One last cheer for winter friends, a few more dirges chronicling the decent into madness and death. And tossing your children across hot lava. Enjoy a few more quick bites in this season's Quickstar reviews.
Film
Matrix Resurrections
2021
Notable For
The self professed unnecessary sequel to a franchise that ended nearly two decades ago, about simulation theory and accepting/transcending fate using punching
Review
To start off with, I don’t blame anyone involved. Keanu and Moss probably thought a reunion sounded fun, and one of the Wachowski’s came aboard to try to protect her franchise from the mercantile lords of the Streaming Seas. Directly commented on in the film, Matrix 4 is the unnecessary sequel that was going to happen with or without all of the above, so why not make a warm and fuzzy homage? And for the first 20 minutes, it works. Keanu’s Neo is sent down an epistemological maze, the central mystery of his apparent circumstance is compelling, and Moss’ occasional appearances give us even more effective yearning than seen in the original trilogy. Shortly thereafter Neo is rescued by a woke af group of 20-somethings in a lazy retread of the originals red pill moment, and the plot unravels. I can forgive all that, but when the lazy plot trajectories finally crash our chess pieces together, Matrix 4 barfs up some of the most uninspired fight choreography I've seen in decades. Considering that the original Matrix was a quantum leap for martial arts film, a synergy of camera, technology, and style, it’s a slap in the face that the lazy punch-padding in this movie seems less inspired than you might find in a Netflix Original. This culminates in a messy denouement which reminds me of the divine multi Smith courtyard fight in Reloaded, but pales-in-comparison. Minutes later CGI ushers our useless side characters and incompetent main characters into a shrug of an ending. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this film is the manner in which it completely avoids the ontological question in the end - are we accepting the reality-breaking nonsense around us because of satisfying/enraging character beats that distract us from the truth of the simulation? For three films now the Wachowski’s have avoided explaining Neo’s effect on the waking world without much discussion in or out of the films - what does that say about our willingness to accept narratives which keep us mollified?
The Bad
The self referential stuff is cute but it's not enough to base a movie on…the plot is just going through the motions to give us some “remember when” and store-brand catharsis
Even more egregious, it seems like no one knows kung fu anymore. The action is drunkenly shot and the staging is messy and uncreative, especially compared to the crisp genre-defining work of the same franchise.
The Good
Matrix 4 is overly respectful of its own lore, but I kind of like that. The prior trilogy has passed into legend and Matrix 4 pretty much refuses to retcon or explain anything of importance.
The dynamic between Neo, Trinity, and the Matrix is unfortunately way unwritten, but I appreciate what they were trying to do. It didn’t quite work but for a hastily decreed sequel, it’s a good direction.
The beginning segment with the epistemological shattering of the prior three films by introduction of the game company is clever and is what this movie actually should have been about; uncertainty. Once that fades, so does the film.
Rating
A meditation on an uncertain world that forgets its roots
Poltergeist
1982
Notable For
One of the first special effects driven horror movies, which relied on advances in movie tech to tell a suburban ghost story in broad daylight instead of hidden in murky dark.
Review
If you watch Poltergeist, you’ll instantly feel something is familiar. Is it the 80s vibe or the suburban setting? Despite the fact that 1000’s of movies have these characteristics, there’s a really specific bandwidth that modern day nostalgia like Stranger Things work within. That bandwidth, shared by Poltergeist, is that of Spielbergian adventurousness. Lo and behold, this was actually a Spielberg project, put together by his production company and then, perhaps because of the optics of the blockbuster king headlining a horror movie, shoveled off to a more workman-like director. But the script and production is still dripping in his style, the suburban mystery, the well fleshed out family dynamic, the cute kids, and most importantly the situation awareness, a metacommentary that would one day develop into Abrams and Whedon (for better or worse). But it's not enough to make a classic. The setpieces are hokey and unfocused, which quickly empties the fear tank. Later sequels will try to focus that malevolent energy (unsuccessfully), but this first one stands better as a record of the era. The 80s were a heady time where success was starting to curdle into suburbia at all costs, and Poltergeist captures the thoughts and feelings around America’s transition from religion into commerce well.
The Bad
The effects have aged horribly and seem to be a case of form shaping the story’s function
The way everyone dopily hangs around through the ongoings is strange
The Good
The initial spookifying is really subtle and creative, a creepy but mysterious vibe that will be capitalized on in many horror movies years later
The direct commentary on corporate/American lifestyle plowing over history and atrocity to set up an identikit surburbia is light years ahead of it’s surly horror peers at the time
Rating
A clever first stab at modern suburban horror that has aged poorly
Kramer vs Kramer
1979
Notable For
One of the first big star power dramas to approach the somewhat taboo subject of divorce with as much realism as possible by focusing on the emotional toll for both sides rather than lurid recriminations and judgements.
