Tag: Jack Reynor

Geekscape Movie Review: Midsommar

by MCDave

You never forget how the great films made you feel when you experienced them for the first time. It’s a unique ability that transcends the standard norms of filmmaking.  And one contemporary visionary who has mastered this skill is Ari Aster, a new generational voice in the psychological horror genre with a knack for capturing a quiet sense of Hitchcock-ian suspense throughout his works. Aster first astonished us with last year’s Hereditary, a spine-chilling examination of a family with sinister bloodlines that even stirred some rumblings of an Oscar Nomination for the film’s leading star, Toni Collette. It was quite a debut, but Aster wastes no time jumping right back into the director’s chair for his indescribable new psychological thriller, Midsommar, another hypnotic effort that’s quickly cementing Ari Aster’s reputation within the horror community.

Following a traumatic and devastating event, a young American couple travel to a remote Swedish commune with a group of friends to experience the local’s once-in-a-lifetime mid-summer festivities. But as they all become more and more immersed in the community’s bizarre rituals, the couple’s relationship becomes tested and their friendships become strained. Yet, things only get worse from there as this once culturally rich experience slowly evolves into a hellish nightmare at the hands of a pagan cult.


Let me be clear, Midsommar isn’t a horror film in the commercialized sense of the word. Instead, writer and director Ari Aster shapes an unnerving and terrifying journey into the human psyche. Florence Pugh stars as Dani, a love-starved young woman desperately holding onto a failing relationship with her boyfriend of four years, Christian (Jack Reynor), after suffering a horrible personal tragedy. The film explores the darkest depths of human connection in such a beautifully shot and viscerally engrossing demeanor. Midsommar stands as a slow-dance of macabre, meant to be savored and digested through sustained periods of intense imagery and a spine-tingling use of sounds. In fact, Ari Aster’s profound use of music and sounds elevates his craft to a whole new level and helps elicit a variety of emotions, it’s truly remarkable. And outside of the film’s apparent technical achievements and majestic cinematography, Midsommar also boasts an impressively detailed and absorbing script. Aster’s story is fully outstretched to what some viewers will complain is a tiresome two-and-a-half-hour affair, especially after the end goal begins to reveal itself about halfway in. Yet, I found this crawling transformation to be mightily impactful with each and every step along the way. Furthermore, another common criticism will be aimed at the film’s silly elements of dark humor. There are numerous scenes which are odd and seemingly over-the-top, but the deeper purpose of these moments is to appropriately illustrate the insidious cult’s desire to bond through empathy. They laugh together, love together, cry together and experience pain and heartache together. All of which align perfectly with Aster’s intended end result. Midsommar is a beautiful and poetic psychological horror that ventures far beyond the superficial norms of its genre and shakes you to the core. It’s one of 2019’s standout features and an experience that’s certainly worth the ride. 

GRADE: 4/5

For more reviews, trailers and movie lists visit MCDAVE’s host site

Geekscape Movie Reviews: ‘Kin’

by AnalogJonesTOF

This Friday night I rented Kin – get ready for a dark, serious, science fiction film that misfires!

Directors: Jonathan and Josh Baker
Starring: Myles Truitt, Jack Reynor, Zoë Kravitz, and James Franco
Appearances by: Dennis Quaid, Carrie Coon, and Michael B. Jordan
Theater Release Date: August 31, 2018
Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes
Rated: PG-13

Geekscape Movie Reviews: 'Kin' | Kin Poster

Character Rundown
Myles Truitt plays Elijah Solinski, a young, adopted kid living in Detroit, and is our main protagonist.
Jack Reynor plays Jimmy Solinski, Eli’s brother who gets out of jail and plays our ever popular antihero.
Dennis Quaid plays Hal Solinski, a tough love blue-collar father and is a widower.
Zoë Kravitz plays Milly, a stripper that runs off with Elijah and Jimmy on their adventure.
James Franco plays Taylor Balik and is our main antagonist, a crime lord that supplies protection in prison.
Carrie Coon plays Morgan Hunter, an FBI agent that gets involved in a firefight at a police station.
Michael B. Jordan plays a “Cleaner.”

Quick Story Breakdown
While scrapping copper one day to sell, Eli finds a pair of futurist soldiers dead from a battle. Eli takes one of the soldier’s guns and brings it home. Jimmy, Eli’s brother, gets out of jail and needs a place to crash while he gets on his feet. Hal, Jimmy and Eli’s father, doesn’t get along with Jimmy. Hal warns Eli to watch himself around Jimmy after Eli gets kicked out of school for fighting.

While Jimmy was in prison, he needed protection and asked Taylor Balik, a local crime lord, to keep him alive while behind bars. Now, Jimmy owes $60,000 to the Balik brothers. Hal catches Jimmy and the Balik brothers trying to steal the cash out of Hal’s work safe. The robbery goes wrong, Jimmy grabs the money and runs off with Eli in Hal’s truck which leads to Taylor Balik chasing him the rest of the movie until the finale, a firefight in a police station.

Geekscape Movie Reviews: 'Kin' | Taylor Balik

Pros
The poster is badass! I’m an old video store kid, which means most of my movies are picked from the marketing. This film nailed the eye candy.

The gun that Eli finds is a dope weapon and does some severe damage. A fresh story point is that only Eli can use the gun, and its three destructive settings. Truthfully, the soldiers or cleaners look altogether is fun.

Speaking of Eli, Myles Truitt does an excellent job of secondary action. He delivers his lines well but always goes further to deepen his character with these thoughts behind his eyes and facial gestures. I hope to see Myles Truitt more in the future.

James Franco’s portrayal of the nasty and strange Taylor Balik is lovely to watch. I was more a fan of Taylor than Jimmy, which leads me into my cons.

Cons
Jimmy is a very unlikeable character. I’m not knocking Jack Reynor’s acting, he’s doing a solid job. Jimmy, on the other hand, keeps putting his brother Eli in terrible situations. The story tries to force you to like Eli and Jimmy with some brotherly mischief on this crazy road trip/chase. It’s not working, and you will find yourself cheering for Jimmy to leave Eli out of his stupid plan.

Zoë Kravitz and Carrie Coon are wasted in their roles. Kravitz plays a stripper that takes a liking to Jimmy and Eli, but I can’t tell why. Coon’s FBI agent does next to nothing. I’m wondering if her role was cut down for time.

Final Thoughts
I had a lot of hope Kin (2018) would be a quiet gem ever since I saw the trailer and the short film “Bag Man” from 2014 that Jonathan and Josh Baker did, which lead to this movie. Sadly, Kin is an action sci-fi that misses the mark and seems to be a prequel to a much better film. I know this is the Baker brothers debut film and I think there is enough here to build on. Hopefully, they get another shot and Hollywood doesn’t bury them for one failure.

Final Grade: C-

Thanks for reading, and check out our podcast Analog Jones and the Temple of Film. We are a VHS Podcast that breaks down the box art, trailers and behind the scenes.

– Stephen M. Bay