dealings with other staff, especially after Jane becomes discomfited by a younger, unqualified woman she’s instructed to set up in the office as another assistant.
A meeting with HR (Matthew Macfadyen) proves disastrous as Jane’s position and future come under threat. When she shows actresses in for meetings, it reminds us of the lost talent, the performances we’ll never get to see because a man abused his position of power.
In a recorded exchange with a woman he’d previously assaulted, Harvey Weinstein excused his behavior by saying “I’m used to that.” This phrase came to mind as I watched the duplicity of the staff around Jane and their willful ignorance. There’s no doubt the boss is based on Weinstein; the rape culture in Jane’s office is so ingrained that even seeing a man condescendingly pat her on the shoulder made me flinch.
The script refuses to explicitly spell everything out, yet provides enough uncomfortable evidence of a toxic working environment. Writer/director Green creates an insular work that moves so quietly the loud moments come as a shock. The Assistant is disturbing in its depiction of Jane’s everyday, calling the viewer to pay attention. It’s an unsettling film that will stay with me for a long while.
The Assistant opens in Austin on Fri, Feb. 14 at Arbor Great Hills.
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LE PETIT SOLDAT (1963): A Banned Jean-Luc Godard Film Comes To Criterion
On Youth and War
Everyone has their cinematic blind spots, and Jean-Luc Godard is one of mine. In fact a quick glance through his filmography indicates this is indeed my very first Godard film. And by all accounts it’s a bit of a weird one.
Banned for many years upon its release, Le Petit Soldat was intended to be Godard’s second feature and the film to follow up his breakout New Wave smash hit Breathless. Instead it languished for years after its banning and, once finally released, didn’t quite have the timeliness Godard had likely hoped for in terms of its subject matter, that being the French-Algerian War. I will admit that, myself not having a strong grasp on the political intricacies of the Algerian conflict in France some fifty years later, it was also challenging for me to get my head wrapped around Le Petit Soldat.
The film stars strapping young Elia Kazan devotee and method actor Michel Sobor as the titular “little soldier” Bruno Forestier. Bruno lives in Geneva, has defected from being a soldier, but is wrapped up in the shadow war playing out between France and Algeria. While it’s not spelled out in history exactly why the film was banned, it seems likely that the terroristic tactics of both sides of this shadow war portrayed the conflict as so unjust that France simply couldn’t stomach releasing it. But although Godard apparently actually tortured Sobor onscreen to get some of the results he was looking for (a practice that probably seemed cool then and feels reprehensible today), the violence and torture that does appear on screen feels practically quaint by today’s standards.
Bruno is a challenging character to follow. He’s a cynical young man who constantly philosophizes. Yes, it’s a search for love and meaning in a politically charged environment, but Bruno’s (and Godard’s) constant quotations of philosophers and poets gives off an air of pretension that is probably not entirely unintentional, but nevertheless doesn’t help Bruno be any more likeable. He’s absolutely besotted by a young woman who enters into his life and who, herself, has questionable political loyalties: Anna Karina’s Veronica Dreyer. Karina was famously somewhat of a muse for Godard and they went on to marry and make several films together. You can almost feel the director falling in love with her with his camera in Le Petit Soldat. Bruno and Godard are falling for her simultaneously.
The affair is a doomed one as the double crossing French agents force Bruno into carrying out an assassination and use Veronica as leverage. War is hell, after all. What’s odd is that the film’s climax has little to do with the simmering romance or the shadow war, but rather an extremely extended apartment sequence (taking place after the extremely extended torture sequence which was ultimately more bearable than what came next) in which Bruno just monologues to Veronica about his various thoughts on life and philosophy. It’s a rambling and cocky, and occasionally misogynist, rant that tells us a lot about Bruno (and perhaps the youth of France at the time?) but feels interminable. It’s also telling how little Veronica has to say throughout this sequence, forced to listen to the rantings of a young man trying to find his way and impress the girl he’s infatuated with at the same time. Like French audiences who received the film years after the fact, perhaps I just lacked the context needed to connect with Bruno’s philosophizing, but it was ultimately a tough watch for me.
There’s inherent value in soaking in the work of a great master like Jean-Luc Godard, however, and watching via the Criterion Collection’s new Blu-ray release was the perfect environment for such an exercise. While I clearly had my struggles with the film, Criterion “took me to school” with the bonus features available on the disc, and through the liner essay’s insight and eloquence. Much of the historical context around the film I’ve provided above came to me after finishing the film and scratching my head a little bit before gaining some context and nuance through Criterion’s supplemental materials.
Le Petit Soldat probably was not the ideal way to experience a Godard film for the very first time. But there was much value in watching and learning about the film. It was also my first Anna Karina film, and Bruno and Godard’s enchantment by her is quite infectious… so perhaps it’s a better first Karina film to experience than a first Godard film to experience. Fans of Godard or French New Wave will undoubtedly find a lot to love in Le Petit Soldat, and Criterion Collection devotees will also appreciate the release. I doubt I’d ever revisit Le Petit Soldat myself, but I do hope this won’t be my last Godard film, so that’s saying something.
And I’m Out.
Le Petit Soldat is now available on Criterion Collection Blu-ray.
