Film Review: Glass

"My Work Concerns A Particular Type Of Delusion Of Grandeur. I Specialize In Those Individuals Who Believe They Are Superheroes..."

So where do we being with Glass? Let's begin at the end of the twentieth century in which an up and coming M. Night Shyamalan blew critics and audiences away with The Sixth Sense, a psychological chiller which to this day remains one of the go-to texts for jaw-dropping, I-never-saw-that-coming twists, and a movie which solidified Shyamalan a pathway in Hollywood forevermore to make pretty much whatever he wanted. Following on from The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable continued the interesting pathway the Indian-born filmmaker had already set sail for, introducing both Bruce Willis' (Die Hard) David Dunn, the football player turned security guard with a miraculous ability to see criminal acts alongside an abnormal level of strength, and Samuel L. Jackson's (Pulp Fiction) Elijah Price/Mr. Glass, who during the climactic twist of the movie is revealed to be the overarching villain with an unhealthy obsession with comic book heroes. From Unbreakable onwards, Shyamalan tortured audiences with wave after wave of downright insulting big-screen releases, only to fully redeem himself in 2017 with Split, the James McAvoy led B-movie horror of which Shyamalan's latest, Glass, acts as a direct sequel. Confusing a huge majority of audiences who if unaware of the events of Unbreakable, questioned in tandem during the post-credit scene of Split , "why the hell is Bruce Willis in a diner?" Glass attempts to band together both Split and Unbreakable in an Avengers style team-up, offering up a confusing and sanctimonious muddle of tonal waverings whilst featuring some of the most laugh-out-loud moments of unintentional hilarity I have seen in years. 

Let's face it, on a fundamental level, Glass really doesn't need to exist in any form whatsoever, with the gap between Unbreakable and Split so vast in terms of time that the decision to stitch those two films together in the first place ultimately lessens both works as a whole, with the individual picture much better as a single story rather than being the victim of utmost contrivance by slamming them altogether as trilogy. With Glass therefore, audiences heading in without previously seeing either Unbreakable or Split will have no idea whatsoever going in, a perfectly reasonable notion considering the franchise dependant world we are currently in, however with gargantuan levels of teeth grinding exposition, Glass doesn't even attempt at playing it low-key in terms of storytelling ability and instead goes straight to the George Lucas handbook by screaming every single minor detail in the loudest way possible. I mean come on, Glass is the type of film which has incidental characters literally spell out what is happening even when the audience is already a million steps ahead. Now I'm all for silly movies, I mean Skyscraper was stupid but managed to pass the time rather nicely, yet as with anything stamped with Shyamalan's name on, there seems to be a overriding sense of sanctimony creeping over it, and when the creator believes his work to be of such great importance, the weaknesses become more obvious and the grating, angry emotions begin to fester, particularly in regards to a movie which has such gaping plot holes, I literally just began to laugh at how amateurish the storytelling was out loud in a cinema full of paying customers. With no substance and a reliance on dull, uninteresting levels of wacky supposed "style", Shyamalan returns to the cinematic black hole his career once fell into, with Glass a movie which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and annoyingly degrades the watchability factor of two of his three best movies. Oh well, at least we still can watch The Sixth Sense again without puking. 

Overall Score: 3/10 

Film Review: The Secret of Marrowbone

"At Last, We've Found The Place Where We Can Be Safe..."

Written and directed by Spanish filmmaker, Sergio G. Sánchez, whose previous credits include screenplays for the likes of The Orphanage and The Impossible, interesting and successful movies directed by fellow compatriot, J. A. Bayona, who is currently making waves in the box office with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Secret of Marrowbone is a equally fascinating thriller chiller which merges ghostly horror with secretive deceptions as the movie follows the Marrowbone family after the untimely death of their loving mother in 1960's America. Led by George MacKay's (Pride) Jack Marrowbone, the reclusive family soon become haunted by a seemingly supernatural entity buried high within the household, adding to the perils of the local lawyer, as played by Kyle Soller (The Fifth Estate), who attempts to derail the family's ownership of their one safe haven, and whilst Marrowbone is a movie bursting with splendid performances, subtle creepy asides and beautiful set designs, Sánchez's movie ultimately doesn't hold a candle to his previous works, but still remains a solid, if overly predictable, gothic floor-creaker. 

With supporting performances from the likes of young, genre aficionados such as Charlie Heaton and Mia Goth, with the latter rising to fame in Netflix's Stranger Things and the former starring in the likes of A Cure for Wellness and the upcoming remake of Dario Argento's Suspiria, Marrowbone's leading performances are all effectively finely tuned for the overall mood of the piece, particularly that of MacKay, whose transition throughout the course of the movie works primarily to the actor's commitment and belief in the role. With the ever-splendid Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) taking a slightly different path to what fans of her work are used to, her character helps channel the absurdity of the plot come the final, overly predictable twist, a narrative jump which not only does not work as hauntingly effective as Sánchez's work on The Orphanage, but one which opens up a spectacular can of worms regarding the meteor-sized plot holes it leaves behind in its' wake. Featuring, but not relying on, a couple of well-timed jump scares and spooky set pieces, Marrowbone isn't your straightforward haunted house piece as it weaves through to more of a Gothic-infused, Shutter Island esque psychological conclusion, and whilst Sánchez manages to prove himself as a director in his big screen debut, its' surprisingly the script which doesn't exactly hold together, resulting in a movie which begins in puzzling fashion yet ends on a slight bum note. 

Overall Score: 6/10

Film Review: Split

 "Let Us Show Them What We Can Do. Let Us Show Them How Powerful We Can Be..."

