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Film reviews

Godzilla Minus Zero Review

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A continuation from Godzilla Minus One, and the very first Godzilla film that roars with a R rating.  Godzilla Minus Zero is magnificent, spellbinding, loud, and enticing. The scenes filled with monstrous battles left me breathless, especially due to the IMAX format. I felt surrounded by the presence of monsters on the largest scale possible. There is so much to Godzilla Minus Zero that my mind was blown and the thoughts lingered with me long after the credits rolled.

Following the events of Godzilla Minus One, the Shikishima family is the focus as they face a new disaster. It has been two years since surviving the monsters, but the chaos is not over yet. In Godzilla Minus Zero, there are more creatures and additional battles.That is why the film was slapped with the R rating—there is more violence than before. The main characters (many of whom are returning from the previous film) are Noriko Oishi (Minami Hamabe), Dr. Ogata (Jun Kunimura), Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), Makoto Aoyama (Masami Nagasawa), Shiro Mizushima (Yuki Yamada), Sosaku Tachibana (Munetaka Aoki), and Kenji Noda (Hidetaka Yoshioka). They will have to face uncharted territory. They survived the monsters once, can they survive again? The answers are waiting in the fighting pits.

The newest enemy is Ghidorah, a dragon with multiple heads. The newest threatening monster swarms throughout the film. There are new powers based on advanced science to be unleashed. Godzilla is the only one that can take Ghidorah down. Throughout the film, there are waves of trials and errors, and fragments of what is untold from the previous film. There is much more theory in Godzilla Minus Zero and it roars with elements that count. From the very opening of the film, Godzilla is stirring up all kinds of mayhem. 

My experience of this movie was at the Cinemark Seven Bridges & IMAX in Woodridge, Illinois. The one IMAX everyone traveled miles to experience The Odyssey on 70 MM. Godzilla Minus Zero was digital in the IMAX format, but the scenes of the film shot with IMAX cameras made all the monsters and action feel like such a spectacle of an experience.

Loud roars are mixed with cinematically daring damage in this film which loops in science to bring the two heroes together for a showdown. The other element that is well written involves the impact from Godzilla in the previous film. There is more of that ahead, but the pattern used in the writing is spot-on. Godzilla Minus Zero pulled me in deep with a strong, inspirational storyline. The message that the world will keep facing new challenges is handled effectively in this franchise. Fortunately, Godzilla Minus Zero has a director who knows what he is doing. Four out of four stars. 

 

Film reviews

Victorian Psycho Review-62nd Chicago International Film Festival

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The year is 1858 and the director is Zachary Wigon. For some delightful, psychological laughs, he brings us Victorian Psycho. This film is a crowd pleaser at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival. Maika Monroe will twist audiences’ minds with her performance. I found myself laughing and wishing it wouldn’t end. Victorian Psycho is one-of-a-kind.

Monroe plays Winifred Notty. She is hired as a governess for a wealthy family and reports to Mr. and Mrs. Pounds (Jason Isaacs and Ruth Wilson). Winifred does what she can to please the family, but possesses evil elements within herself. From sarcastic remarks to rude innuendos, Monroe is the master of inappropriate behavior throughout the film. There are moments when she acts out of jealousy and others when her actions are based on hatred. The wealth of the family is sickening, yet deep-down the real monster is Winifred Notty.

Zachary Wigon goes down a notch after his direction of Sanctuary. While I adore Sanctuary, I felt that Wigon expanded the overwhelming scenes into a new era that made the film more of a period piece. Victorian Psycho is festival material because of its class dynamics. The theme of envy fuels the suspense in Victorian Psycho. 

The film is not easy to explain, but the behaviors make the clock start ticking with rage. Victorian Psycho has been steady on the film festival circuit throughout the year. It has earned praise at the Cannes Film Festival, The Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff), Beyond Fest, Fantastic Fest, and is even slated to be the opener of Popcorn Frights’ Wicked Weekend in November. The mind-twisting grandeur is in trick or treat mode throughout the year. Zachary Wigon’s round of terror will make heads roll. Three-and-a-half out of four stars.

Film reviews

Clayface Review

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The setting is Gotham in this film where a DC comic/character villain is actually the good guy. It’s usually Batman territory, only difference is that this time Batman is not the focus, as Matt Hagen aka Clayface takes center stage. Directed by James Watkins, he centers solely on a character that the world knows to be a villain in the Batman universe. With a generous amount of misdirection there is a lot of vengeance that swirls in circles with Clayface. He suffers a mutation that gains him a reason forrevenge. The film is jumpy and fun, but not so much of a masterpiece.

 

Matt Hagen/Clayface is played by Tom Rhys Harries. Matt is a rising movie star with a lot going for him. Big projects are coming his way, and his name is all over the press. All of this changes though, when a mob member named Markos Szabo carves into his face with a blade. With so much going on for Matt, he is determined to get his face back. He hires a surgeon for skin treatment named Caitlyn Corr to help him. Caitlyn is played by Naomi Ackie. They work together to get Matt’s face back, and there is lots of trial and error, with the result being thathis face can mutate into practically anything.

 

Everything Matt touches begins to become a power for him. He can transform into other people, and his skin is irreversible and literally magnetic. He utilizes all of it in full-throttle mode. With losing his Hollywood golden moments, his mission now is vengeance. The question though, is one of revenge being the right thing.

 

The film spends too much time on watching melted skin through the first half—very disgusting. It took away eighty percent of the enjoyment throughout the beginning of the film for me. I was thinking that I am here to watch a movie about vengeance, not to truly keep seeing a face melt or get more destroyed. The pay off comes around eventually. I just felt that it dragged with too many special effects moments of a melting face while waiting to get to the actual crux of the picture. 

 

The name Clayface comes around because of how Matt’s face is literally made of clay—it goes in and out of all different forms. A small spoiler… when he gets angry his skin gets tighter and he looks much like normal again. This is not always the case though. The question is, can he get his life back? Can he star in Hollywood movies again? Can he track down his nemesis, Markos? He sure can. Even though the character is an enemy in the comic book series, he is truly the protagonist who is forced to be the antagonist by events that were out of his control. The film is interesting and, yes, even captivating at times. It is almost amazing, but with a bit too much quirkiness to take seriously.Two-and-a-half out of four stars for Clayface.