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With New Director’s Cut, DOCTOR SLEEP Proves a Mike Flanagan Masterwork
Julian provides deep analysis comparing the theatrical and director’s cut versions of DOCTOR SLEEP
WARNING: The following contains massive spoilers for Doctor Sleep’s Theatrical and Director’s Cuts, and should best be enjoyed after viewing the film.
My first coverage of Doctor Sleep last November was on the whole praising of Mike Flanagan’s adaptation. It did as best it could with straddling King’s original novels and Kubrick’s much different original film — but had its own issues with just how reverent it decided to be towards its source material. As measured as Flanagan’s pacing was for a two-and-a-half-hour horror film, the film’s climax at the Overlook Hotel felt oddly rushed, feeling as obliged to end its story there as a Warner Bros-produced Shining sequel as it was an overly reverential homage to the film that inspired much of Mike Flanagan’s work.
Around the same time the film came out, though, Flanagan’s Netflix series The Haunting of Hill House got an unexpected Blu-ray release featuring several never-before-seen director’s cuts of several episodes. As a Flanagan fan, I was super curious to see what scares would be added. Much to my surprise, it wasn’t what was added that provided the greatest surprises — but what Flanagan altered in coming back to the editing room. In my favorite altered sequence from the pilot, a character’s ghost story is allowed to play out in a single unbroken take rather than filled with cutaways that allowed editors to condense her tale. Now, her story — and the episode at large — played out how it should, free from time constraints or fears of audience impatience.
Much like the new cuts of Haunting of Hill House, Flanagan’s home video Director’s Cut of Doctor Sleep is an abundance of riches for what it alters as much as it adds. More so, the half-hour of restored material adds a serious amount of clarity and depth to the film’s themes of self-improvement. As in the theatrical cut, Doctor Sleep focuses much of its story on Dan Torrance’s journey of redemption — but in order to get to that place of self-forgiveness, the film and its characters must dwell in vile, uncomfortable places — transforming Doctor Sleep into a film more about how we confront addiction as much as we hunger for redemption.
One of my biggest issues with Doctor Sleep was how it drew attention to its replication of Kubrick’s world while quickly cutting to and from wax-museum lookalikes of Danny, Wendy, and others from the previous Shining incarnation. In the theatrical version, these scenes of the Torrance family post-Overlook felt like plot strands that needed to be quickly addressed to justify being a Shining sequel. Here, though, Flanagan spends much more time with Danny and Wendy, allowing these new actors to settle in more with the audience and in turn allow them to better express their relevance to the themes Flanagan explores throughout Doctor Sleep.
In the film’s first major addition, Wendy explores the scene of Mrs. Massey’s return — eventually seeing her wet footprints on the bathmat. Where the theatrical version made it seem that the Overlook’s ghosts were more confined to Danny’s realm of experience, this scene makes it clear that these spirits are very real — and so is the danger facing Danny and Wendy.
This aspect of the ghosts is followed up in an extension of Danny’s conversation with Dick Halloran, where he describes the Overlook’s inhabitants as “mosquitoes looking for blood,” setting up the Overlook as both a thematic equivalent and physical rival to the Rose’s band of steam devourers. Also restored is Danny’s first reckoning with his father’s crazed rampage. Halloran tries to get Danny to understand that both he and his father are made up of darkness as well as light — and that the Overlook is just one of many forces that will try to play to one side to prey on the other.
The last of the major additions with young Danny and Wendy are a scene of the two watching cartoons, much like how we first met them in Kubrick’s film. However, it’s clear that Wendy’s still shaken by her time in the Overlook — as she can’t bring herself to look at her son lest she think about Jack. Sensing this, Danny walks to the bathroom and shines — the effect of which becomes all too clear later on.
Once the film settles into its modern setting, following strung-out grifter adult Dan, Flanagan’s bolstered runtime eagerly explores this character’s rock bottom — and the limits of Dan’s coping methods. When a toddler walks in as Dan tries to steal money from a one-night-stand, Dan now nervously acknowledges the kid before continuing on. When Halloran appears to stop Dan, Dan tries to shut both his ghost and the current memory of stealing from this mother and child. Halloran explains, though, that Dan can’t just lock up memories — “they’re the real ghosts.” With these clear consequences, Dan’s motivation to finally pick himself up has more urgency and potency than in the earlier cut. The film’s chapter — the first of six new title cards dividing the film — now ends with Dan using the same money to buy his bus ticket to Frazier, New Hampshire, where he’ll literally start the next chapter of his life with the help of Billy and AA.
Much of Doctor Sleep’s new additions are focused in the film’s first half, actually, as the films three leads (which they totally are now) of Dan, Abra, and Rose are caught in the same mix of thematic concerns. Abra has a new introduction as her parents first experience her burgeoning powers via a self-playing piano while 4-year-old Abra sleeps — and further scenes feature David and Lucy as they reckon with and tentatively accept Abra’s powers for what they are. In many respects, David and Lucy are the parents that Dan never had — open and loving with each other, and accepting of the strange rather than seeking to immediately explain it away like imaginary friend Tony.
Rose also cultivates an ersatz family of her own as she draws in Snakebite Andi into the True Knot — which in this cut is given not just its name, but a further explanation of their methods. Rose clearly sees them as a family — “what is tied can never be untied.” A brief beat also sees Andi post-initiation being welcomed into the daily routine of the Knot with open arms by Grandpa Flick. Much like Abra’s family, the True Knot is a haven for those who have powers and want to be accepted for who they are rather than hide their abilities.
