Flatliners(2017)
directed by Niels Arden Oplev
There aren't too many surprises when a story adheres to this theme. What counts is the style, not the details. Flatliners starts out with style and creepiness but almost immediately falls back on the same generic jump cuts and did or didn't I see that spookiness that make up the majority of horror/thriller movies today. This movie was almost the definition of bland. A medical student is fascinated with the idea of what lies beyond the limit of death. There is still some brain activity beyond the point of what we call death. What's going on in the brain for those few seconds?
Now I get nervous when trained skilled professionals with decades of experience perform medical procedures on me. Would I trust a peer who is years away from receiving his or her medical license to revive me? No. Not at all. I wouldn't trust most of my peers to follow the directions I gave them to the nearest pizza parlor. But without that there's no movie is there? When this student returns to life, she can play the piano again. She has increased intelligence and memory. Jealous, most of her friends follow suit, all except one. Well the odd man out turned out to be the smart man, as all of these people start having visions. They have more and more difficulty distinguishing between reality and their visions. Maybe when they crossed the boundary between life and death something else came back with them. Maybe. Or maybe not.
This movie stars Ellen Page,Nina Dobrev, Diego Luna, James Norton, Kiersey Clemons,Wendy Raquel Robinson, and of course Kiefer Sutherland. The special effects were good. Nina Dobrev is easy on the eyes. But there is nothing special about this movie. Even Debussy's Clair De Lune, used to such impressive effect in Ocean's Eleven, shows up here with no emotional impact. Of course as always YMMV. But if you're interested in movies about breaking medical rules and stretching the boundaries between life and death I think that Re-Animator was a much better film.
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Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
directed by Edgar Wright
Visually Wright uses TONS of the same sort of the special effect sight gags that he would later use in movies like Baby Driver. When people fight, big block words like "THUD" and "WOMP" appear on the movie screen. This movie feels exactly like a comic book and video game. I mean that as a compliment. There's a heightened sense of fun, unreality, and silliness in this film. If you're looking for something absurd with some side messages about the power of love and self-respect then this might be worth your time.
Knives likes hanging out and playing video games with Scott. Knives thinks that Scott is the most magnificent man she's ever met. Of course she hasn't met (m)any men. Scott's band members, sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick), and gay roommate Wallace (Kieran Culkin) all think that Scott's wrong for dating someone so young and innocent. So does the local barista, whose profane rants about Scott's playboy style are often blocked by black censor boxes, to her listeners' befuddlement.
As Ramona later explains to Scott there are six other evil exes out there, all looking to take Scott down. Scott will have to win all of those battles if he wants Ramona. Wallace, who is Scott's conscience, demands that if Scott wishes to pursue Ramona that he first man up and do the right thing by Knives.
This film is an exhilarating display of technique mixed with a hectic love story. The violence is literally cartoonish. There's no blood or guts. The movie's weakness is that almost everything is shown from Scott's point of view. The film doesn't explain why Ramona is willing to go out with Soctt or how someone with the muscle tone of overcooked spaghetti like Scott can go toe to toe with bigger stronger people. This makes sense if the movie itself is a video game and the viewer is playing Scott. This is not a film that requires deep thinking. Other actors/actresses include Chris Evans, Aubrey Plaza, Brandon Routhand Jason Schwartzman. It's a fun fact that two of the evil exes Scott must defeat would later play Captain America, The Human Torch and Superman.
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