A list and ranking, with light commentary
Mace Neufeld Productions; Picture Farm]
These are all the films I watched in August 2019, in the order I saw them, with the source. This list includes TV/online series, if I watched the entire series within that calendar month. Could have been a binge, could have been paced out, but has to have all been done within those 30-odd days.
The films
Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life (Netflix)
Valkyrie (DVD)
The Boys (Season 1) (Amazon)
The Interview (Netflix)
Hot Fuzz (Amazon)
Paul (Amazon)
Agents of SHIELD (Season 6) (Digital)
Shrek Forever After (Netflix)
Better Things (Season 3) (HBO GO)
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Netflix)
Shazam! (Google Movies)
Velvet Buzzsaw (Netflix)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Netflix)
Are We There Yet? (Netflix)
The Perfection (Netflix)
Stranger Things 3 (Netflix)
RV (Netflix)
Overlord (HBO GO)
The Equaliser 2 (HBO GO)
First Blood (Rambo) (DVD)
Jacob’s Ladder (DVD)
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (Netflix)
Raiders of The Lost Ark (Blu-ray)
The best:
1st The Boys (Season 1)
2nd Overlord
3rd RV
August was another fruitful month for the eyeballs. I managed to complete the most recent seasons of perennial-favourite serials Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Stranger Things, had a couple of repeat viewings (due to the kids being at different camps at different times), re-visited lots of old classics (hello Shrek, Indy, Rambo and Jacob Singer), and saw quite a lot of new things too.
The quality bar was set very high early on by our Honourable Mention (see below), and following last month’s silver medal in the comedy department, lots of really good, funny films kept the funny bone well tickled. But the new thing that most impressed me in August 2019 was season 1 of Amazon Studios’s already highly-regarded The Boys. Now, fans of comic book adaptations will be very familiar with the name of Mark Millar, the Scottish genius whose comics inspired 2008’s Wanted, the Kingsman and Kick-Ass films, Logan (possibly the best X-Men film so far), and even the MCU’s Captain America: Civil War (a really, really tame version of Millar’s original, bananas 7-issue comics extravaganza). But it’s arguably the more refined nerd who gives a nod and a knowing smile when Garth Ennis’s name is brought up. These connoisseurs will include fans of his signature The Preacher series, his old-skool work on 2000 AD, and his legendary, character-defining, almost decade-long run on Marvel’s The Punisher books.
Well, now we can add the televisual adaptation of The Boys to the list of brilliant things Ennis has created or inspired. Beginning in 2006 under DC Comics imprint Wildstorm, it was cancelled by DC after just 6 issues because they weren’t thrilled by the edgy, anti-heroic tone of the story. But being good sports, they reverted the rights to Ennis and artist Darick Robertson, who then found a home for it with Dynamite Entertainment. The series ran to a total of 72 issues before ending naturally in late 2012. But a few years before that happened, it was reported that Columbia Pictures was developing The Boys into a feature film under Anchorman writer-director and Ant-Man writer, Adam Mckay. This didn’t pan out, of course, and in 2012 McKay Tweeted that Paramount had picked it up. Aaaand that didn’t pan out either. But the idea obviously stuck around, and in late 2015 US cable giant Cinemax were the next to have a go, this time making it a series under producers Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Eric Kripke. Finally, Amazon Studios bought this version of it and turned it into the 8-episode first season (with a second already in production) that is currently gracing our screens.
Why did I love it enough to give it first place? Well, even without the superhero element, it’s a challenging, thought-provoking work that takes the concept of ordinary people gaining god-like powers, and then examines the effect of that on the human psyche. Moral compasses are spun, ethical problems are posited, considerations considered, and the perhaps obvious conclusion drawn that most people would not be able to handle it, and would eventually become super-powered jerks. The clear companion piece to Amazon’s take on The Boys is the recently released, James Gunn-produced Brightburn, which basically told the classic Superman tale with the twist that the young Supes was a spoilt, nose-picking, mean-spirited little git who used his powers to melt people’s faces and torture cats.