In this same sequence, Dan finds his new family — and purpose — in AA, and his new role as infirmary angel of death Doctor Sleep. Flanagan extends one scene to include Dan divining detailed memories from his patients’ minds, helping them feel at ease towards their impending passing.
The best addition in this first half, though, comes just after Abra connects with Dan for the first time. Here, Flanagan fades to the ruins of the Overlook, and peers into the dilapidated Gold Room…where a certain bar flickers to life, and a fresh glass of whiskey waits to be consumed. Where the Overlook felt like a random necessary evil by the end of Doctor Sleep, this small addition makes the Hotel feel like an overarching participant throughout the film — influencing how Dan sees certain scenes, and eagerly awaiting the arrival of its next victims. The scene also ends with a wonderful match fade as Dan’s eight-year sobriety chip puts a stopper on the glass — for now.
Where much of Flanagan’s dread and suspense comes from his restraint, the freedom of this director’s cut allows him to heighten the more viscerally disturbing sequences of the film. None more so than during Brad Trevor’s death, the most memorable scene in this section of Doctor Sleep (or, at least, the one we wish we could forget the most). Where the theatrical cut often cuts away to the scene from a distance, much of the director’s cut plays in a paling close-up on actor Jacob Tremblay’s anguished face.
As the film’s main conflict kicks into high gear with the True Knot’s pursuit of Abra, more sequences are included devoted to Rose’s increasing recklessness. Her plans for Abra are made more explicit, where they were once hinted by Halloran in the original version. Rose plans to keep Abra alive, a prisoner to siphon off steam from when necessary like psychic livestock. Crow’s function in the group as a searcher is further deepened, as is his role as a skeptical confidante to Rose.
In one scene, an online article that Crow’s found gives Rose better clues to Abra’s location. Crow’s more aware of the dangers someone with Abra’s power poses to their group. Rose, obsessed with the fix waiting at the end of pursuing that same danger, pays him no mind — actions that’ll have major consequences for the Knot. A fun added detail in these sequences also notes just how the Knot gets some of their supplies, hinting at the vast web of connections that keeps these modern nomads going.
Rose’s deepened reckless pursuit of her “whale” provide a great thematic counterpoint to Dan’s straight-and-narrow path of sobriety, which Doctor Sleep dovetails with his reluctance to Shine. In that same emotional arc, Flanagan counterpoints Dan’s reluctance to Shine with the tentative nurturing approach of Abra’s parents — so that when Dan and Abra finally meet, these cumulative themes come to more of an emotional head halfway through the film. When Abra and Dan finally meet, Flanagan extends their scene to hint at what happened when Danny last shined — and Dan’s subsequent plea for Abra to shut off her powers naturally meets resistance from this girl who is coming into her own psychic abilities in a rational, confident way unmarred by trauma.
This scene also better solidifies Abra’s unwavering dedication to finding justice for Brad Trevor’s killers. Brad may have been the Knot’s previous victim, but he was far from the first; Abra may be next, but she’s far from the last. With the powers she possesses, who else but her needs to put a stop to Rose?
We eventually return back to Anniston, New Hampshire, where Abra’s father David is given more screentime. David takes a further protective stance towards Abra when Dan asks to help them, and while Abra still psychically downloads her father on what’s going on, she resists until Dan instructs her to tell him about Brad’s death.
We also see David’s final confrontation with Crow in this cut, giving one last beat for the film to show a father figure who is protective of his child until the very end — which remedies the all-too-disposable way the theatrical cut treated him in this sequence.
With the added time to breathe, Flanagan’s themes of familial bonds, the lasting impact of how familial bonds, trauma, and addiction shape our decisions in similar, cyclical ways feel more nuanced and in reach with each other. The chapter-divided structure makes the film’s time skips feel less jarring and convenient to the plot, and more deliberately paced than its breakneck counterpart. And the sequences of young Danny and Wendy feel much more integral to the plot the more they’re spread out through the film, allowing the past to feel that much more impactful on the present.
Most importantly, Doctor Sleep’s added material lays important thematic groundwork for the film’s most faithful tribute to what came before — the showdown at the Overlook Hotel. With extended, lingering shots, Dan’s exploration of the Hotel in these sequences feel less like fan service and more like the reluctant exploration of the site of past horrors that it should be.
The climactic sequence — where Dan confronts the ghost of Jack Torrance, now “Lloyd the Bartender” — feels like an equally climactic dovetail between Dan’s traumatic past and the crippling toxic methods he used to overcome it. Here, Dan owns up to what the film has alluded to throughout — that he used his Shine to erase Wendy’s memories of what happened at the Overlook, so that she’d finally look at her son again. However, as Wendy approached death, the “Death Flies” that only Dan could see eventually covered her so much that he could never look at his mother without knowing what was going to happen. Flanagan finally roots Dan’s reluctance to Shine in something more immediately gripping and personal for Dan — one that illustrates how the traumatic events of the Overlook resulted in equally traumatic actions and consequences for Dan and Wendy throughout the rest of their lives.
“This drink will cost a lot.”
“Your money’s no good here, Mr. Torrance. Orders from the house.”
“It’ll cost more than money. It’ll cost me eight years. Eight behind me, and who knows how many in front of me.”