Review
Bell bottoms are still in fashion and Dustin Hoffman is the unlikely king of the box office, but it's not enough for Meryl Streep. After barely being able to express how trapped she feels, she walks out for good one morning, before their son is awake. From there, we mostly follow Hoffman as he comes to terms with his newly mixed up life and what being a husband and father really mean to him. This film is most interesting as a time capsule of thoughts and opinions around divorce in the late 70’s. It was happening enough to not be shocking anymore but most of the population still had deeply seated convictions about marriage and loyalty in contrast to today’s ingrained cynicism. For instance, many of the characters wrestle with guilt, even for being the one who was left. Hoffman’s friend thinks about getting back together with her husband just because it seems like it would tidy up loose ends. This also does make it feel more remote to today’s viewer, just because the politics of the whole thing have changed a lot, like the 70’s workplace expectation that your career ambitions would come before your family. That’s the rub; the careful attention to detail has made Kramer vs Kramer more a period piece than a broadly relatable mediation on divorce and parenthood.
The Bad
Both stars end up being so reasonable that in the end you kind of have to wonder how they got to this place anyway.
That being said, the plot really doesn’t leave much sympathy for Streep’s flight out of the marriage. On top of that, Hoffman is mostly portrayed as a saint with no other desire except to provide for his child.
The Good
Has a ground level lived-in feel that makes the drama seem quite realistic.
Takes the unusual approach of regarding the actual breakup as a kind of an inevitability instead of trying to find some reason or rationale for the dissolution
Rating
Interesting as a poll of opinions about divorce in the 70s.
The Sacrifice
1986
Notable For
The greatest filmmaker Russia ever produced (and exiled) - Andrei Tarkovsky - filmed his final mediation on family, religion, death, and yes, sacrifice, near the same location where Igmar Berman shot many of his masterpieces.
Review
World War 3 has begun and people everywhere are unsure what the world is going to look like tomorrow, and how they should act today. No, this isn’t a google news article you’ve stumbled into, this is The Sacrifice, the mid 80’s ode to salvation that was to be Tarkovsky’s final film. His third film in exile from Russia, here he followed the trail of Bergman up the the stark Swedish island coasts, setting the story in an isolated colony where a bourgeois family takes in the air and shares sherry’s while staring at old paintings. The war itself is an impressionistic detail, what's important here are the dynamics and conflicting philosophies of this small clan. Early in the film, this concerns Leonardo Da Vinci and the decorum to ease into an affair. Later, we’re shown exactly what everything is worth to everyone, where their real heart lies. It’s a harrowing exercise that culminates in a jaw dropping finale. If you want films to be art, this is one you have to see.
The Bad
Like many of his and others neo realist films, the initial descent is packed with references and allusions that come off as mumbled and uneventful half-conversation if you let your attention lapse
The film may have been served by being a little more explicit about the stakes, as what should be the major turn at halfway feels very theatrical and vague.
The Good
On the other hand, the spare production removes all the stupid baggage that prevent most modern films from seriously addressing these kinds of subjects; this diorama perfectly captures its characters.
Sort of a stunning and piercing work on the eponymous subject.
Rating
The kind of film that stirs revelations within yourself
Games
Offspring Fling
2012
Notable For
One of the first wave of indie games, proof that a single dev could match the aesthetics and charm of classic 8 and 16 bit games, here with a single screen puzzler based around extracting your lemming-like children from each hazardous level.
Review
Offspring Fling is a pretty basic indie puzzler- you gather your offspring and get them to the exit around hazards like spikes, lava, and critters, by tossing them horizontally. Not being gifted with much of a jump or able to toss upwards, this dedicated mother goes about solving the height and door problems one at a time to get the kids to safety. What best sums up this game though is that it had a limited run of SNES carts made complete with vibrant box art. This is a version of lemmings that fits right in with the bold bright colors and Ghibli style cutesy representations of the time, an aesthetic which dominated the first wave of the indie revival as consumers were all too happy to recall the 8 and 16 bits of nostalgic youth. Such being the case, the game certainly delivers that cute payload but doesn’t have much left in the tank to keep it around. A few new mechanics here and there complicate the puzzles, such as switches to open and close doors, but for 100 levels you are mostly humping up a small hill to toss your little spawn yonder, and it doesn’t get much more intense than that.
The Bad
Many of the inputs and jump height modifiers are fiddly in a bad way, nor are you especially rewarded for learning those specific things outside of the level or two they’re needed in
While the variety of puzzles is admirable, the central mechanic of lining up horizontal tosses is neither especially interesting or satisfying
The Good
Each puzzle screen has just about the right amount of steps to make you wonder but not so long you get frustrated
The Ghibli-esque aesthetic is really impressive and the act of flinging your children happlessly over lava pits is often pretty funny.
Rating
A pleasant but shallow puzzle distraction
Downwell
2016
Notable For
One of the games that marked indie publisher Devolver’s rise, which was precipitated on a switch from the first indie dev wave to a new wave of hip arcadey mechanic explorations, such as controlling your descent down a well by firing gunboots.
