Movie Review / Prisoners of the Ghostland

MOVIE: Prisoners Of The Ghostlands

STARRING: Nicolas Cage, Sofia Boutella, Bill Moseley, Teresa Ruiz, Imogen PottsNick Cassavetes, Takato Yonemoto, Kanon Nawata, Tak Sakaguchi, Lorena Kotô

RELEASE DATE: September 17th, 2021

WHERE TO WATCH: Theaters / VOD Rental ( Amazon Prime, Apple, Google Play )

By Justin Pomerville (2 Broke Geeks)

Nick Cassavetes and Nicolas Cage in PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND, Courtesy of Mongrel Media

Back again with the newest Nic Cage film, Prisoners of the Ghostland. The last two films I have reviewed of his had been 50/50 so far, with Willy's Wonderland being less than great, and Pig being one of the best films he has put out since Mandy. So, where will Prisoners of the Ghostland sit upon Justin's self-made "Nic Gauge"?

The plot of the film is fairly simple when it's described to you; Nic Cage (whose character's name is Hero in the cast list) is imprisoned for robbing a bank and being a part of a shooting in the bank. The Governor (played by Bill Mosely) makes a deal with Cage; go and save The Governor's adopted granddaughter, Bernice (played by Sofia Boutella), from The Ghostland. If so, Cage will be set free. To ensure that she is returned safely and unharmed, Cage has to wear a leather onesie that has bombs attached to each wrist, the neck, and one on each testicle. Yup, you read that right.

Sofia Boutella in PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND, Courtesy of Mongrel Media

The overall package of this movie is interesting. There are two locations within the entire film, Samuari Town and The Ghostland. Both look really interesting, but the story provides extremely little information about the places. Samurai Town is a small town that not only has samurai running around, but also cowboys and geishas. The Ghostland seems to be a wasteland in a junkyard that everyone else lives in. Why do they people live there? I'm not sure.

Scene from PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND, Courtesy of Mongrel Media

This film feels like there is a lot of plot that was cut out for unknown reasons. It felt disjointed and everything kind of just happens too easily for Hero. Even when some of his costume bombs explode (I'll let you guess which ones), they just feel like a minor inconvenience for him. Bernice is supposed to have her own path of redemption when you meet her, but it does not actually come across very well.

I commend this film for being pretty insane. I have not seen any other film from director Sion Sono, but I have heard these violent and bizarre films are his kind of thing. But this film felt very empty in terms of dialogue and character development. Was it better than Willy's Wonderland? Yes, but only by a small margin because of how insane Cage acts in this film. He goes nuts.

So, if you want to hear Cage yell "Hiya" and "My Testicle", then this is the movie for you.

Check out Justin’s other “Cage” reviews at www.atomicgeekdom.com and stay tuned for his next “Nic Gauge”.

Movie Review / The Green Knight

MOVIE: The Green Knight

STARRING: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Erin Kellyman, Barry Keoghan, Ralph Ineson, Sean Harris, Joel Edgerton

RELEASE DATE: July 30th, 2021 (Theaters) / August 19th, 2021 (VOD)

WHERE TO WATCH: Theaters / VOD Rental (Amazon Prime, Apple, Google Play, FandangoNow)

By Justin Pomerville (2 Broke Geeks)

The Green Knight is the latest film by David Lowery, whose other films up to this point have included 2016’s “Pete’s Dragon” and 2017’s “A Ghost Story”. This film is also an adaptation of the poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In short, this film is probably one of the best films that have come out of A24’s library, in my honest opinion.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", from the Cotton Nero A.x manuscript

As the title of the poem states, the film is about King Arthur’s nephew, Gawain (played by Dev Patel), who accepts to play a game by The Green Knight on Christmas Day.  The game is simple, strike a blow to the Green Knight and then you claim his ax. However, Gawain must return to the Knight’s castle in one calendar year's time and give the knight the same courtesy in letting him strike an equal blow to Gawain. 

Gawain played by Dev Patel

After Gawain beheads the Green Knight, Gawain waits almost the entire year until he decides to go on the adventure. Along the way, Gawain finds himself meeting interesting characters, each one being a test of the 5 virtues of what it means to be a knight; friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety.

This film is very beautiful in every way. Although it is a slow-moving film, it never feels like you are waiting for the next scene to happen. They give you time to take in the splendor of the scenery. They pull you in with the great score from Daniel Hart that accompanies the film. I don’t want to spoil too much about the film because I want everyone to go check it out. So, I highly recommend you check it out and see what you think.