Dan’s decision at the bar then becomes not just a final confrontation of this trauma — but a final test for the latest methods he’s used to deal with his past. Will he shut out his past like he did his ability to shine, in increasingly self-destructive ways? Or, in trusting his abilities like Abra can Dan finally trust — and forgive — himself?
The film’s last added sequence further dovetails the choices of Dan Torrance with that of his father, as a spilled drink leads Jack to clean up Dan in a very iconic red bathroom.
Jack mentions that “Management” has concerns about Dan’s situation with Abra — that he shouldn’t have been pulled into someone else’s mess, and that the solution is to wash his hands of the whole ordeal by letting Rose and Abra play out “what’s meant to happen” within the hotel. Perverting Dan’s AA lessons, the Overlook frames this as “accepting the things we cannot change.”
This is a fantastic sequence that’s so damn key to elevating the Overlook sequences beyond justifying Doctor Sleep as a Shining sequel, painting the Overlook’s insidiously manipulative nature akin to the alcohol that’s given Dan just as much trauma in his life. But as Dan says earlier, it’s not our beliefs, but our actions that make us better people. Dan chooses to continue to protect Abra, even if it’s to his detriment — doing anything less would mean giving into the same traumatic beliefs that led him to his earlier rock bottom. It’s not enough to cope with or accept trauma — it’s having the wisdom to overcome it that matters most.
When it came to The Haunting of Hill House, it was how what was altered led to a greater emotional impact. While the rest of Doctor Sleep plays out as originally edited after this sequence, it’s how this added material gives greater context to the film’s closing moments that seals the deal for this being Mike Flanagan’s best film.
Danny erased his mother’s memories to earn her gaze again, only to find himself unable to look at her in Wendy’s own dying moments. Here, in a sequence that rectifies Kubrick’s biggest departure from The Shining, finally giving Stephen King the ending he always wanted, Flanagan also gives the dying Dan Torrence the one thing he always wanted…
It’s a fantastic beat that sends Doctor Sleep to an heartrending conclusion — one rooted in Flanagan’s patience and devotion to the emotional cores of his characters, even if they’re not originally his own.
I wholly meant it in my original review when I said that Mike Flanagan creates some of the most compassionately terrifying horror films out there. This director’s cut of Doctor Sleep is certainly a labor of love for Flanagan, and the end result is a film that most definitely earns the title of the best recent Stephen King adaptation, and most importantly a damn fine horror film that’s as empathetic and engaging as it is absolutely chilling.
Doctor Sleep is now on 4K UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD courtesy of Warner Bros.
Get it at Amazon:
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Doctor Sleep — [4K UHD Blu-ray] | [Blu-ray]Further reading: DOCTOR SLEEP Isn’t Quite Kubrick or King, But Still Shines On Its Own
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For Your Consideration: Two Cents Gets Trapped in ONE CUT OF THE DEAD
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
We like to use this miniseries to highlight some of the best, maybe overlooked, films from the previous year, but One Cut of the Dead poses a pretty unique challenge in that regard.
You see… One Cut of the Dead is built around a… well, see, even alluding to it might be enough to spoil the fun for someone who would otherwise enjoy going in completely blind.
Let’s say this: One Cut of the Dead, directed by Shin’ichirô Ueda, opens with an approximately 40-minute unbroken shot depicting a hapless film crew being attacked by zombies when they make the terrible mistake of filming their no-budget horror movie on haunted grounds.
When the film finally cuts… things change.
We asked our guests this week to give their unfiltered opinions on the film as a whole, while the Cinapse team took a more coy approach to whet your appetite. (Fear not, we’ll tell you when the spoilers are coming).
Next Week’s Pick
Our FYC series continues with perhaps last year’s most intimate superhero epic: Fast Color, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw. How much did we collectively love this film? It handily won the Genre Breakout category of our Cinapse Awards!
Fast Color is available to stream via Amazon Prime!
Would you like to be a guest in next week’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday!
The Team (Spoiler Free)
I’ve talked about my love for this film before, so let me instead tell a little story of my own.
Like Messr. Wilden, I too sat a buddy down to watch this one, reassuring my compadre (who does not love horror movies and especially does not love zombie movies) that despite the everything about the look and feel of the movie, One Cut of the Dead was absolutely worth his time.
The moment when Ueda springs his mouse-trap into action, when all the careful set-up starts paying off in sublime comic chaos, we had to pause the movie he was laughing so hard. I knew to pause because the exact same moment sent me into hysterics when I first watched it. One Cut of the Dead pulls off one of the best narrative gambits I’ve ever seen in a movie, and it earns a sustained comedic crescendo up there with the best films from Zemeckis/Gale and Edgar Wright. It’s that satisfying in its care and craft, and that successful in execution. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
I doubt I can say anything that won’t already be said better than the others here, but this movie is a ton of fun. It’s got so much heart and has such a strong back half that I literally cheered at the end of the film when I first saw it.
This is a must watch for fans of low budget filmmaking. Moreover, it’s probably a must watch for any and all genre film fans. In other words, make sure you check it out soon if you haven’t already. (@thepaintedman)
A small indie film crew takes a break from a tough shoot on their horror movie when suddenly — hang on, are those actual zombies?? The setup seems straightforward, but One Cut of the Dead has more than one trick up its sleeve, an intricate and increasingly incredible juggling of setups and insane payoffs which rewards viewers in compounding and often hilariously inventive fashion.