Of course, there’s more to Brightburn than just that, and there’s a whole lot more to The Boys than just ‘what if superheroes but jerks?’. There are two ensemble casts at work here; that of the half-dozen or so heroes, and that of the plucky ‘ordinary people’ — the titular ‘Boys’ — who feel that this kind of thing is simply not cricket. They’re proved right, of course, often quite graphically and in a variety of bizarre and unusual ways, and there’s an absolutely hair-raising tension in the multi-layered conflict between people who can run faster than a speeding bullet, and people who have to fish change out of the sofa to try and catch a bus.
Karl Urban is arguably the jewel in the sofa brigade’s crown, in a passionate and impassioned performance that turns all the knobs up to ‘11’ and then cackles madly as the amp explodes. His opposite number on the heroes’ side is fellow Kiwi actor Anthony Starr, as the archetypal all-american hero Homelander (haha). Homelander is an absolute rats' nest of conflicting psychoses, all writhing around under a crowd-pleasing smile and friend-of-the-people attitude. Between these two groups stands the legendary Elizabeth Shue as a dodgy corporate type, who has to wear many different hats in her handling of the often monstrous and monstrously childish superheros. (The basic shtick is that superheroes are real, and that they’re ‘managed’ by a giant corporation that ‘rents’ them out to different cities as protectors. This of course involves all the glitzy, million-dollar sponsorship deals and meta commentary you’d imagine being a god-like celeb entails).
Balancing this bloody, swirling, immoral mix of ego and revenge are two ingenue characters, played by Jack Quaid (son of Dennis and Meg Ryan!) as Hughie on the ‘human’ side, and Erin Moriarty (well-known to True Detective and Jessica Jones fans) as Starlight, on the ‘Supes’ side. They’re clearly written as the audience surrogates, and although on the surface of things you’re meant to feel sorry for Hughie and excited for Starlight, it’s not long before you end up feeling worried for both. There’s nothing about this story that is really predictable in the sense that anything with the word ‘superhero’ in its description traditionally is. In fact, that’s probably rather the point: this is not your typical multiplex comic book blockbuster. It’s an intense experience that will leave your head spinning with its sheer inventiveness and audacity. Roll on season 2!
Second place this month was no less an intense experience, and one that I will definitely be looking to find on a Blu-ray to keep on my shelf forever. Overlord is one of those rare genre cross-breeds that mixes fantastical horror with real-world war. I suppose the thinking is that war is already full of actual horror, both mental and physical, so adding in the made-up stuff can only enrich the mix. And damn right too. From H.P. Lovecraft’s stories The Temple, Dagon, and Herbert West: Reanimator, to J. R. R. Tolkien’s WW1-inspired scenes of good versus evil, popular culture has always looked favourably at the idea. More recently, since 1981 we’ve had a fairly steady flow of World War II horror/sci-fi games in the popular Wolfenstein series, to which Overlord clearly owes a debt. However, the film’s own genre elements are more traditional: mad scientists, and a supernatural-obsessed Hitler.
First and foremost, Overlord is a very modern depiction of a historical event. Modern in that it carries a level of polish, quality and attention to detail that only decades of historical understanding and improvements in film-making technology can together bring. This is a Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot co-production, and between the former’s deep pockets and the latter’s style and sure hand, for the most part you could be watching a proper sequel to Saving Private Ryan, or David Ayer’s excellent Fury, or Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers, or really any of the big-budget Hollywood WWII spectacles of the last ten years. The costumes and props, the aeroplanes and tanks, the bombed-out French villages, the intense, visceral digitally-enhanced combat and medically-realistic gore — everything is perfectly rendered and smacks of high production values. To paraphrase the late Sir Richard Attenborough, you can see every penny spent, up there on the screen.