Movie Review / Guilt, Grief and Self-Hatred: How three new female-directed horror films intersect

1 ) Saint Maud

DIRECTOR: Rose Glass

STARRING: Morfydd Clark, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Jennifer Ehle, Marcus Hutton, Carl Prekopp, Lily Frazer, Lily Knight

RELEASE DATE: January 29th, 2021

WHERE TO WATCH (as of August 2021): Hulu

2 ) Censor

DIRECTOR: Prano Bailey Bond

STARRING: Niamh Algar, Michael Smiley, Nicholas Burns, Vincent franklin, SophiaLa Porta, Adrian Schiller

RELEASE DATE: June 11th, 2021

WHERE TO WATCH (as of August 2021): Amazon Prime Video (rental)

3 ) The Stylist

DIRECTOR: Jill Gevargizian

STARRING: Najarra Townsend, Jennifer Seward, Lindsay Solomon, Angela Dupuie, Brea Grant, Davis DeRock

RELEASE DATE: February 21st, 2021

WHERE TO WATCH (as of August 2021): Amazon Prime Video (rental)

by Dave Palamaro

The protagonist as the outcast/anti-hero used to be mostly the realm of male film directors (think Taxi Driver, Joker, Fight Club, Goodfellas etc.). But three new female horror directors are showing audiences that complex, emotionally damaged main characters need not be gender specific. Thank God for that because their films (Saint Maud, Censor and The Stylist) are a revelation.

***SPOILERS AHEAD FOR SAINT MAUD, CENSOR AND THE STYLIST***

Disturbed Heroes

Saint Maud, Censor and The Stylist all have one major element in common: they showcase female lead characters that are emotionally damaged, socially distant and possibly a danger to themselves or others. Where these characters differ, however, is why each of them reached such a state.

(Morfyd Clark plays Maud in Saint Maud)

In Saint Maud, directed by Rose Glass, Maud (played by Morfyd Clark) is a young nurse who experienced a traumatic event in her past that cost a patient their life. She blames herself for this death since the patient was in her care at the time. The shock and guilt she feels spins Maud out of her normal orbit and into a self-imposed extreme form of catholicism.

(Julie Ehle in Saint Maud)

She finds a new patient to save in terminal cancer victim Amanda (played by Julie Ehle). Saving Amanda’s soul soon becomes Maud’s mission. She believes that converting Amanda to catholicism before she succumbs to her cancer will make up for her failing to save the life of her previous patient. But Maud’s methods for this would-be salvation turn out to be...well, extreme.

(Niamh Algar as Enid in Censor)

Prano Bailey Bond’s Censor, Enid (Niamh Algar) is a seemingly emotionally healthy young woman. She works as a film censor in 1980’s England and spends her days watching endless “video nasties” (British horror films from the 1980’s). Her job is to determine which of these horror films are fit for public consumption, and if they are, which parts of the movies to cut out.

All seems normal until we meet her parents. We discover that Enid’s sister went missing years ago. It turns out that Enid blames herself for the disappearance of her sibling because she was with her sister when it happened. Enid’s parents want to move on and forget about their lost child (even presenting their missing daughter’s death certificate to Enid at dinner).

But Enid, not so much. She believes that her sister is out there somewhere and nothing her parents do will shake her from this belief.

(Niamh Algar in Censor)

Clearly, Enid’s personal mission is to find her lost sister. At some point she thinks she sees her sister (now an adult) in one of the “video nasties” she’s evaluating for work.

From that point on, any good intentions Enid has to locate her lost sibling quickly turns into an unhealthy obsession.

(Najarra Townsend plays Claire the stylist in The Stylist)

Unlike Maud or Enid, Claire (Najarra Townsend) in The Stylist isn’t given a reason (at least on-screen) as to why she is so damaged.

Director/writer Jill Gevargizian shows us who Claire really is in the very first scene.

Claire is a hair stylist who drugs and surgically scalps her clients. She then uses their hair as a macabre wig to act out her fantasies of being other people. In this way, Claire can be anyone she chooses. Anyone but herself. Why does she do this?

In several scenes it is very clear that Claire hates herself to an almost unimaginable degree. She puts up a good front to those in her public life but in private, she brings self-loathing to a whole new level.

(Najarra Townsend and Brea Grant in The Stylist)

When Claire is hired to do her friend Olivia’s (Brea Grant) wedding hair, it seems that she might finally be making a real connection with another human being. It appears that this just might be enough to break the murderous hamster wheel she’s trapped in. But director Gevargizian doesn’t give us such an easy way out of Claire’s psychosis.

Does anybody ever really get what they want?

So does Maud (Saint Maud), Enid (Censor) and Claire (The Stylist) get what they want by the end of their respective stories? Well, yes and no.

Directors Rose, Bailey-Bond and Gevargizian leave it up to the audience to decide if their damaged female protagonists achieve their goals by the end of their respective journeys.

Which is only fitting, as these films are as complex as their main characters. These three talented directors have shown audiences that mentally and emotionally challenging characters are not just for men anymore.

Ratings:

Saint Maud: 9.5/10

Censor: 8.5/10

The Stylist: 8/10

Dave Palamaro is a filmmaker known for Murder Made Easy (2019) and In Heaven There Is No Beer (2014).

