angryHigh-Rise (2015)
Tom Hiddleston stars in this deeply weird dystopian drama. There is wannabe ferocious social satire set in the 1970s. A man moves into an apartment building, they'll all descend into savagery in 3 months. Hiddleston is in the nip soon enough and Elisabeth Moss has an English accent, a hubby and kids.
Things head toward their terrible end due to snobbery and class war. Things will get anarchic and see them destroyed. One feels bemusement and there is a shocking conclusion. Hiddleston eats a dog and Sienna Miller and Jeremy Irons costar. Resentful types habitually lurk in this torrid film. People do an ungrateful swaggering celebration of themselves.
There is hedonism and the place has a pool. Irons has a rooftop terrace with a goat and a horse and a wife he hates. The place has a store on the 15th floor and the brutalist building hosts a party where people dress as French royalty. The doomed dog has a bow tie. There is social unrest. Luke Evans swims in his y-fronts and there is mass disorder and the poors can afford cocaine. A man jumps off the building and people act like cartoonish maniacs.
Best Lines:
“That folly out there is for my wife.”
“I know what you are.”
“Future that had already taken place.”
“Investment in the future.”
“Try to fit in.”
“Full of the sort of people you should know.”
“Keep the change.”
“There isn't any.”
“Desperately sad actress who lives alone in an apartment block.”
“Funny little social experiment.”
“Cheap bastard.”
“We toy with each other. Not sexually of course.”
“Crucible for change.”
“Lower people.”
“I doubt you'll find much sympathy.”
“That's not how you spell arse darling.”
“Lower orders.”
“Always covered in something: mud, jam, failure.”
“Terrible debt.”
“Reflects poorly on a man's character.”
~
Krampus (2015)
Adam Scott and Toni Colette star in this horror. Christmas shoppers riot and the season is not inherently positive. A child makes an unintentional and harmless wish and it doesn't go that way. Disruptive relatives show up and misguided efforts to be cheerful go awry. The vile demanding guests forget their baby and let their son chug Mountain Dew.
The unwanted relatives bitch and moan and there is constant aggression. The family are nasty and there are negative social constructs. The family have a wilful, spiteful indifference. Christmas is a negative experience and there is wilful exclusion. The people are determinedly unpleasing and they spit venom. Rage creeps in and there is a power cut.
There is a blizzard and a sack and a monster has a negative impact. This was not warm hearted. The family has gone a bit bonkers. The family take delight in denigrating and they have psychopathic stupidity. The family reamin unimpressed by danger. There is machismo and this was captivating and this was perennially relevant. There is obsession and confinement.
Where did they get the wood for the beserk board barricade? There is persistent shouting and rowdy and aggressive behaviour. Killer gingerbread men attack, the horrible fat kid and some annoying teen girl vanish. The tree and presents go on fire. There is an animated flashback and people are increasingly disgruntled.
There is no structure of logic as to what is going on. What happened to everyone else? This shared collective experience bonds the family. What are they doing for sanitation? People are coerced into acting irrationally and against their own best interests. How big is the mcmansion? What's the dog eating? Christmas is an oppressive construct and there is raw detail of how horrible it is to be surrounded by mooching ghastly people who won't leave. There is an embrace of chaos and dispution and chaos induced change.
What are they doing for nappies? There is an axe but no vivid philosophical observations on the human condition. There is psychic collapse, soap opera relentlessness and this is an epochal moment: the supernatural has been proven to be real. There is psychodrama and tonal tension, social turmoil, stark melancholy, little warmth or respect for family and a sense of abiding nostalgia for 80s movies.
The family are unsentimental and venomous. Krampus lurks causing misery to the appalling family in this compelling film which is full of grotesque humour, contemptuous laughter and guns. The ending is disquieting and why is this so underlit? Why is a child driving? The child should feel a level of shame for causing his cold and selfish family to suffer.
Krampus is tolerated and normalised. There is distain and no candour or warmth or love. There is a bleak twist and an antagonistic social landscape. The ending is all vicissitudes and a wistful, reflective, wry ending. The kid is regretful, but it is too late. Conchata Ferrell and Seth Green feature in this film. This was very good. The pestiferous family are trapped in a snowglobe forever – they can have spiteful exhanges forever.
Best Lines:
“Cheap marketing ploy.”