One Cut of the Dead isn’t just an infectious and incredibly smart and precisely planned and executed horror movie, but a love letter to the DIY spirit of microbudget craftsmanship and the joy of creation, even amidst crazy obstacles. (Austin Vashaw)
Our Guests — HERE BE SPOILERS
If you haven’t seen One Cut of the Dead, DO NOT read past this point until you have! Seriously.
I’m talking to YOU! Austin Wilden:
One Cut of the Dead is an infectious movie. One viewing of its clever, Swiss watch-like structure and narrative of a family rediscovering themselves through filmmaking and it becomes something you want to spread to as many others as possible.
(Appropriate, since… Zombies.)
Mutuals on Twitter discussing it was why I signed up for Shudder to begin with, then after watching it I told my closest friend he needed to watch it. I made sure to not give anything away and assured him One Cut was worth a look. About a week after recommending it I got a message that said, “Austin, is One Cut of the Dead about how they made it?”
I had a slight panic that he might’ve spoiled himself. So I asked, “Who spoiled it for you?”
Relief came as he replied, “I’m watching it now. I paused during the credits to get water and saw there was an hour left.” Which is a way to discover the twist that’s perfectly in tone with the movie itself.
When asking if I could share this story he added, “Would’ve turned it off sooner if not for the technical achievement and your recommendation.”
Now he’s recommending it to his mutual online and the cycle of infection continues.
You might be thinking:
Did I just use my contribution in this week’s Two Cents to brag about how my friends value my recommendations?
Yes, I did! (@WC_Wit)
Chris Chipman:
One Cut of the Dead was a complete surprise. In fact, if you know nothing about it, go watch it RIGHT NOW, I’ll wait!
This film begs to be experienced cold. It rewards you with what is at first glance a really solid one shot zombie movie, then the credits roll and the real movie begins. You see, One Cut of the Dead was just the movie a troubled director and his rag tag group of filmmakers / family members were making as a gimmick for a TV station.
What follows in act two is a celebration of the joys of independent filmmaking in the same vein as Ed Wood, Zack and Miri Make a Porno and countless others. Having seen the full film they made, getting a glimpse into what was happening behind the camera is a wonder to behold. You get the full story of why this film is being made and all the players involved. It is a home run of a film. Hilarious, inventive and not at all what you expect.
Give it a shot! (@TheChippa)
Brendan Agnew (The Norman Nerd):
It takes a great deal of effort and skill to pull off a magic trick without a hitch. It arguably takes even more to do the same magic trick while you’re intentionally fucking it up for reasons you won’t explain for more than a half an hour. And yet, One Cut of the Dead does this, while slyly being one of the best examples of “calling every shot* on your movie in the first act” since Shaun of the Dead.
This is the film from 2019 (according to wide U.S. distribution dates) that I became obsessed with showing to my friends, because watching the realization dawn after the credits roll and super late title card never gets old — especially when you’re friends with people who know how well and truly screwed a creative group endeavor can get midway through. One Cut not only allows the schadenfreude of “well, things never got *that* bad during Hamlet” but also the triumphant bliss of seeing people muddle through and make something special in spite of everything.
On the surface, One Cut is about a camera crew making an indie zombie film who are then beset by zombies, but it’s really a Noises Off-esque backstage farce as well as a celebration of striving for more than just the fast, cheap, and average within a messy genre.
It’s also very “fuck fuck fuuuuuuuuurck”-ing funny.
(*sorry, had to) (@BLCAgnew)
Next week’s pick:
Fast Color — available on Amazon Prime
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THE MERCENARY: A Solid Slice of Redemptive Violence From Action Filmmaker Jesse V. Johnson
How long can a vow of peace last in an action movie?
Jesse V. Johnson (Savage Dog, Accident Man, The Debt Collector) is one of those action filmmakers who has recently broken out from the pack so far that I had to go back and seek out as many of his films as I possibly could. He’s got decades in the business, and had worked primarily in stunts until breaking into directing, where he’s made quite a name for himself. I always like to champion those talents who come out of the action/stunt world and take the directing reins for themselves. And Johnson has more than proven himself at this point.
It’s not all bright points in his filmography, but what’s important about Johnson is that he appears to bring his A-game to every project and tries to bring a level of quality and control to his action sequences even when the budget or on-screen talent may not really be there to make up the difference. As much as I love his recent output, several of his earlier films aren’t going to turn many heads if you seek them out like I did. One early collaboration was with action professional and leading man Dominiquie Vandenberg called Pit Fighter (2005). It toyed with redemption, faith, and violence as themes. Vandenberg doesn’t quite have the look or acting chops to hold down the leading man role with confidence, but Johnson and Vandenberg do bring pretty solid action.
Which brings us to The Mercenary. Here, we’ve once again got this duo of director and star bringing us themes of redemptive violence and religion all mixed up into a quiet little action film. And you know what? It works a lot better this time than it did with Pit Fighter. What The Mercenary is not going to do is bring a whole lot to the table that you haven’t seen before. But what it is going to do is provide you with the thrills and set pieces you’re looking for in a film like this, and it’s going to play to its strengths in a major way.
