"M3GAN" Review: When Killer Dolls Play It Safe
M3GAN has the potential to be a pop-culture icon. The memes that have come from the trailer alone have been enough to have her ascend to memorable villain status. However, the film itself is a paint by numbers horror movie that, unlike its robotic star, doesn’t have the same amount of life and punch!
After her parents die in an accident, Cady (Violet McGraw) has to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams). It’s quite evident that Gemma hasn’t had too many touch points with children. Her house is a nerdy roboticist’s bachelorette pad, equipped with collectibles and an Alexa-type device that runs the house. To Gemma’s credit, she wants to fight to keep her niece with her instead of Cady going to live with her father’s parents. She wants to fill the void she sees in Cady’s life while simultaneously wanting to please her boss David (Ronny Chieng) in getting a new toy to market.
Gemma figures she can solve both issues with her Model 3 Generative ANdroid aka M3GAN (voiced by Jenna Davis and played by Amie Donald), a prototype of what could be a game changer in toys. A doll that is continuously learning the child it’s paired with and told to protect her sounds like a great idea! Right? Wrong! Let the dangers of a sentient Artificial Intelligence (AI) manifest!
There are so many things going for this film. For starters, the M3GAN doll body and face is horrifically realistic and yet the wig is awful. So this villain has the physical characteristics to be memorable. The film starts with a realistic promo for a Furby-like toy for today’s kids. You can feed it via an app and the physical toy responds. If you over-feed it, it poops. It’s so over the top but grounded in today’s reality, which underscores the films theme of relationships. There is a constant nod to our connection with technology and one another as human beings. The fight between what we pay attention to more, tech or the ones we love is real! The tension created by director Gerard Johnstone between M3GAN and the adults who realize something is wrong is palpable. This is largely due to the cinematography of Peter McCaffrey and Simon Raby (director of photography). The frame hides M3GAN in shadow when needed and puts her on full display at other times.
When the movie leans into its satirical nature and the themes it explores, it’s a blast, but it takes itself too seriously more often than not. It’s as though it knows it comes from a long line of killer doll movies and is afraid to buck the rules or step out of line by making memorable kills or noteworthy dialogue. The best performances come from Williams, McGraw and the physicality of Donald as your standard horror leads. Yet, it’s probably because they are the best developed characters on the page. Chieng’s David is supposed to be the self-centered, berating boss but his lines are vapid and poorly delivered. Everyone else in the film seems to be set pieces to get us from Act 1 to Act 3.
The best moments are probably not meant to be funny, like the cop who says “I’m sorry, I wasn’t supposed to laugh at that” or M3GAN playing “Toy Soldiers”. Each set up for a genuine scary moment is stress inducing until its underwhelming finish. I’m assuming the PG-13 rating kept M3GAN from going for the fences. Instead we get a bunt that should definitely bring viewers in for a streaming platform view at home, but not the home run in theaters! Save your theater money, but definitely grab some popcorn when this hits whatever streaming platform it will land on.
Rating: C
Check out some of the best memes to come from the trailer:
"Barbarian" Review: An Unexpected Surprise!
If you like films that go in a direction you don’t expect, or subvert their genre, Barbarian is one to see. The film was marketed in a way that doesn’t give away the overall story, but has more to it than meets the eye. It’s a psychological thriller that will keep you questioning what will happen next, even when it admittedly goes a bit off track!
Tess (Georgina Campbell) is checking in to her Air BnB to no avail. A light pops on inside the house and she meets Keith (Bill Skarsgard), who seems to be occupying the space through another rental service. After they both realized they’ve been double booked, they’re tasked with awkwardly trying to figure out how they will do sleeping arrangements for the night. It’s the friend or foe mystery that propels the story forward.
As much as I’d like to give more context, going about as far as the trailers explore is best. Tess does discover an ominous room in the basement. Writer/Director Zach Cregger understands the story he’s telling and where he wants to lead his audience. Visually his framing leads the eye to an object or character, but he blocks his characters in the same frame to hide what we really want to see.