Story-wise, the central bunch of characters are, on the one hand, a collection of motley, grizzled, American soldier stereotypes, familiar from dozens of war films stretching back over decades. On the other hand, this makes them perfect for the job. Iain De Caestecker’s war photographer stood out to me, if only because I’ve only ever seen him in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Dominic ‘The Inbetweeners’ Applewhite was also a fun surprise. And French actress and producer Mathilde Ollivier is an absolute delight as Chloe, a vengeful native. But for me, the real stand-out was Jovan Adepo as our audience surrogate, PFC Boyce (who at times looked so convincingly frightened I became genuinely worried about him). But while the film is mostly an ensemble piece, there are moments of two-handed action later on that flip back and forth between Adepo and Ollivier, and Adepo and Wyatt Russell’s Corporal Ford. Each compliments the other nicely: Russell is the stentorian voice of the Army, unswervingly driving the mission ever onwards; Ollivier’s is a roar of vengeance, while Adepo’s is the voice of bewilderment and terror as the monstrosities and atrocities pile up.
Speaking of which, the scares range from the ‘realism horror’ of people being shockingly exploded and shot to pieces just feet away from your face, to more traditional breath-sucking gore and goop, via several shades of ‘Nah, nah, that ain’t right’. Some of it reminds me of the sort of low-key action-horror that the Resident Evil films did so well, and some of it of a more Lynchian, Eraserhead-style weirdness. But whichever way you slice this crazy pie, the film’s a good ’un and well worth a look.
Finally, some laughs! The Boys and Overlord together make quite a heavy, sweating, sweary pair, which stands in complete contrast to the beautiful couple pictured above. They are, of course, Robin Williams and Cheryl ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ Hines. Now, Robin needs no introduction. You all know who he is, you all have your favourite Robin Williams — whether it’s a film, one of his comedy specials, or fond memories of Mork & Mindy. So how do you support someone like that? How do you do anything in the presence of such a well-loved, well-respected actor/performer that doesn’t immediately wither and die by comparison? It’s a tough question, and one that can only be answered by inspired or lucky casting. In the case of 2006 Barry Sonnenfeld comedy RV, our third-place winner this month, you cast Cheryl Hines, who is herself brilliant and experienced enough to give a shoulder-to-shoulder, toe-to-toe performance. And with two leads like that, superb backup from Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chennoweth, everything else is gravy.
RV seems like a very specific concept, and also a very American one (at least on the kind of scale that American RV/camper vans tend to exist on). But at it’s heart it’s all about the big universal themes we can all relate to — stressed parents who feel under-appreciated by unruly teen kids, peer pressure, work pressure, dodging weird, overly-friendly people and making the most of limited free time. If you wrap them in a road-trip format with a pretty fresh story that doesn’t rely on the usual tropes and clichés, you’ll have RV. It’s also clear confirmation that even in the later stages of his career, Williams was still smashing it in almost every scene. I personally feel that comedies too often rely on humour that tickles us more on an intellectual level, aiming to elicit a knowing smile, a weary grin or a sardonic nod. Somehow, it seems easier to do that with modern audiences than to create genuine belly laughs. Or rather, getting a good solid LOL is prone to so much more failure. Well, comedy is a serious business, they say. But I say, if you want to laugh your stupid head off, give RV a go and you won’t be disappointed.
One final thought here. When I saw that it was a Robin Williams vehicle (hoho), I was very excited for the kids to see it too. I made pizza for the fam and we all settled down with a beer and a Coke for a good Friday-night film night. Well, almost as soon as Williams appeared on screen, I couldn’t help choking up, thinking about how he’d topped himself. I spent the first ten minutes of the film alternately laughing and crying, and I thought ‘No one who likes him can ever watch one of his films without getting at least a little teary-eyed, what kind of legacy is that?’. And that thought made me laugh, so I suppose in the end he won that round too. Touché, Robin. Wherever you are, I know you’re still slaying them.
Honourable Mention
Right so, moving on, I want to give a tip of the hat to the very first thing I watched this August. It’s a tween-centric family comedy from 2015, called Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life. Adapted by CBS Films from a popular book by James Patterson (perhaps better known for his crime novels and the Alex Cross series of books and films) and Chris Tebbetts, it combines fantastic, funny, animated elements into a live-action film that is smoothly shot and well-acted by its mostly young cast, to a much higher quality level than your average TV movie, or TV-budget movie. The cast also includes Lauren ‘Gilmore Girls’ Graham and Rob ‘This dude is funny AF and has been in more things than you’d think’ Riggle, working to a script that is surprisingly nuanced and effective.