Max (Vandenberg) is a bad man. He’s a soldier for hire, a killer, doing the bidding of an even worse man, Louis Mandylor’s LeClerc. But when he’s left for dead, discovered by a priest, and nursed back to health, he takes on a vow of peace and wonders what it might look like to pursue a life of faith. This is a time-tested action movie trope, the vow of peace. This literally isn’t even the only action movie I’ve watched this week that employs it. It’s always a humorous trope as the action genre would really never allow said vow to be honored. So it’s just a matter of time before the bad guys just push things too far and our hero brings the righteous bloodshed. But with a stripped down aesthetic, a Western heartbeat, and a soft-spoken (temporarily even mute) protagonist, The Mercenary brings a very James Mangold/Clint Eastwood vibe to proceedings that’s quite welcome. Vandenberg is great with on-screen action choreography, and the visual alone of this dude beating down bad guys in priestly robes and sandals is probably worth the price of admission. And while he’s still probably not the greatest actor, this is worked around as Max rarely speaks. He’s also come a long way since Pit Fighter.
“I kick ass for the Lord!” Also in The Mercenary’s toolkit is frequent Johnson collaborator Louis Mandylor. He’s allowed to cut loose here as a despicable villain and while every other element of the film is muted and subdued, LeClerc is over the top and representative of Satan. I mean… the dude tempts Max back into the fold with a ridiculous banquet table filled with, like, lobster and turkey legs in the middle of the jungle. And then later he actually crucifies Max. (The ultimate in religious action symbolism). I’ve come to adore Mandylor’s presence in action films and he takes this to another level with a villain you can love to hate.
Most importantly, Vandenberg and Johnson bring their ace action skills to the table and provide some really strong hand-to-hand and gun battles. It’s what you come to a movie called The Mercenary for, and they get that part right. Even if the lower budget and shorter shoots allotted to films at this level can be detected. The Mercenary ultimately lands just on the right side of satisfying. You can tell passion and skill were poured into it, even if the end results don’t really bring a film that hugely stands out from the pack. If you’re a Jesse V. Johnson fan, I’d easily recommend checking this out.
And I’m Out.
The Mercenary is now available on DVD from Uncork’d Entertainment
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Disney Deep-Cuts: Two Cents Plans a RETURN TO OZ
Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
The 1939 Wizard of Oz was not the first film version of the L. Frank Baum book series. And ever since that film became enshrined as a cultural classic, a steady stream of artists across all mediums have taken their turn doing a riff on both the ’39 movie and the series as a whole.
There have been prequels that launched their own media franchise. There have books retelling the story from just about every conceivable perspective. Countless sitcoms and cartoons have done their own Wizard of Oz episode with familiar characters slotted into character types from the film. There have been a version done as a sci-fi epic, and a version done as a Game of Thrones-style grim fantasy, and a version done with Muppets in the worst Muppet movie ever.
But one approach we don’t see especially often is the direct sequel, continuing Dorothy’s adventures over the rainbow in direct continuity with the ’39 film.
Walter Murch would be the first to tell you that his 1985 film Return to Oz is not really a sequel to the MGM musical, but a direct adaptation of the Baum books. Audiences (Fairuza) balked at Oz’s truly nightmarish imagery and its parade of grotesque magical creatures, but almost every one of them is pulled directly from the text. Murch, one of the greatest editors in film history making his lone directorial effort, stripped Oz of all the musical film’s affectations to get to the core of Baum’s actual vision, and audiences in droves said, “Thanks but no thanks.”
Return to Oz stars Fairuza Balk as young Dorothy Gale, still preoccupied with thoughts of Oz six months after the fateful twister. When Auntie Em (Piper Laurie) takes her to a facility to receive electroshock therapy, Dorothy promptly escapes and soon finds herself back in the wonderful land of Oz. Only, much of the wonder has gone out of the place. The Emerald City and the Yellow Brick Road lie in ruins, Dorothy’s friends have either vanished or been turned to stone, and the land is overrun by the evil forces of the witch Mombi (Jean Marsh) and the living-stone Nome King (Nicol Williamson). Dorothy forms a new group of friends including living not-the-usual-scarecrow scarecrow Jack Pumpkinhead, the not-tin automaton Tik-Tok, the cowardly talking chicken Belinda, and the animated severed head of a moose like creature known as the Gump, and together they seek to restore Oz back to life.
In part because of the everything I just wrote, and in part because of studio shenanigans, Return to Oz disappeared rapidly from theaters but lives on in the nightmares of a generation of children who sat down presumably expecting a light-hearted adventure in the vein of the classic film, and instead were immersed in a grim fairy tale featuring beloved characters turned to stone, the Wheelers, hallways lined with screaming severed heads, and a seemingly bottomless reserve of mutants and freaks. And those are the good guys!
Next Week’s Pick
For awards season we’re once again selecting some of our favorite overlooked and lesser appreciated films from the last year, “For Your Consideration”. Here are the picks and deadlines:
- Feb 7 — One Cut of the Dead (Shudder)
- Feb 14 — Fast Color (Amazon Prime)
- Feb 21 — I Lost My Body (Netflix)
- Feb 28 — Sweetheart (Netflix)
Would you like to be a guest in the next’s Two Cents column? Simply watch and send your under-200-word review to twocents(at)cinapse.co anytime before midnight on Thursday!
