Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster is one of the better produced films docs in recent years. Shudder has been on a roll with docs and this one is the best. It is faster paced, has a digestible length and has talking heads that aren't being pompous on the subject but celebrating it!
The fifth Scream film might be my favorite since the original. I love the entire series so it is hard to rank em but it is less flawed than 2 & 3. Sometimes the meta horror rules can be a bit long in tooth but here it is meta referencing how meta it is. There is alot to love about the discussion of "elevated horror" such as Hereditary and toxic fans such as Star Wars but at the core this is just a fun slasher and as usual the dialogue & characters are almost as good as the kills. Like usual it is quite hard to discuss Scream without spoilers but it is familiar territory all while adding some new twists. I love Radio Silence and am happy they got to direct this. If they come back for the sixth or they wind up sticking to original material i will be pleased, i just want more Scream films from directors i trust!
The Last Thing Mary Saw certainly has some nightmarish imagery and a haunting atmosphere but it is quite dull. The acting is actually good especially for a supernatural Shudder film, especially from Rory Culkin but it feels like it wants to be a Netflix series as opposed to a feature film.
Archive 81 is great, it feels like a faster paced Mike Flanagan series. The fact James Wan was attached is what made me want to check it out, and it involving VHS gave me extra incentive. Mamoudou Athie plays a guy restoring some tapes from 94 when he discovers a connection to himself, a cult and different dimensions. It gets pretty weird the more the story progresses and feels like a more focused Richard Kelly film at times. It looks great and has great acting and characters but it feels like a story that honestly could have been told as a film instead of a series. The wraps up most of the plot while not answering all the questions, and sets up a possible season 2 perfectly.
Woodlands is a well assembled and intelligent documentary. It dives into folk horror and the lore of the various tales. Everything is great in it, my only complaint is it is not very interesting. For three hours i wish it had some more engaging talking heads. It seems like faux intellectuals that assume everything needs context, depth and commentary. Horror can just be horror, film can just be film.
George Clooney might have done his best work with The Tender Bar. We get two eras of a coming of age story, the 70s with a debut performance of Daniel Ranieri, 80s with the always great Tye Sheridan, all while narrated by Ron Livingston. Ben Affleck does his best acting in years here and you truly feel the love he has for his nephew(played by the aforementioned actors). A great soundtrack and supporting cast or likable misfits carries this quick paced Amazon film. I only wish it was getting more award buzz.
The Tragedy of Macbeth was the last film of 2021 that I NEEDED to see. I love the Coen Bros, and even though this is just Joel, i still needed it. Had he not directed i wouldn't have cared, Shakespeare has never been my thing. The film is gorgeous, one of his(their) best looking films, and it is also one of their(his) weirdest. That is the good....the bad....i was bored beyond belief and nearly fell asleep. The dialogue alone lost me but besides that the plot was just all over the place. Hopefully when the Brothers reunite that it is a true return to form.