For example, while Riggle’s character is exactly the kind of un-lovable macho doofus that Nickleodeon loves to mock, he also willingly helps single-mum Graham with her kids and shopping, takes them out places and generally makes himself quite useful. He is still a hairy moron, though, and ultimately he does have designs on Graham, but I thought it was interesting that he wasn’t the stereotypical child-hating incompetent such characters are usually painted as. And while there is some suspension of disbelief involved in the execution of the kids’ various pranks and school-based set-pieces — and to an ever-so-slightly greater extent than is usually required by such films — it’s all in service to a much larger, much more powerful point that is only revealed near the end of the film. I won’t say ‘twist’, because that would cheapen it when in fact it’s a genuinely sincere, heart-felt turn in the story that almost begs a re-watch.
If you’re just in need of something easy-going, there are a lot of very nice surprises, some seriously cool animated bits that integrate smoothly and logically with the live-action, and some very interesting choices on display here. As I said, it was the very first thing I laid eyes on this month, and despite being followed by a ton of really good stuff, it continues to linger in my memory. Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life — I salute you!
The worst
Taken individually, all of the component parts of Velvet Buzzsaw, my ‘worst’ film of the month, are top-notch. Our writer-director here is Dan Gilroy, a man whose writing pedigree includes the Emilio Estevez genre classic Freejack, as well as Chasers, Two For The Money, Kong: Skull Island, and the Hawkeye-led Bourne Legacy, and who knocked his directorial debut out of the park with 2014’s Nightcrawler. The cast all turn in excellent performances too: Mr. Donnie Darko himself, Jake Gyllenhaal; Renee ‘Mrs. Lethal Weapon’ Russo; John ‘Malkovich?’ Malkovich; Natalia ‘Stranger Things’ Dyer, and Toni ‘Made me soil my trousers in July’ Collette.
Set this Altman-esque ensemble against a sun-drenched Los Angeles backdrop of art-world intrigue and snobbery, stalked by a creepy supernatural killer, shower the whole thing with Netflix money, and you get… a bit of a dud, in my own humble opinion. It’s not nearly as bad as some of Netflix’s other genre ‘Originals’, and it’s still completely watchable (and enjoyable), but it could have been so much better. Like a delicious pancake that you lovingly mixed and poured into the pan, only to have plop onto your plate burnt around the edges and falling apart in the middle, something went wrong in the cooking. I would point the finger at the sleepy 113 minute running time, which is largely spent rotating languidly between all the different characters as they slowly go about their business, revealing their true natures and the extent of their complicity in the bizarre deaths surrounding them.
In this sense it aims to be a big ensemble piece, like Altman’s The Player or Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia with a horror story spliced into it, but ends up being more interesting as the former than the latter. As a regular old Columbo-style ‘murder in the art world’ story it would have been fine, but the addition of the supernatural stuff is — whilst interesting enough and certainly not something regularly explored — a weak sauce. Zawe Ashton also gives a good performance that keeps you guessing about the purity of her motives, although I found her English accent distracting amidst the sea of American dialects there. Not inappropriate, just distracting.
Anyway, as with several of the ‘worst’ films I’ve cited this year, Velvet Buzzaw is not really a bad film in and of itself, and is well worth a watch if you’ve got time to spend and feel like really sinking your teeth into something different. Just don’t expect too much from it either as a murder mystery, a spook story or a character study (although Jake G. really hits the gas in this one, and is quite brilliant).
Special Mention: Vancouver
For our closing thoughts this month, I’d like to give a Special Mention to the Canadian city of Vancouver. As we reached the Vancouver-set climax of the 2005 Ice Cube comedy Are We There Yet? (another road trip movie, and a contender for third place until RV came along), I had the sudden feeling that I recognised where they were, despite having never been anywhere near Vancouver in my life (unless you count a day trip to Niagara Falls). So I squinted at the TV a bit harder and imagined I could see Oliver Queen, Barry Allen and Kara Danvers rolling and fighting through the scene. I think they were in Robin Square (another Robin!), which has appeared in more CW superhero shows than I’ve had hot dinners. At any rate, well done Vancouver, you’re looking good baby! See you next month!