“Was dropkicking him into the manger really the best way to handle this?”
“Do that alone.”
“Snowflake tree.”
“Like Martha Stewart threw up in here.”
“You think everything I do is a mistake.”
“No gun talk at the dinner table.”
“Sleigh crash in the Rockies.”
“Godforsaken concoction.”
“Fancy food clogs my pipes.”
“I hate all of you!”
“Every year gets worse.”
“Something weird outside.”
“Stopped talking to us.”
“Global warming my ass!”
“Guns at Christmas?”
“They're fine!”
“Are they?”
“Fancy ass neighbourhood.”
“Spineless dick.”
“Given up on miracles and on each other.”
“Sacrifice of giving.”
“No longer the loving family I remembered.”
“Come to regret.”
“More ancient spirit.”
“Not to reward but to punish.”
“When belief is forgotten.”
“Evil santa.”
“Oh come on!”
“We keep the fire hot.”
“And go where?”
“Keep driving until we see lights or people.”
“Clogged up the crapper.”
“Was there another option?”
“Just got my ass kicked by a bunch of christmas cookies.”
“Make a break for it.”
“For what?”
“I haven't felt this hungover since the pope died.”
~
Borg Vs McEnroe (2017)
Shia LaBeouf plays McEnroe as he takes on Borg in this biopic about the ice Borg v superbrat 1980 match. Borg looks like a consumptive urchin and there are wood rackets, subtitles and so much staring. McEnroe has zealous intensity and this was clunky. McEnroe has coiled rage in this plodding film. McEnroe draws fierce and prolonged condemnatiom from all quarters and swears.
Tennis isn't quite the heady dream McEnroe and Borg had hoped for. There is no moral uplift and McEnroe is not universally popular as he's manic. Nothing of any importance happens. There is a hostile atmosphere toward McEnroe in this relentless tide of inanity. This was rubbish, dull and plodding. This was drabness personified and incredibly stupid.
This tries to wrest meaning from nothing. McEnroe is belligerent and I'm sure things linger below the surface of Borg's consciousness. It is a fraught time. McEnroe wants something done about the pigeons. There's a visceral loathing of McEnroe who likes to shout loudly. There is bluster and so much staring and determined hatred.
Best Lines:
“The cathedral of tennis.”
“Being the worse representative of American values since Al Capone.”
“Photo rights.”
“I don't want to have this with you.”
“CHALK FLEW UP!”
~
Circus Of Books (2020)
This is a documentary made a woman about who parents who ran an adult LA shop in the 1980s. There is talk of VHS tapes and Larry Flynt speaks. A dvd called 'Don't Drop The Soap' is waved. An adult expo is visisted and the irritating mother obviously hates her job. They're bad entrepeneurs who did not move with the times and so the business is hutting down. They made adult movies and we see clips from the movies: a lot of shirtless men in blue jeans feature. There is talk of signing VHS tapes.
This was kinda dull and inherently illogical. The family have drama and the couple are not defiant and seem ashamed. The AIDS crisis is talked about as well as historic exclusion. The business is in accelerated decline and there is talk of marginal social networks and a sting. This was an irrelevance. There is talk of historical heritage and the wife seemed willing to throw her hubby under a bus after the sting.
There is talk of culture war and as the store is about to close, the mother dumps her stock into the trash. There are grave implications that the business was allowed to fail. Interest does not escalate signiicantly. The shop closed after 30 years, now the couple are working with the community.
Best Lines:
“Stare down at the ground.”
“Infamous freaks.”
“Aging, ailing business.”
“Smut wares.”
“Somebody's tragedy.”
“What sold well was 'Hustler'!”
“These are the videoes that sent me to college.”
“Not doing good with our stuff.”
“Good honest people.”
“Took major chances. Major.”
“Looked out for things they could demonise.”
“Socially harmful.”
“Very afraid.”
“Bad word...used about bad things.”
“Very famous guy.”
“No longer here.”
“Friend group.”
“Didn't align with who I thought my parents were.”
“Always about to close.”
“Not fine at all.”
“All ended up in the dumpster.”
“Can't sell what people can get for free.”
~
Terror Peak (2003)
Lynda Carter and Antony Starr star in this film set in New Zealand that features bad acting and terrible ADR and Starr having the world's worst haircut. This was boring and badly made and cheap looking.