In understanding the rules of the horror genre, Cregger manipulates his audience in fun and entertaining ways. As Barbarian develops, its self-awareness and dark humor makes exploration of the secrets that lie beneath its story interesting to peel back. Somewhat like the way I’ve mentioned the genre(s) this film straddles, if you were paying attention! This is worth a view!
Rating: B
"Doctor Sleep" Review: Don't Overlook This One!
In a world where sequels, reboots, remakes, and a lack of creativity exists, it’s hard to believe that we’re revisiting the Overlook Hotel. There are certain classics we shouldn’t touch. I would have thought The Shining would be one of them, but director Mike Flanagan gives us The Shining meets Inception in an intriguing look at where Danny Torrance (Ewan McGregor) is nearly forty years later in the new movie Doctor Sleep.
After learning how to deal with and master his shine, Danny has decided to dampen it by staying under the influence of the bottle. Drowning his grief to escape being haunted, literally and figuratively, by ghosts of his past, it’s years later that an event causes him to run to a small town and unexpectedly sober up. It’s when he starts to sober up that a connection with a powerful “shiner” named Abra (Kyleigh Curran) is made miles away. Simultaneously, a group of adults who have been living for centuries by finding people who shine and eating off of their life force, feels Abra on their radar and have to have her.
The first act of the film meticulously sets up the foundation for the expansion of its world. Once the film establishes itself, following its lead is a pleasure to watch. Flanagan slowly builds the layers of psychological horror through character development, cinematography, and a controlled camera that knows what to show, for how long, and what not to show.
McGregor brings an everyday man’s sensibility to the role as the reluctant, eventual mentor. Curran has a lot to take on as a child actor. It’s rare that you see a horror film in which the kid involved is not only not afraid of the monster or villain, but has a healthy understanding of the power she possesses and is willing to stand toe to toe with said villain. Curran embodies this balancing act with a rare comprehension of her character that helps make the film work. Which brings us to Rose The Hat (Rebecca Ferguson). Ferguson gives her character a tangible quality that is both attractive and terrifying. With a villain this good, it’s hard not to root for her and her band of thieves at times.
Flanagan makes a smart move in giving us the fan service in the final act of the film, rather than throughout it. In fact, he pays homage to many of the iconic frames Kubrick created by not giving us a shot for shot match, but instead finding his own frame in the same space. It’s a clever tip of the hat, that keeps us from making intense comparisons.
Doctor Sleep reminds us that occasionally a sequel can be done right these days. It’s a rich expansion of a world that shows us that sometimes the only way to face your demons is to go through them. I wouldn’t overlook this one!
Rating: B+
"Ma" Review: A Reminder of Why You Don't Hang With Strangers
There’s a reason your parents teach you not to talk to strangers at a young age. You never know what a person does or who they are when they’re by themselves; even if they’re your friend. Ma is just a friendly reminder to teens who may think they know more than their parents, “you don’t know that lady! Why would you go into her basement?”
Maggie (Diana Silvers fresh off of Booksmart) and her mother Erica (Juliette Lewis) have just moved back to Erica’s hometown in middle-of-no-where America. Maggie quickly finds new friends in Haley (McKaley Miller), Andy (Corey Fogelmanis), Chaz (Gianni Paolo), and Darrell (Dante Brown). Being in a small town means there’s not a lot to do event wise, so drinking at the rock pile is a good time. Of course, being a teen means that there’s a small hurdle to getting alcohol. So when Sue Ann (Octavia Spencer) walks by and agrees to purchase booze for them, it makes sense to keep going back to their supplier.
Sue Ann gets closer with the teens and even let’s them call her Ma. She opens up her basement as a safe place to drink with their friends. She only has a few rules: don’t use the Lord’s name in vain, she has to check to make sure the driver is ok to drive before they leave, and don’t go upstairs! Initially blinded by the opportunity, the scales covering their eyes to seeing Ma’s strange and sinister nature slowly start to fall off as Ma starts showing up at school, texting them relentlessly and more.
The key to Ma is that the first two acts of the film are dominated by suspense in tension. We know something the main characters don’t know. Yes, in part it’s that you shouldn’t trust strangers or put all your business out on social media for someone like Ma to find, but it’s also Ma’s ties to their parents. After a traumatic incident of bullying and sexual abuse, Sue Ann has been harboring anger ever since.
