I didn’t really get “Groundhog Day” when it first came to video. Surely, it’s not the most impossible dramedy out there, but it’s definitely so much more complex than audiences usually think of it. When it comes to existential drama comedies about self realizations in a fantastic setting, “Groundhog Day” is right up there with films like “Her” and “Eternal Sunshine.”
It seemed like such a sure thing. Take one of the scarier aspects from one of the best horror movies of the decade, and give it its own origin movie. Except, the end results of “Annabelle” are about as boring as its origin. I would rather have seen the original story about the rag doll than this sequel, spin off, or whatever the studios are calling it. I’m not entirely sure what the studios are painting these movies with the Warren ghost hunting duo as some sort of avengers team, but “Annabelle” is a step in the wrong direction with a movie that goes absolutely nowhere.
Director Richard Linklater is the kind of filmmaker I admire. He takes risks, and is still willing to experiment in a movie world where very few of his contemporaries are anymore. You can make the argument that “Boyhood” is gimmicky, but I prefer to think of it as ambititious and an absolutely excellent endeavor. Director Linklater followed his cast of four for twelve years, filming them through various stages of adolescnnce in order to completely fulfill his tale of growth and coming of age with a boy who blossoms in to adulthood.
It’s great that such a polished film like “Gone Girl” doesn’t opt for a more safe and Hollywood bound climax where we’ve seen a labyrinth of lies unfold in to a new bow. By the time “Gone Girl” has ended, director David Fincher has written his characters in to a corner, and they’re not at any point going to squirm out of it. I loved “Gone Girl” mainly because it’s a murder mystery without the kind of surprises you’d expect. Our characters are amoral and unlikable, and director Fincher has a keen sense of cynicism toward marriage and how it can be a fiasco that devolves in to a play.
Don’t you hate it when you hit your head in a fit of rage and end up in Sherwood forest with a bunch of hot buxom women? In all honesty, I’d love that, but surely enough in Surrender Cinema’s “Virgins of Sherwood Forest” you can expect it to happen. One of my favorite erotic stars of all time, Gabriella Hall, plays Roberta, a female director for a music video has to tolerate a bunch of obnoxious sex starved actors.
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Season seven and eight of “Married with Children” bring about the unfortunate introduction of Seven. Not the number, but the obnoxious child character that the writers of the series felt they had to force on audiences to improve ratings. Whenever a series hits a low point in ratings, a child is added for some contrived reason, and it’s never more apparent than in “Married with Children.” Despite the appearances by Bobcat Goldthwait and Linda Blair, they play cousins of Peg who leave their bratty son Seven with the Bundys. Of course he’s eventually accepted in to the family, and adopted for adventures with the low class foursome.
Director Samuel B. Ruseell’s short dramedy about trying to fight the rising tide of nature is fantastic. Not just because it plays up its low budget with a purposely low tech aesthetic involving miniature props, and blatant green screen but because of its message.