Popcorn Zombies

  By Michael Momper Can a movie be morally irresponsible? Where should we draw that line? I submit to you that it can, and I think you will agree. Consider two subjects: tone and content. When a movie's tone is problematic, even if the intentions are good, we might have a compromised piece of art. Consider a movie about a real serial killer that fumbles the tone so badly that you actually root for the killer, or find him charming and likeable. Rightfully, audiences call this out as irresponsible filmmaking- the killer had real victims, and likely living, still-grieving families, so whatever the intentions of the filmmakers it is still important to never let the film revel in the evil of its subject. Content is a slightly thornier subject. If you've read our blog, you know that Graham and I are no prudes. We aren't going to call out a film as "morally irresponsible" just for having some nudity and lots of swearing. However, a piece of art that glorifies evil is som...

Graham Craycraft   Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the latest project for the Mad Max franchise and the first that does not feature Max Rockatansky as the central character. George Miller continues his impressive world building with this fifth edition into the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland.   Furiosa (the titular character for this film) is the secondary protagonist of 2015’s Mad Max Fury Road which was both a box office and critical smash. Played by Charlize Theron in 2015, this prequel sees Anya Taylor-Joy take the reins. From a young girl Furiosa grows up under the grueling regime of the Wasteland as a slave to later become the imperator of Immortan Joe in Fury Road . We see some returning figures such as Immortan Joe and his half-life war boys, but we are introduced to a new villain Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth, and his gang of marauders.   Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy both kill their performances. Hemsworth is cruel, funny, and destructive. Taylor...

  By Michael Momper " You're the nice guy! And that's a fine thing to be!" Banshees of Inisherin is the latest movie to be both written and directed by much-acclaimed filmmker Martin Mcdonagh. If you haven't seen any of his work, it is well worth checking out- he has had a tremendous working relationship with Colin Farrell for most of his career, and has created some absolutely incredible laugh-out-loud dramas in the past couple decades, many of which have fared very well at the Oscars. Though his 2017 drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri took home the most Oscar hardware, his films In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths are arguably even better, and are among my favorite films. Mcdonagh is a master of dialogue, blending gut-busting insults, witticisms and jokes with tense confrontation deftly and seamlessly. He is a master of world-building and character development. Mcdonagh's films are imbued with scenery and mysticism from his homeland of Ireland, rich...

  By Michael Momper "When you're lost, people take advantage."     So says Elvis Presley, and his tragic end seems to confirm the statement. In Baz Luhrmann's cinematic retelling of Elvis' life story we find a scapegoat for the death of the King of Rock and Roll, but we also relive the magnetism that made him one of American music's immortal voices and copied-but-never-duplicated performers.     Baz Luhrmann's directing style makes this story come alive with frenetic modern energy. It is clear from the beginning that part of his intent for the period piece is to capture Elvis' style, his glamor and sex appeal, and translate it for a modern audience so that those of us who didn't live during the man's heyday can experience why he was such a cultural phenomenon and why his music was so important. From the early frames of the movie, we begin to see why Elvis' passionate stage persona and firecracker energy were such a watershed moment for many...

 By Graham Craycraft Men is the newest film by writer/director Alex Garland. Garland is best known for his two movies Annihilation and Ex Machina . Both previous films are excellent additions into the modern sci-fi genre. This newest one, Men , is more in line with what I have dubbed as the New Age Horror that leaves cheap jump scares and thin plot lines behind for more psychological and often folk based stories. Think Midsommar , Hereditary , The Witch , and even Lamb . The New Age Horror bring terrifying to a new level, and it is a very exciting time to be in genre. Men is also through A24 production company which if you have read many of our pieces here you know we love A24. I do not love this movie. Men is about a woman, played by Jessie Buckley, who retreats to the English countryside after the suicide of her husband. She wants to treat herself and try to work through the pain of his death. What she finds is not that, however. The men of the town begin to terrorize her s...

By Graham Craycraft The   Northman  is a 2022 Action-adventure movie set in the Viking world around the year 900 AD. From director of  The Witch  and  The Lighthouse , Robert Eggers, we get this brutal, beautiful, and complex action movie. This is not a typical all war with a straightforward plot and a clear protagonist/antagonist. Eggers pulls you in different directions and shows that there is no heart all pure or all corrupt. We all carry in us the power and reality to do good and evil. Alexander Skarsgard, the main character Amleth, had been hunting for a Viking role for some years now and Eggers fit the bill. Eggers cowrote this film with Sjón who recently also helped write  Lamb  with Valdimar Johannsson. This movie is a beast of an epic that has takes the audience on a journey with Amleth as he grows from a boy to a berserker Viking set to avenge his father’s death and save his mother. If you are familiar with Eggers work at all you will kno...