Longlegs (2024)

 Longlegs does not have such looong legs, falls short in some aspects.

Or the advertising has been so huge, "the best since this and that", serial , it's not even about serial so much.

Takes elements of not only The Silence of the Lambs but a combo of Lambs with Manhunter/Red Dragon, Zodiac, Se7en, X Files, Carrie< Carrie's mom, Rosemary's and Omen, too much Satan and Satanism for me, I'd rather go with Late Night with the Devil or Oddity or Maxxine (that being a fun film as opposed to this one, bleak, dark and all tense), of recent horror fare.

It's set in the mid 90's in Oregon and it follows a female FBI agent (Maika Monroe, who gives everything to the screen), investigating a 30 years old odd killing spree of a mysterious character known as Longlegs (Nicolas Cage in one of his career high), with which she seems to have a strange connection.

Inspired by the Satanist craze of US in the Nineties, and a real creepy case (see here). 

It's a heavy film, filled to the max, volume of scares and movie tricks to do that amped to the max. 

It's Osgood Perkins' fourth feature film, and all of them are horror films. I've seen them all in time, Gretel and Hansel (2000) is espcially a retelling of that creepy (this is the main word of this review ;) fairy tale, more like a nightmare, very stylish and scary. Did I say creepy ? Osgood is the son of Anthony Perkins, the legendary star of Psycho, but he seems to live and dream in that (creepy creepy) House up the Hill. 

The music is by Osgood's brother, Elvis, under the pseudonym of Zilgi ! Creepy music ? Yes ;)

But music plays a greater part on the plot, from T. Rex (Bang a Drum, from which the film quotes directly & two more Bolan songs), to Lou Reed, Bowie and even a weird connection to Duran Duran's Rio. Plus Longlegs himself seems to be a failed rock musician. He also kinda sings in it !

Definetly the Nicolas Cage Award of 2024 !!!

7 out of 10 / 3 1/2 out of 10 

-for A splendid Nic Cage (some would say Creepiest-a cross of Marilyn Manson and Mickey Rourke's worst lifting), great costumes too, absolutely fantastic sound design, photography gimmicks, I didn't go for the subliminal s**t, too many tricks of the trade. Absolutely fantastic 'cos such a low budget and indie film has such universal success (budget 10 mill. $, BO 'til now Ten times more!!!) , bravo Oz and Good ;)

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

There's been 36 years til Beetlejuice.

Beetlejuice 2 aka Beetlejuice Beetlejuice does not feel like a cash-in but a really feel-good movie.

They had the most fun doing it, I had most fun watching it.

In short, It Rocks !

Also Tim Burton's back. With a Bang. He seemed to have got his Juice back. C'mon, from Dumbo (2019) he didn't do any film for the big screen, he directed some episodes of Wednesday in Romania (4 actually!). Also Dumbo? Why? His last great film for me was Sleepy Hollow in 1999, Big Fish being too pretentious (they thought is Oscar material, like a more fantastic Forrest Gump...), I have a soft spot for Dark Shadows (2012), which I saw again 2 years ago and accepted it as it was. Sweeney Todd is grand guignol but Burton didn't fulfill his early promises that became with the shorts animated (Vincent & Frankenweenie) went into Beetlejuice, his 1st "Burtonesque" film. Pee-Wee was just an essay ;). That's what made us (me and some buddy) say in the mid 2000's that Burton is the most overrated director. Well, make room, there's plenty who took that place ever since. So, take it as you please, BB is Tim Burton's comeback film, a fun to watch, fun to make, roller-coaster of sandworms and a true Burton-o-rama.

Warning, this is for the fans of the original, it got all the ties so if you haven't seen the 1988 original, pls. do. Now it's streaming on Max, they were smart enough to put it in today. 

BB opened the Venice film festival and opened worldwide on 6.9.24 or the American way -9.6.24, all reversed adds up to 6.6.6 but that is another story.  

Michael Keaton (who just got 73!!!) is even wackier than in Beetlejuice, and he looks exactly the same!

Winona Ryder looks great as grown-up (& still haunted) Lydia Deedz.