Movie Review / JOLT

MOVIE: Jolt (Amazon Original)

STARRING: Kate Beckinsale, Jai Courtney, Laverne Cox, Stanley Tucci, Lili Rich, Bobby Cannavale, David Bradley, Susan Sarandon

RELEASE DATE: July 23rd, 2021

WHERE TO WATCH: Amazon Prime

By Animated Annie @hessian_hellcat

Jolt is my 2nd favorite action movie of 2021, seconded only to Nobody. The movie kicks off with our heroine, Lindy, as a child unlike any other. She’s overly triggered by mean people, and has some solid super strength and anger to boot. After some traumatizing years being experimented on and tortured, she finally finds a bandaid type treatment with the help of her shrink, Dr. Munchin, played by Stanley Tucci. 

Everything seems to finally be coming together for Lindy (played by Kate Beckinsale, who looks amazing as always), until it isn’t. She absolutely slayed every one of her action scenes. With every imagined & actual fight, I was grinning ear to ear, and fully engulfed. Some of her triggers had me cackling, and were very relatable. I’ve definitely dreamed of doing some of the same things.

Laverne Cox was my 2nd favorite character, as Detective Nevin. Knocking out some solid humor as a brutally honest, by the book detective partnered with the endearing Detective Vicars (Bobby Canavale).

I did have the story figured out less than halfway through, but that didn’t take any of the fun out of the movie for me. Jolt is witty, action packed, solidly casted, and well written. Hopefully we will be getting a sequel/franchise. The ending gave us our first onscreen view of the movies narrator (no spoilers), and a quick bonus scene in the credits with a character I really enjoyed that we only got a few minutes of. All of this makes me think we will, so I’ll be crossing my fingers!

Movie Review / Blood Red Sky

MOVIE: Blood Red Sky (A Netflix Film)

STARRING: Peri Baumeister, Carl Anton Koch, Alexander Scheer, Kais Setti, Gordon Brown, Dominic Purcell, Graham McTavish

RELEASE DATE: July 23rd, 2021

WHERE TO WATCH: Netflix

By Patrick Nagy

Let me preface this review by stating, I’m not very into horror movies in general. Then again, I don’t know if I would categorize this film as “horror”. It’s more like an action flick with a supernatural twist. There will be a few spoilers, but trust me, there is still plenty of surprises to see.

The Netflix original film Blood Red Sky revolves around Nadja (played by German actress Peri Baumeister) and her son Elias (Carl Anton Koch) traveling from abroad to New York to seek treatment for Nadja’s “condition”. It isn’t fully explained yet what her issue may be as she sneaks off to the bathroom mid-flight to inject herself with some sort of serum, which appears to cause her much pain. The entire experience and journey seem to be very desperate for Nadja.

Somewhere over the Atlantic tragedy strikes when it is revealed some of the passengers and crew aren’t what they appear. In a very gruesome and violent takeover of the plane’s cabin and cockpit, this group of terrorists make their intensions clear that this plane is theirs, and there will be no shenanigans or heroes. The leader of the terrorist group is Berg (played by Prison Break actor Dominic Purcell) and they do an all right job of fleshing out his character, even though he’s a little two dimensional with your classic tropes. For example, forcing prisoners to read a written statement condemning a government or political group, planning to crash the plane in a populated area…you know…terrorist stuff. The more interesting part is his merry band of mercenaries. You have the sensible one, the angry one, the violent one, and then there’s Eightball (played by Alexander Scheer). He’s a real problem. The wild card. The psychotic killer that seems to enjoy inflicting pain and chaos. Unfortunately one of Eightball’s random targets is Nadja’s son Elias. During a scuffle for Elias, Nadja is injured and forced to reveal her secret she’s been fighting so hard to conceal.

Without giving away too much, you can picture the madness that ensues after a full blown Nosferatu style vampire is thrown into your classic hostage film! Picture the 1996 Kurt Russell film Executive Decision meets The Strain.

What I liked most about this movie and the character of Nadja, is the pain she’s going through to save her son and the plane. With every drop of blood, every kill, she’s loses herself a little. She’s afraid of Elias seeing her this way. No hair, fangs, pointed ears, and covered in blood…a monster. Her greater fear is losing him to the disaster that is unfurling.

We do get some flashbacks from time to time of a car break down and an old farm house in the German wilderness. Piece by piece these memories explain how Nadja became this way. They also reveal an ominous warning from an old farmer that she must end this vampire disease for good. This foreshadowing really helps explain who Nadja is (or at least was), and why she is fighting so hard to get back to some sort of normal. It adds a lot of sympathy and strife to her character. Imagine going through an uncertain future not even knowing what you’re becoming or how to stop it. Would you do anything and everything to just feel normal again?

During the battle it becomes very apparent everyone Nadja takes down or consumes her blood will also be infected. She does her best to stop the spread, but you can imagine what happens next. Now our anti-heroine has one more HUGE thing to worry about! How will Nadja save her son (without scaring the living daylights out of him), save the plane, and stop a vampire outbreak! This really takes anyone’s fear of flying to a ridiculous level.

Blood Red Sky may not be for the squeamish, but if you are looking for Action / Thriller plus Vampires, this is the film for you! It was done very well which is saying a lot because you can just picture how badly it could have gone from the pitch meeting to screen.

Shot in English and German overdub, Blood Red Sky is available on Netflix streaming now.