Our Guests
Wow. I had never watched Return to Oz before, but now that I have I wish I had watched it when I was younger. This is purely because I feel like it would have been one of my favorite horror films.
I joke, but Return to Oz is a film that feels like someone watched Wizard of Oz on drugs and then had a never-ending nightmare that they recreated in feature film form. There is nightmare imagery around every corner.
It’s fascinating to watch, but it’s such an assault on the senses that it all kind of blends together. It’s all just one terrifying blob of nightmare character design. Scarecrow is burned into my memory and could very well show up in my own nightmare.
The other big thing about Return to Oz is that it’s paced so slowly. It’s hard to get a sense of where the movie is going or where you are in the movie. Toward the end it still felt like there was an hour to go, which is the same feeling it has at the beginning. Also, I fell asleep twice. (@hsumra)
The Team
It’s not like Return to Oz is the way that it is by accident. When the film’s finale finally returns the Emerald City to its Technicolor glory and actually tries to recreate the vibe and visuals of the original film, it does a perfectly solid job. As a meta-textual reflection on how the hallucinogenic fun of the counter-culture curdled into dystopian bleakness and consumerist obsessions, Return to Oz is indeed a fascinating companion piece to the original.
But as a film, it is so monotonous in its onslaught of sourness that very little of its imagery registers. The whole thing looks literally like shit, with a brown pallor that does a little too good of a job selling the misery and ruin of both Kansas and this new version of Oz.
Ultimately, I don’t think Murch even has a strong grasp on what he wants Oz to be. The movie seems to treat it as an actual place rather than just a dreamland, but Murch pulls the same casting trick as the ’39 movie, and is even more explicit in making the events of Oz line up with things in Dorothy’s real world. If Oz is indeed just a delusion, then the ending of this film suggests that the best way forward for the mentally ill is to keep that a secret.
The pieces are there for a grand reevaluation/continuation of Oz, but Murch either couldn’t or wasn’t allowed to fully realize that vision. Still, this is a fascinating, extraordinarily upsetting attempt.(@TheTrueBrendanF)
As a sequel to the classic MGM film, Return to Oz is wildly unsuccessful. Dorothy de-ages by a solid decade plus and it’s a vastly different film in both tone and scope. However — dare I say — it’s far more my kind of film than that the Judy Garland Technicolor classic.
Quirky characters, weird decisions, and a dark streak that rivals any of the other bizarrely bleak so-called “children’s films” of the 80s, this is everything I want in a family friendly genre film. Young Fairuza Balk is fantastic at the helm and her weird crew of friends is as entertaining as any other friend group at the core of a fantasy tale that I’ve ever seen.
I watched this once before and am so happy to have been reminded to watch it again, as it is now to become something I watch with the family regularly. Perhaps, as a double feature with the likes of The Neverending Story. This is what Disney Plus was created for! (@thepaintedman)
Unfortunately I didn’t realize Return to Oz was this week’s selection in time for a re-watch, so I haven’t seen this since I was a kid in the ’80s. But even 35 years later I still remember how disturbing this movie was. The clowns with the rolly hands and feet are pure nightmare fuel that I remember to this day. Plus this movie stars everyone’s favorite future witch Fairuza Balk. So yes, I highly recommend traumatizing your kids with this cult classic at your earliest convenience. (@salsalissentio)
This is certainly an odd one.This is my first full watch, but I caught it on TV once as a kid, starting right around the most horrific scene where Mombi’s head wakes up and surprises Dorothy, followed by her headless, enraged body. Good times.
I’ve wanted to rewatch it since but never got around to it. The movie is perhaps even weirder than I remembered. It lacks the scope of 1939’s Wizard but is just as imaginative and strange, and I personally like the more sinister edge to Oz — but not so much spilling over into Kansas, where the real-world ugliness betrays the central tenet of “there’s no place like home”.
I do like the odd new troupe of characters, and my favorite part of the movie is the the Nome King and his minions — these are a particularly great effect, incorporating some awesomely quirky stop motion animation.
I’m a fan of Baum’s novel The Marvelous Land of Oz on which this film is loosely based, and do recommend checking that out. (I also have a pet theory that Jack Pumpkinhead was written as an analogy of the Jim Crow era American Negro — try it with that reading). (@Austin Vashaw)
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Criterion Review: ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER (1999)
Pedro Almodóvar’s Oscar-winning ode to maternal love and self-discovery enters the Collection with a director-supervised 2K restoration
I was introduced to Pedro Almodóvar’s work through a double feature of 2011’s The Skin I Live In and 2006’s Volver. Both films were a magical burst of primary-color emotion, infusing the everyday with the larger-than-life emotions of Douglas Sirk melodrama and refusing to treat either aspect as greater or lesser than one another.
I was excited to rectify a major Almodóvar blindspot in All About My Mother with Criterion’s new Blu-ray restoration. The film follows Manuela, an organ donation coordinator who tragically loses her theater-loving son in a car accident after a Madrid performance of A Streetcar Named Desire. Without any purpose other than to tell her estranged, now-transitioned ex-husband Lola about their son’s death, Manuela searches for Lola on the streets of her former hometown Barcelona. Instead of her old family, though, Manuela finds a new one in trans sex worker Agrado, HIV-positive pregnant nun Rosa, and surprisingly Huma Rojo, the actress whose autograph Manuela’s son was hunting down when he was killed.
