It (2017)
Not so tough now, are you? Bill Skarsgard prances as Pennywise in this latest take on the Stephen King novel. Pennywise the monster thing that appears as a clown is taken on by loud untalented child actors. In the book they were 1950s kids, here they are 1980s kids. Various idiot kids find solidarity and a sense of common endeavour in fighting a monster thing.
There are useless uncaring parents who underinterpret danger. Bullies engage in petty intimidation. Parents can't act constructively. Pennywise lurks. There is a culture of silence. Kids are always coming last. There is a chilling threat and presence ever present. People await help that doesn't come. Overdone evil persists over time. Pennywise is a looming threat.
Adults are incredibly irresponsible. Damn them for being purposefully blind. The kids are a posse of lunatics. Pennywise is a vicious psycho. This is not the pinnacle of artistry. I saw the Tim Curry miniseries which was better than this. There are overdone ominious portents and this is not as devastatingly insightful as it thinks it is. Things are rank and unresolved. Bullies have sneering impudence. There are book references and this was overly earnest and dramatic.
The book made for equally curious and disturbing reading. This is just crap. There is grim reality, overdone music cues, dark associations, distorted reality and people are treated with cruelty. There are several Michael Jackson references, which are meant to be funny. No comment.
Adults do not care. This was intensely raw or shockingly graphic. There is ignorant cruelty which appears to have no consequences. Violence is inescapable. Kids investigate and enquire. People behave appallingly. Things only result in misery. Beverly hacks her hair off for no clear reason. There is an edgy air and adults are gloriously oblivious.
The kids pose in their underwear for a prolonged scene for no reason. WTF? The black kid is barely in this. No comment. There is disillusionment. Derry has a lot of missing people. I've no interest in the sequel. A boy has wants. Which is forgotten about. There is grevious wrongdoing and local bullies act with savagery. Everything bad about the world is in Derry.
The kids have an incredible amount of pain inflicted on their lives. There is zero parental supervision. A maniac is running lose. Things will tip to salvation or disaster. What is the dreadful truth? There is bad acting and regular horrific incidents of violence. A slide projector goes nuts. The kids have no acceptance of their own abject powerlessness.
Beverly is an actual latchkey child. Pennywise has implacability. There is no terrible inevitability. Pennywise is dumb and not as devastatingly scary as TPTB hope. Adults are complicit in the destruction. This was not compelling. There is swearing and the kids are simultaneously obsessing over and horrified of Pennywise. Adults are concealing or lying. There is uncertainty, rumours and myths. People ignore severly endangered children.
Pennywise has ruthless cunning. There are no golden tomorrows for the losers. There is no absolute despair. There is predictable annoyance. There is no lingering horror. Kids have badly acted excitable reactions. There is no high degree of urgency. The kids feel unwanted. There is no weary despair.
They don't act companionable. There is ugly rhetoric. Serious questions are raised and ignored. Nothing is triumphantly won. This is confoundingly silly and done less well than the Tim Curry version. Bullies have profound contempt and visceral hatred. This is serial ineptitude and is mind-numbingly dull and causes annoyance and irritation.
Why does Pennywise cause chaotic delusions? There is no existential dread. Graffitti says: 'Not Scary At All' – very true. There is no brazen display of unpredictability and arbitrariness. Fighting a Lovecraftian horror isn't inherently risky. Adults do a reflective turning way. A smother bothers one kid. Adults are obnoxious and what is hamburger helper? There is defensiveness.
There is extreme maliciousness. The worst is ahead. There is incoherence. This was stupid. What is Pennywise? There is a sequel hook. The losers have no auspicious future. This is just Chapter One. Oh hell no. Finn Wolfhard of 'Stranger Things' played Richie. This was a calamity not raw and elemental.
There is an ongoing NKOTB joke and an old scary house. There is no social or emotional competence. Are the kids names ever made clear? There is no civic morality. There is sexism and kids yell all their lines. They would all rather not be living this nightmare. This was not laden with fear. This was not perverse, wicked evil. The rock fight happens 68 minutes in, not as a climax. FFS. The deaths happen in a 27 year cycle. Only a tween notices. There is no adult risk perception in Derry.
Best Lines:
“Think they'll actually find her?”
“Sure in a ditch. All decomposed. Covered in worms and maggots.”
“Don't you have any friends?”
“That's poison ivy.”
“Crack head house.”
“I don't want to go missing.”
“A walking infection.”
“This isn't fun, this is scary and disgusting.”
“Who'd she do?”
“You went to the library? On purpose?”
“Way, way worse.”
“Derry started as a beaver trapping camp.”
“Plague or something.”
“The creepy ass house where the junkies and hobos like to sleep?”
“I can't imagine anything ever wanting to live there.”
“Who invited Molly Ringwald?”
“I'll be 40 and far from here!”
“No next time!”
“A dirty girl like you.”
"Sink went all Eddie's mom's vagina on Halloween."
"The home school kid's bike."
"Go blow your dad you mullet wearing as*hole!"
"This town is cursed."
"An evil thing."
~
White Boy (2017)
A documentary that is both good and bizarre about an alleged drug lord. He's been in prison for 29 years at the point this was being made. He's the longest serving non-violent juvenile offender in the US. He was convicted in 1988.
We see 1980s news clips and footage of Nancy Regan appearing on 'Diff'rnt Strokes' as part of her Just Say No campaign. Rick was moving kilos of drugs but says he wasn't the drug lord urban legend known as White Boy Rick. There is talk of guns, drugs and a crack task force. Drug lords videotaped themselves. Rick in 1988 did not look sympathetic.
There is 80s hair, talk of the urban legend White Boy Rick who ran all the gangs in Detriot. We see footage of drug dealers in mink coats and hear a clip of a Kid Rock song where he 'sang' about White Boy Rick. The amount of cash dealers made bred a lot of resentment. Detroit was a war zone. Journalists and convicts talk.
There is talk of a corrupt mayor. Rick came from a messed up family and Rick has regrettable status. He was condemned by an anti drug law that has since been repealed. We are reminded that Tim Allen was a drug dealer. Was Rick failed egregiously? There is talk of corruption and damage was significant and lasting.
Rick has children? Rick had ignorance and impetuosity at 17 – should he still be locked up for that? Rick says the urban legend of White Boy Rick is not true and claims he was an FBI informant. There is talk of festering resentment and a shooting which saw a 13 year old boy die. People were framed by gangs. People have no remorse. Rick lived an incredibly dangerous and reckless life. Where were his damn parents?!? He was nearly shot once and was saved by the gun jamming. This was good.
Best Lines:
“No part of anything.”
“White people have left this city.”
“You get shot up.”
“Busted at age 17.”
“All drugs are dumb.”
“The war on drugs is over and drugs won.”
“Had all the man toys.”
“Never to get a nickname.”
“Different street legends.”
“Flashing cash wads.”
“Police could not get through the front door.”
“800 homicides per year.”
“Roughed up pretty good.”
“I won't go down alone.”
“Golden era of boxing.”
“Your life could be over.”
“Never messed with me too tough.”
“Turn crook.”
“Drew enormous animosity.”
“Blamed him for great social ills.”
“Giant agenda.”
“Kingpin of what?”
“Physical altercation.”
“Scandal of all scandals.”