Renfield - Chris McKay - 2023

★★★-It was pretty fun, but not as fun as I was expecting. Think they should have leaned into the comedy a bit more. While the tone was a that of an action/comedy, it didn't really have many jokes that landed. Plus, it felt like it mostly just of pretty bad CGI. And lastly, I think Awkwafina was somewhat miscast. Also, it was kind of a mess. 

Gist is Renfield, Dracula's loyal henchman/long-term inmate at an asylum, yearns for a life free from his master's relentless demands and the gruesome bloodshed that accompanies them. Goes to codependent anonymous meetings to break away, but it doesn't go well for anyone. 

Directed by Chris McKay. He also did The Lego Batman Movie and The Tomorrow War. Cast includes Nicholas Hoult in the title role, Nicolas Cage as Dracula, Awkwafina as a cop/love interest, Ben Schwartz (Jean-Ralphio from Parks and Rec), and Shohreh Aghdashloo (House of Sand and Fog and 24).

Spent some time in development hell. Universal was planning on doing a series of reboots based on the old monster flicks with a shared universe, which would have been cool. This was supposed to be the next movie after the Tom Cruise led film The Mummy, released in 2017, but it bombed. Later, screenwriter Robert Kirkman, who did the original draft, presented a rewrite that was more comedic in nature, which was eventually green-lit. 

Overall, it was alright, mostly because of the performances by Cage and Holt. Renfield, on the whole, is played for laughs – though make no mistake, it is a gorefest. Over-the-top, bloody action is always appreciated, by me at least. Can't get past that CGI though.

Cage's portrayal of Dracula steals the show, blending humor while still drawing inspiration from past actors who played the iconic character. Lugosi, Christopher Lee, and Gary Oldman come to mind. Whenever he takes center stage, the film comes alive in ways it doesn't when it's Holt and Awkwafina. Say what you will about the guy, Cage is always super captivating. 

However, Renfield falls somewhat short due to not capitalizing on its promisingly hilarious premise. While entertaining, the film hints at a more vibrant, dynamic, and absurdly amusing movie yearning to break free. It's enjoyable, but one can't help but feel that it missed the opportunity to be truly extraordinary.

Dark Places - Gilles Paquet-Brenner - 2015

★★★ - Picked this movie at random from the crime section of HBO Max. Forgot that I read the novel it was based on a decade or so ago. Written by Gillian Flynn, liked it less than Gone Girl and Sharp Objects (still need to read The Grownup; she has some talent, this Flynn, and I'll keep reading as she keeps writing), but still liked alright. Early on, I kept thinking it seemed familiar, realizing maybe 20 minutes in that I read it and hated the ending. Similarly, thought it was good enough to finish but needed to be better to be remembered. I'm sure I'll forget I watched this in six months. 

Gist is one Libby Day is forced to confront childhood trauma. When she was eight, her mother and two sisters were brutally murdered in their rural Kansas farmhouse. Now, 30 years later, broke, she is contacted by a group of true crime enthusiasts. Sort of the type that tries to solve old cold cases and work to bring justice to cases they feel got it wrong. Such is the circumstance with her family's murder. They believe her brother, who was convicted of the crime, is innocent. Desperate for cash, she reluctantly agrees to open the dark door of her painful past, uncovering truths about the tragic night she was unwilling to contemplate. 

In addition to themes of trauma and violence, the movie touches on issues of rural American poverty, and the 1980s Satanic panic. Director Gilles Paquet-Brenner does a good job of packing it all in. He has made a career of taking dark novels to the screen with a style that is recognizably his. What he did with the Agatha Christie mystery Crooked House, which is crazy dark, and a French movie I saw 20 years ago called Pretty Things. Pretty Things was pretty fucked. Starred Marion Cotillard from Inception and The Dark Knight Rises. It's been forgotten though I remember it fondly. 

The movie stars Charlize Theron as Libby, the lovely Christina Hendricks as the murdered mother, and Nicholas Hoult (Beast in the newer X-Men movies) as the true crime obsessive. Cast also includes Chloë Grace Moretz (the little badass girl in Kick-Ass), Corey Stoll (the bald guy from Ant-Man), and Tye Sheridan (he played Scott Summers X-Men reboots as well and was the lead in Ready Player One and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse). Stoll and Sheridan play the Ben Day part. Stoll as the older version. Sheridan as the teenaged one. 

The approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is an abysmal 23%, firmly putting it in rotten territory. I didn't think it was that bad, though. The consensus calls it “a mediocre thriller that gets tripped up on its own twists,” which is pretty fair. However, I thought Theron was stellar, and her character was complex and interesting. While she plays the part of a victim, she doesn't fall into the tropes. 

Overall, I'd call it average. I am a sucker for the people-going-from-place-to-place-to-solve-a-mystery format, as run-of-the-mill as that is. Where the film falls apart is the ending, which feels rushed and too convenient. Gets tripped up in its own bullshit, which is what I thought of the book's conclusion, too.  

The Menu - Mark Mylod - 2022

★★★★ - Finally getting to this. Pretty solid. Not my favorite food movie, but it was very good. On a personal note, I’ve had more than a few taco Tuesdays like this myself.

The less you know going in, the better. Basically, people go to an upscale, haute restaurant that they don't appreciate like they should. Ralph Fiennes, the chef, makes them regret it. Does not feature cannibalism, by the by. 

I feel like all the patrons were people I went to private school with. Trust fund types that don't find pleasure in anything.

Cast includes Hong Chau from The Whale (she is having a real moment right now), Nicholas Hoult (Beast from the new X-Men movies/the “I live. I die. I live again.” guy from Mad Max: Fury Road) who plays a real piece of shit, John Leguizamo, Judith Light (Angela from Who's the Boss), Janet McTeer (the lawyer in Ozark), and Anya Taylor-Joy from The Witch (she is still killing it), among others.

Was definitely on-brand for me. I've had three people tell me that this was an “AB type of movie.” One guy was like, “I totally have a movie for you. Guess what it is.” Of course, I guessed it on the first try.