There’s no doubt that Ma could have explored a variety of things in more detail. There’s an element of the dangers of social media, bullying, and the fact that Sue Ann seems to be the only black woman in her small town (which actually leaves room for a funny joke with Darrell). Yet, seeing an Oscar caliber actress like Octavia Spencer take on a genre film is what helps this movie. Spencer’s choices and presence creates a tangible character that feels like a family member instead of the creepy person next door. They could have let her loose a bit more in her role, but it seems as though she chose to have fun with the character over making her more sinister which works.
The film teams Spencer up with director Tate Taylor (The Help) again. There’s an element of the film that feels like Taylor watched Get Out hundreds of times before stepping on set with his camera work. The close-ups, dutch angle shots, and cuts in the editing are vaguely familiar and make things comical at times rather than scary. However, it somewhat lends itself to writer Scotty Landes’ writing style.
Ma is a fun ride if you know the type of vehicle you’re getting into. It could have been souped up a bit more, but it’s an entertaining thriller that opens the door for desire to see more Oscar caliber actors in rolls outside of their genre wheelhouse. Perhaps parents should check out the film with their teens just to say “that’s what happens when you give in to peer pressure and hang with strangers.” And while you should drink responsibly at the appropriate age, “don’t make me drink alooooone!” might be one of the funniest lines to sing and demand of your friends this year!
Rating: B
"Us" Review: Be Prepared for Nightmares
A little over two years ago, Jordan Peele told us to Get Out. This time he wants us to look at ourselves in his new movie Us. While this film doesn’t rise to the masterpiece heights of its predecessor, it sure proves that Peele understands cinema and he’s no one hit wonder. Usually I’d say the hype is real, but the truth is true this time around, and Us is the sci-fi/horror truth!
As a young girl, Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong’o) wandered off from her parents at the Santa Cruz beach. The experience left her speechless and in therapy for years. So years later, when her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) decides that her and the kids should go to the same beach for vacation, she begrudgingly goes. They meet up with the Tyler family and Adelaide learns Kitty’s (Elizabeth Moss) secret to dealing with life is booze, while Gabe and Josh (Tim Heidecker) compare boat sizes.
Once they finally get home and Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and Jason (Evan Alex) are tucked in, the lights go out and things get weird. A family stands at the edge of the drive way and won’t budge off the property. Once the Wilson family realizes the family is comprised of themselves (called the tethered), a story only Jordan Peele could unveil begins.
Peele hits every note of suspense in setting up scenes that we as an audience are frightened by and using every element of cinema to capitalize on that fear in a way in which you feel like you are in the situation. He uses sound and the lack thereof to build those fight or flight moments that we experience in real life. He’s not afraid to let a moment breathe and build the tension in a scene like some directors in the genre back away from these days. His blocking of characters shows an understanding of a frame of film and how to use it. In a scene with Adelaide riding shotgun in the foreground on the way to the beach with a look of absolute nervousness and Gabe in the background obliviously happy, he allows the story to be told without a useless back and forth of camera shots.
Lupita Nyong’o gives a stellar performance as both Adelaide and her tethered, Red. She plays a range of emotions as both characters and is stellar at it. Red’s presence is almost good enough to put her in the top lists of movie villains. The rest of the cast equally play their parts well in such a way that once the story comes together, you’ll have tons to talk about in the parking lot.
You better believe I’m talking around this film so you can go in as blank as possible. Us does have some story issues, but the setup and storytelling more than make up for those issues. See this film with as many black people as possible! It will only enhance your experience because this is definitely a film you may find yourself talking to the screen in throughout its second and third acts. If you don’t know how to do it, sit back and take notes because it might get hilarious in all the right ways. The best part is, the main characters don’t constantly make silly decisions. It’s old fashion horror and sci-fi with all the good twists and turns it seems we will come to expect from a Jordan Peele movie. With this film, it seems we’re on the verge of seeing a new auteur in the suspense thriller genre.
Rating: B+
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