Ctaherine O'Hara is back as Delia Dee.

And Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) is in as Astrid, Lydia's daughter /less troubled teenager than Winona was in the original.

They got rid of Jeremy Jones -Charles Deetz-(who's now a known sex offender :( in a very classy and smart way (the stop motion animation sequence is a blast!) 

Monica Bellucci is an addition to the cast as Delores (a sort of Corpse's Bride), with nods to Mario Bava in an insane Italian B & W sequence, she is now Burton's partner (lucky Tim ;)

Justin Theroux is Rory, Lydia's producer & manager.

Also Burn Gorman (The Offer) is Father Damien (!).

Willem Defoe is here in his 1st part on a Burton film, as Wolf Jackson, he's great ("Keep it real") but I can't think of how it would have been if Christopher Walken would have accepted this part as he was offered it initially (at least that is what I read). 

Oh, and that excellent Danny de Vito cameo...

Groovy soundtrack (Songs by Donna Summer, Richard Harris-yes, that Richard Harris !, The Bee Gees, Scott Weiland, Sigur Ros, Richard Marx-!-), fantastic musical scenes (MacArthur Park, Tragedy, Day-O choir), and a great score by Danny Elfman (& Steve Bartek), with all the riffs of the old one. 

There's also a riff on a classic Brian De Palma film that I won't spoil here ;) , i spotted the Monty Python fattest man in the world riff (from Meaning of Life), but hey...

Probably the most fun film about Death and the Underworld !

7 out of 10/ 3 1/2 out of 5.  

It's a seven for me because it's too light in its darkness, and some character scenes are really just expository and you don't feel the suspense or the weight of death upon life or life upon death. But then again, you have Bob in it...

Kaos (2024)

 Fullfill thy prophecy

or

ther will be KAOS

It might as well be the best thing on TV this year (so far...), except Ripley... 

(streaming on netflix)

brush up your Greek and drink up your Meander water, I mean yr Olympus yoghurts..

TBC...

Blink Twice (2024)

Worth a trip to the theaters !

and Blink Twice

Blink Twice is a term used for people who are in danger. 

It's stylish, it's widescreen, it's evil under the sun (plus champagne and strawberries), wild soundscape and it's pretty creepy (add some black humor too) !

a bit of woke (...2024?!), but also some R rated weird cutting and ambiguity.

I really enjoyed this in a theater, I'd somehow make it a double bill with Rose Glass 's film Love Lies Bleeding.

Blink Twice is Zoe Kravitz's directorial debut at 35, I guess ya all know who Zoe is (from Hollywoodland royalty -Lenny K. and Lisa Bonet). 

She co-produced and co-wrote the film, which she started in 2017 as "Pussy Island" ! Rewroted as the #metoo movemement moved on. Of course MGM blinked 'til the title was changed. See here why. & how.

Channing Tatum (Zoe's fiancee) plays his 1st mature and risque part on the screen (ok, he was in Foxcatcher 10 years ago...), Slater, a cross of Jeffrey Epstein  (for power) and Arnie Hammer (for charisma) as a rich Tech CEO who has his own island where he brings selected people to party...

Cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie from the Whitney Huston biopic) is all spellbound by this and on board for the ride, this is her story and her POV.

A new entry in the "evil rich people" doing bad s**t on an island (that started with The Most Dangerous Game in 1932 and recently goes into The Hunt, The Menu, Ready or Not, The Invitation, even Old) . Just that BT is better, way more stylish, poignant and...fun.

More value to the screen:

-Cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra's first main credit, vivid colors & panache. 2.39: 1. Shot in Yucatan, Mexico.

-A very effective soundtrack by Chanda Dancy 

-and songs (James Brown, Chaka Khan -Ain't Nobody, one Yoko One song-Don't Be Scared. Really ;)? 

-Strong supporting cast, including the likes of Haley Joel Osment, Christian Slater, Kyle MacLachan and Geena Davis. Slater in particular seems to have a groovy time. He's the one with the Polaroid camera.

...So what you need to do, is to Follow the Red Rabbit ;)

7 out of 10/ 3.5 out of 5 !!!