"Green Room" Review
Green Room is one of those films that probably won’t get the respect it deserves until a little while down the road, or when we film critics tell enough people how great it is. Which shouldn’t be a surprise, since it is written and directed by Blue Ruin’s Jeremy Saulnier (if you haven’t seen that film, you should). For a single location thriller about apunk rock band trying to fight for survival, the film tells a brilliantly written and executed, surprisingly universal human story...albeit an extremely violent one.
The Ain’t Rights are a punk band comprised of four friends: Pat (Anton Yelchin), Reece (Joe Cole), Sam (Alia Shawkat), and Tiger (Callum Turner). They’re purists when it comes to their music, and as far as we can tell they survive off it alone. Touring the west coast, the group is in a van big enough to haul them and their equipment. They syphon off gasoline to keep the van going and save what few dollars they have.
After getting hired to play a paying gig in a secluded club in the backwoods of Oregon, the group reluctantly obliges. They’ve been informed by Tad (David W. Thompson), a promoter and music reporter who owes them one for stiffing them, that the club is run by neo Nazis. They just didn’t know they would stumble upon a murder right after the show. Once the scene has been seen, it can’t be undone, and there can’t be witnesses. Which means the group has to play a game of wits and survival with the club owner, Darcy (Patrick Stewart).
The casting in this film is perfect. I couldn’t imagine anyone else in the role of Darcy, and Stewart’s years of experience gives the film a dangerous villain who never raises his voice. Yet, it’s not a film where Stewart’s presence saves the film, it only enhances and fortifies an already solidly casted movie. Each member of the band is a fully realized character that has a moment to shine. The same can be said about the skinheads as well.
Always a master of Pace, Saulnier knows how to build a scene, let it breathe and then shake things up a bit. Once the group is locked into the green room, the film is extremely tense until the end, but Saulnier is kind enough to intercut dark humor and moments to relax between violence. I was extremely pleased with everything prior to the murder discovery. Each scene was tightly edited by Julia Bloch and advanced the story with no room for fluff.
As with any group survival film, not everyone will make it to the end. Getting to the end is a huge adrenaline rush though! In a film where the protagonists are forced to face their mortality, Green Room finds plenty of human moments and jokes that will turn this into a cult classic.
Rating: A-
"The Final Girls" Review:
I remember watching “Friday the 13th” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” marathons on the occasional Friday the 13th back in the day. Even though I would watch from underneath a blanket in fear, it was something about the slasher flicks that I enjoyed. “The Final Girls” is a celebration of the 1980s style slasher flicks. It knows what it is and what it’s doing. It’s a movie on the timeline of a cinematic history full of movies and it uses tropes from over the years to make its point. There is so much going on in the film that highlights the past through a contemporary lens, but in the best way possible!
Max (Taissa Farmiga) was always playing the role of the grown up with her mother, Amanda (Malin Akerman), a one time star of “Camp Bloodbath” 1 and 2. Three years after losing her mother in a car accident, Max is invited to a movie marathon of her mother’s biggest role by the franchise’s biggest fan, Duncan (Thomas Middleditch). Max drags her best friend Gertie (Alia Shawkat) to the theater. They run into Max’s possible new flame Chris (Alexander Ludwig) and his ex/mean girl, Vicki (Nina Dobrev). The teens double for the stereotypical characters that can be seen in “Camp Bloodbath”.
After a fire breaks out in the theater, the group try to escape through the theater screen to the back exit but are transported into the “Camp Bloodbath” movie, “Last Action Hero”-style. They soon discover they are stuck in a continuous 92-minute loop of the film and the only way to get out is to get involved in it. As the film moves forward, each cast member steps into their position. Duncan is the genius who knows the Camp Bloodbath movies in and out. While you may assume that you know how everyone else fills their roles, it’s their interaction with their counterparts that makes the film so interesting!
As Chris interacts with Kurt (Adam DeVine), the jock of Camp Bloodbath, viewers can see the 80’s definition of the athletic male stereotype versus the 2015 version. Yet, where the movie finds a lot of it’s emotional depth is in the interaction with Max and her mom’s character, Nancy. The chance for Max to speak to her mom again turns “The Final Girls” into a fun movie with wit and heart.
For the film geeks, the movie is technically proficient and brilliantly executed. All the elements of slasher films are there for dissecting through humorous scenes thatserve the story: slow motion running, backstory flashbacks, stepping over titles, jump screams from the killer appearing in the window, swelling scores, and so much more that this review could turn into a paper. There are plenty of spoof horror films out that you probably can roll your eyes thinking about right now, but this I assure you is not one of those.
“The Final Girls” is an absolutely brilliant film that celebrates the process of filmmaking, the history of slasher films, and the emotions we feel as viewers when we go to the movies. You can’t reinvent the wheel that Wes Craven created in “Scream”. However, you can create your own brand. “The Final Girls” does that and some! Go see it now!
Rating: A+