If there is one thing to be said about M. Night Shyamalan's career in the business of movie-making so far, to say it was one of the most diverse and critically haphazard back catalogues of all time wouldn't exactly be a raging overstatement. Whilst films such as The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable continue to be Shyamalan's support beam for his seemingly imperishable reputation, people tend to forget the cinematic bombs such as After Earth, The Last Airbender and Lady in the Water, films which not only are regarded as utter, utter stinkers but films of which Shyamalan tends not to remind people of their existence in fear of not actually being allowed to be behind the camera ever again in Hollywood. With Split, Shyamalan seems to be on similar and overtly familiar territory, with a creepy, psychological premise at the core of the film's screenplay and a final twist which is both surprising and overtly on-the-nose in terms of its' utter silliness but one which too will leave the lay cinematic audience scratching their heads.

Featuring a scenery chewing central performance from James McAvoy, one which echoes the full-blown madness of his role in the black-hole darkness of Filth, Shyamalan's latest is undeniably a welcome return to some sort of form, with the obvious b-movie silliness actually resorting in a movie which is much more fun in terms of its' exaggerated ripeness than one might have first expected, due mainly to the headline performance of McAvoy, whilst the go-to actress for creepy leading ladies in recent times, Anya Taylor-Joy, continues to impress after continuing on from her stand-out roles in both The Witch and Morgan. Of course, now the un-embargoed reveal of the very final act of Split is one of which will baffle those unaware of Shyamalan's previous work, yet for those privy to a particular early Shyamalan picture, the concluding seconds bring with it a surprising sense of wanting to pat Shyamalan on the back for having the audacity to attempt it, let alone actually film it. 

Overall Score: 7/10

Film Review: Morgan

"I'm Starting To Feel Like Myself..."

Oh nepotism, how we love you. It is regrettable that after losing track in recent years when it comes to replicating the real quality of his earlier projects such as Blade Runner and Alien, director Ridley Scott has somewhat diminished in terms of reputation, particularly when examining his recent work such as Exodus: Gods and Kings, Robin Hood and The Counsellor. Yes, The Martian was pretty solid and a welcome return to some kind of form, yet it is still rather disheartening to think films as radical as Blade Runner may indeed never break out onto the big screen ever again. In the meantime however, Ridley's knack of tackling sci-fi genre conventions has seemingly passed on through the gene pool and onto Luke Scott, whose directorial debut in the form of Morgan, no, not a documentary on Morgan Freeman, is the canvas to showcase whether the son has even half of his father's early talent. Part Ex-Machina, part Terminator, Morgan has the necessary blueprints to regard itself as a work of science fiction, yet its' ridiculous plot and complete lack of subtlety, particularly in its' shambles of a final act, means Morgan is a lukewarm start to the ventures of baby Scott. 

Although Morgan boats an extensive amount of talent in terms of its' casting, with Kate Mara, Toby Jones, Paul Giamatti and Brian Cox all managing to squeeze in to the films' 100 minute run-time, The Witch's Anya Taylor-Joy takes the titular role of the synthetic-based humanoid in her stride, pulling out a performance that if served by a sharper and tighter script, may have been something of better consequence. Although the film does hark back to classics of the genre, some even made by father, Ridley, Morgan fails on some level by not entirely deciding on what it really wants to be, much like its' titular character. Is it a horror? Is it an action thriller? Is it a bit of both? Who knows, and with the fast-paced editing of the latter act of the film not allowing one frame to settle, you leave the cinema with not only a head-rush bit with a sense of something that could have been better served if not for a more careful design. The main talking point of the movie may indeed be the final revelation, yet for anyone with a brain cell, it can only be regarded as wholly predictable, so much so that it shouldn't even be regarded as a full 360 degree twist. Maybe a 40? Anyhow, Morgan isn't the decades' Blade Runner and although guided by the no-how of his father, Luke Scott's debut is unfortunately one to forget. 

Overall Score: 4/10

Film Review: The Witch

"Mother, I've Brought A Book, Will You Look At It With Me..?"

Wherein many believe the epitome of modern-day horror movies consist solely of long scenes of tedious boredom, offset with the occasional and wholly meaningless jump-scares, there still remains the chosen few who believe it takes a whole lot more to accomplish something of which many have failed to do over the course of the past few years in particular; make a damn good horror movie. Sure, there have been the few exceptions which break the mould with The Babadook and the best Ben Wheatley film to date, Kill List being strong contenders for scariest movies of the decade so far, yet far too many concede to the money-making formula of jumpy scares over atmosphere and plot. What a massive and overly joyous surprise it is then to have witnessed the creepy, tense, overly oppressive and deliciously dark horror that is The Witch, a stunning debut from first-time director Robert Eggers who in his quest to create a realistic tale of witchcraft has indeed created the most disturbing and terrifying motion picture in years. Watch it with caution...

After being excommunicated and exiled from a New England Puritan Church plantation, William and his family swiftly move to a new home in the realms of a forest, one in which leaves them with dying crops and strange occurrences, most strikingly, when their youngest child goes missing at the hands of a unknown entity deep in the forest. Hooked already? Good, as that's all you are going to get with The Witch, a film which indeed forces you to make up your own decisions regarding what you witness on screen whilst attempting to get incredibly deep under your skin and stay there during your pitch black walk back home, conscious of that slight movement in the corner of your eye. Although jump scares aren't the primary concern of the film, there are sheer moments of horror throughout the film's 90 minute runtime, scenes in which enlighten the director's love of The Shining and The Wicker Man, whilst the gorgeous cinematography and dark, oppressive colour palette only add to the film's sense of sheer dread. With the scariest goat in movie history at its' core, The Witch is a horror movie fan's dream. Check it out and beware... SHE'S A WITCH!

Overall Score: 9/10