All About My Mother is shockingly progressive even for a turn-of-the-century film — Almodóvar depicts the struggles of his LGBT characters as authentically and dramatically as possible, with their identities and sexualities granting them greater depth without becoming the sole characteristic by which they are defined. Through its all-too-brief 100-minute runtime, Almodóvar explores a litany of complex themes — notably the families, societal roles, and even bodies we choose or that are chosen for us. Almodóvar finds strength in despair, unshakable love even in potent hate, and beauty in what others consider to be the detritus of society.
Ever since I finished the film, the image I keep returning to is of Almodóvar’s first shot of Barcelona — trapped in a nightmarishly dark train tunnel, a brief light appears at the end of a tunnel, followed by an aerial that crests a mountainside to see the city, a field of old Catalan gothic architecture awash with neon. It’s a moment of despair that gives way to relief amidst a soulful musical crescendo — that Barcelona, even in the midst of Manuela’s anguish, offers the possibility of renewal and deliverance. Much like the characters in All About My Mother, Barcelona is a city caught between past and present, with an identity that’s becoming more malleable by the day. What’s most amazing about All About My Mother, and how Almodóvar treats both his characters and setting, is that he isn’t compelled to shepherd his characters from one emotional or developmental state to another by the end of the film — rather, he accepts this state of transition as a status quo in itself, and in so doing encourages his characters to never be satisfied with things as they are. They become alive both in their acceptance of life, as well as their drive to change things for the better.
All About My Mother is the third and latest of potentially many Almodóvar films from Criterion — and the home video company has outdone themselves with their restoration of the film as well as a treasure trove of contextual supplements.
Video/Audio
Criterion presents All About My Mother in a new 2K restoration from the original 35mm negative, which was supervised by Almodóvar and executive producer Agustin Almodóvar. The film’s 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track was likewise remastered from the original 35mm magnetic track.
The film’s vibrancy is well-preserved here — All About My Mother’s primary color palette pops in each frame, and for a film shot on 35mm there’s a surprising lack of grain without compromising overall image quality. The audio quality is rich and textured, with the piano, strings, and accordion of the score primarily on display without overwhelming the characters’ sharp-tongued dialogue.
Special Features
- Once Upon a Time — All About My Mother: A 52-minute retrospective documentary about the making of All About My Mother, intercutting behind-the-scenes footage with modern-day interview.
- Informe Semanal: A 13-minute television program that features Almodóvar’s return to his village of La Mancha to talk with his mother about her influence on his later work.
- Versión Española: A 48-minute Q&A from a 2019 retrospective of Almodóvar’s filmography, featuring the director, Agustin Almodóvar, and actor Marisa Paredes. The crew discuss the lasting legacy of the film with their moderator and attending audience.
- A booklet featuring an essay by University of Cambridge Professor Emma Wilson; a 1999 interview between Pedro Almodóvar and Frederic Strauss prior to the film’s Cannes premiere; and Almodóvar’s memorial to his mother, who died a few months after the premiere of All About My Mother.
All About My Mother is now available on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Criterion.
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THE RHYTHM SECTION Can’t Find the Beat
Blake Lively stars as a woman seeking vengeance in this generic action film
There’s much that is promising about The Rhythm Section, from award-winning director Reed Morano (The Handmaid’s Tale), producer Barbara Broccoli, and star Blake Lively, to a supporting cast including Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown. And yet, despite a dedicated attempt from Lively, there’s little novelty here. The story falters in its attempts at momentum; the frantic camerawork is the only aspect of the project that moves very quickly.
Lively leads the film as Samantha, the lone surviving member of her family after her parents and siblings die in a plane explosion. Devastated by her loss, three years later she is barely lucid and using heroin. A journalist named Proctor (Raza Jaffrey, MI5) visits and tells her he knows who set the explosion; of course the walls of his apartment are covered in articles and photos of the plane’s victims (I wrote “tropey wall of obsession” in my notes). Inspired out of her survivor’s remorse, Samantha and her yellow wig (Lively wears many wigs in this movie and they are mostly awful) borrow a clue from Proctor’s research and find a former British spy (Jude Law) hiding out in rural Scotland who trains her for revenge.
“You’re a cliche,” he tells Samantha in a turning point for her character. And until this moment of the film, this is certainly the case. She finds her determination and swims in a frosty lake, and you expect here is where The Rhythm Section might take off and turn into something new. You would be wrong.
There’s a glaring lack of specificity to the work — “radical Islamists” are suspected of setting the explosion, a tired narrative choice. Lively does what she can to give dimension to her character, although the writing doesn’t give her much to work with.
The Rhythm Section brings to mind a Bourne film, but as the best aspects of this work occur in fleeting moments — the above-mentioned lake swim, a car chase through Tangier showcasing Samantha’s lack of finesse, something like chemistry between Samantha and a contact in Spain (Sterling K. Brown) — it only serves to remind the viewer of lost potential. The camerawork, when not dizzyingly blurry, tends to keep Samantha’s point of view in mind, and never objectifies her. The sound design is impressive. But these technical elements can’t make up for the plot being a generic, unbaked mess.
Blake Lively could (and should) lead a great espionage thriller! But The Rhythm Section is, unfortunately, not that.
The Rhythm Section is now playing in theaters nationwide.