Review
Downwell is kind of a callback to the practice of naming games after their mechanic; here you pilot a squishy dude down a well by firing his gun boots to maneuver him between enemies and platforms during the descent. Going down gets progressively more nasty, with tougher enemies and hazards, but you also get upgrades, more ammo and health, and a rotation of guns to try to breach the end with. The first indie wave was enormously indebted to the NES and SNES, directly creating Metroidvania and Zelda-likes with new aesthetics but the same honed gameplay. This last decade, the 2nd wave, has seen more attempts to remix something new from those influences. Downwell contains a mechanic that's so simple and clean it feels like it's from the arcade era, but surprisingly has not been done before. Rather than bullet hell dodging or enemy pattern learning, Downwell’s primary skill is managing gravity, both to control your momentum and to maneuver to safety. Every burst of gunfire gives you a little upward momentum, allowing you to reposition or avoid what needs avoiding. The palette is monochromatic with a splash of red (you unlock various other two tone combos but only the original is parsable), and it works well alongside the thrill of blasting everything below you with giant bullets and big particle effects. This is a simple idea, but taken to its logical extreme without strapping in RPG meters or hidden BFG9000s, an excellent example of a thorough game mechanic exploration. Get down the bloody well!
The Bad
The high-skill mechanic, combo killing enemies without touching a platform, is so hard you will spend the vast majority of your playtime not doing it meaningfully
The best way to play is not really told to you (the aforementioned combos, how to approach items) and slightly gated by upgrade RNG which can completely change your run - not in an “adapt on the fly” rogue-like way but instead in a missed-requirement way
The Good
The core loop is simple, precise, and fun, a chill no nonsense boot blasting
The level change and accordant difficulty curve is perfectly titrated, allowing you to warm up to the final challenge each run while also making success meaningful instead of the result of accretion via grind
Rating
An addictive arcadey plummet, excelling at keeping it simple
Nailbiter
2014
Notable For
A macabre modern update to the Twin Peaks style mystery town thriller, put together in an expertly slick package by some DC/Marvel alumnus.
Review
Nailbiter is basically a classic early 00’s style story - there’s a town somewhere that keeps pumping out serial killers but WHY? Could it be a giant conspiracy? Gosh I hope it's just happenstance, that's always narratively satisfying. If you can forgive the premise, you’re left with a fun twist on the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where you’re never quite sure who will be Leatherface next. Our cast of Dexter-ish heroes include local “I’m getting too old for this but I’m 25” sheriff, the requisite FBI guy, and a serial killer known as the Nailbiter who somehow got off from his trial scott free and moved back to Murdertown, USA. If this sounds kind of fun and you think you can ignore the fact that the threads tie together into a pretty ugly knot, then Nailbiter is a usually funny and entertaining spin down serial killer road. Just don’t expect much in the way of earned pathos or actual nail biting stakes.
The Bad
The self awareness threatens to overwhelm even the plot points, with almost everything that occurs being addressed with “OKAY THAT HAPPENED” by the characters
Like many mystery boxes, the final box often isn’t anything to write home about, especially the one containing the eponymous killer
The Good
Expertly paced and beautifully drawn, even though most of the subjects are just people, the authors have an eye for turning up the style just enough to make horror that capitalizes on the kind of fun you could have with serial killers
Juggles a large cast of characters with pretty diverse motivations, creating an intricate slate of action
Rating
An entertaining serial killer themed mystery box, like a carnival ride
Clean Room
2015
Notable For
Modern horror scifi with immaculate artwork on DC’s anything-goes Vertigo label
Review
At first blush, Clean Room looks like a sumptuous feast for the hard sci fi reader that enjoys technodystopias. Certain people become capable of seeing an extra layer of reality that is filled with extraterrestrial parasites with bad attitudes, and the only ones capable of running a defense for mother Earth might be the religious crazies who beg for money on TV and run brainwashing centers. The Clean Room itself is the heart of that brain washing, a way to throw people into an isolation tank that mixes psychotherapy and violence to purge away any attached demons. It’s fun, and it's really amazingly drawn. The emotional stakes are pretty well done too, with the built in psychotherapy for PTSD parallels. It always looks like its about to capitalize on everything it has going for it, the smirking characters just pages away from laying it out for you hardcore. They never do though, excepting very fast plot dumps that occur once in a while. The plot is mostly a series of unorganized encounters, until you suddenly sense the author run out of gas and wrap it up. Finished as it is, it still feels like a prospectus for another full series. Endings matter, even if you’re making it up as you go along.
The Bad
The world doesn’t feel very well fleshed out beyond the immediate needs of the scene
Story feels like its just revving up but the author wanted to finish it and be done
The Good
Really cool imagery and paneling, it's pretty much a design triumph
The central idea of monsters hiding in plain site and a scientology cult is the only one that can stop them is compelling
Rating
Extremely promising style that never is matched by a wandering story
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