Venom

Having harvested interstellar phenomena, and obtained coveted extraterrestrial booty, a courageous spacecraft swiftly descends towards Earth, and none of its crew survives.

The alien lifeforms discovered bond with various hosts, begrudgingly commandeering their bodies, with intent most disruptive and grievous.

Including, but not limited to, heading back to space to find their fellow mucus-like beings, in order to one day return, and devour humanity.

Whole.

Or from the inside out.

It depends.

Both conscientious reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and technocratic phenom Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) eventually find themselves hosting representatives of the species, reps whose personality differences closely match those of Brock and Drake, the reps in fact searching for unique personalities, even if corresponding storylines can't withstand the symmetry.

Not Marvel's finest hour.

I thought perhaps the buzz was off, preferring to see it for myself before adding an opinion, but Venom misses 8.25 times out of 10, although there's something to be said for such a complete lack of refinement.

Something bad.

In a nutshell, the story's too blunt, too direct, too surface level.

It's not that you can't write a great story that's blunt and direct, many appealing stories are, as many have noted, Venom's lacking the aesthetic expertise that held those stories together though, everything's condensed into purposeful formulaic probabilities for instance, which unfortunately assumed they required nothing more.

It happens.

Ruben Fleisher's usually quite good, I don't know what happened here but I suspect his hands were too tied, his independent spirit was exorcized throughout production, and the result fell far short of his audience's expectations, since independent spirits often lack inspiration when conventionally constrained.

Took one for the team perhaps.

I suppose every Marvel film isn't destined to present a deep convincing narrative that cerebrally shocks and actively theorizes, but Venom does neither, and metaphorically secretes jingoistic protoplasm.

I suppose you need deadlines and a production schedule but when you're bound to make multimillions regardless, do you need to follow them/it so strictly?

You probably do.

I don't work in film.

It's kind of funny when Venom discusses his sociohistorical misfortunes with Eddie.

Too little too late though.

But something cool for round 2.

Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre

It comes down to one man, his independence in jeopardy, democracy in motion, the deciding vote, will Canada or will Canada not go to war?, the Conservatives pro, the Liberals contra, local economic interests seeing opportunities both lush and lucrative, employment, outsiders, vehemently upholding ethical curricula, the pressure intensifying, he seems unconcerned.

Steve Guibord (Patrick Huard) that is, independent MP for a federal riding in Northern Québec, suddenly thrust into the limelight, suddenly given supreme authority.

It's a lighthearted comedy, Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre, heartwarmingly dealing with extraordinarily complex political issues with down home country charm, issues such as Aboriginal Rights, workers rights, big d Democracy, intergovernmental relations, ethical reporting, international sensations, war, and protesting, to name a few.

Haitian born Souverain (Irdens Exantus) endearingly humanizes these factors in an erudite salute to political philosophy.

Seriously contrasting Ego Trip's Sammy.

Obviously many of these issues are quite touchy, and they're momentarily resolved somewhat achingly, but the film does skilfully keep things local, perhaps accidentally addressing predetermined criticisms, by remaining blissfully aware.

Politically aware.

The geopolitics of the proposed war aren't really discussed, the in-depth analysis of war's impact out maneuvered by the prospects of economic growth, unfairly depicted protesters from Winnipeg failing to outwit, until Guibord's daughter's (Clémence Dufresne-Deslières as Lune) frustrated pleas begin to register.

I do find that many people I know are politically aware, but politics is a multidimensional continuum, especially in Québec where the dynamic is much more intense, and when you have a plethora of parties each advocating to specifically yet generally define political awareness, the concept sort of dematerializes, even if it's highly abstract to begin with.

Focus. Remain focused.

It's not that you can't expect an awareness of geopolitical agitations to be found in the North, but you can expect such realities to hold less weight than putting food on the table, on occasion, especially if a mine closes, government subsidies dry up, or tensions increase due to conflicting resource management agendas.

Guibord recognizes this, and playfully uses it to its advantage.

It's not just like that in the North.

But apart from its schmaltzy meandering, I really loved watching Guibord, being a part of the audience.

I didn't get some of the jokes, and didn't really like it, but, and the same thing happened while I was watching Ego Trip, the audience loved it and did get the jokes, and from their friendly laughter I found proof, more proof, that Québec really does have its own vibrant film industry, where citizens do really take their home-on-the-range domestic films seriously, a living breathing cultural conviviality, something that's missing from English Canada.

I haven't said that for years.

Did the Liberal party fund this film behind the scenes?

Questions.

*Who came up with the English title? Lame.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Escalating like a tepid uninspired frantic boil, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film never hesitates to nunchaku an identity of its own.

Formulaic without circumventing its conventions, accelerated at the expense of conscious depth, maudlin where it could have been instructive, taking its love of cheese pizza, far, far to far, it's kind of cool if you grew up with the characters, like a sand duned mediocrity, or going to a beach where you can't swim, but its secrets are revealed much too quickly, leaving no room for theories or suppositions, just blatant banal facts.

Perhaps I'm being too hard on the film.

It's obviously made for children under the age of 10.

Like a preparatory film designed to familiarize pre-adolescent audiences with the filmic structures they'll comprehend more elastically as their parents allow them to see films like The Avengers.

But, if I'm not mistaken, this same age group likely saw The Avengers, and were likely therefore prepared in advance for something with more depth, something with more than just a funny elevator scene.

April's (Megan Fox) a strong character, so is Vernon (Will Arnett), their interactions driving the narrative for viewing parents, Vernon's troubles time-honoured and tragic, April's pursuits, dedicated and commendable.

But still, I mean, wouldn't an 8-year-old know that her attempts to sell a tale about humanoid vigilante turtles to her boss without indisputable evidence would quickly be characterized as narcotic induced quackery, even if they're noble in their ingenuous search for the truth?

I suppose they would identify with April as their parents regularly dismiss the truths uncovered during their own sleuthful explorations.

I don't know.

Man of Steel

The Man of Steel.

Itinerant and contemplative.

Modest and self-sacrificing.

Sculptor of the spectacularly withdrawn.

Called to action.

Zack Snyder's Man of Steel seeks to altruistically benefit humankind while remaining practically skeptical of their leader's self-serving pretensions.

A 21st century Superman, different from Richard Donner's incarnation, the past continuously and instructively resurfacing, as opposed to being left behind at a certain age.

Like Superman on Facebook.

Prominent features of Superman lore, even his title, are humbly introduced, a sign mentioning Smallville here, an advertisement for LexCorp there, as the film's quasi-historical background subtly reflects Kent's (Henry Cavill) psyche.

Although there's no Jimmy Olsen.

The film confrontationally yet reticently undulates surreal mnemonic passages with sensational graphic carnage, Superman style, as the effected take the time to lend a helping hand, the innocent are humanely taken into consideration, methods of disseminating information multiply, and the ego is intransigently mollified.

The environmental movement finds support as Krypton explodes à cause de rampant resource extraction and later on we find a sole polar bear exploring beside the vestiges of his or her once dependable pack ice.

Jor-El (Russell Crowe) rides a wicked cool H'Raka too.

Solid blend of Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), paying homage to its most convincing   predecessors while leaving the door open for more adventurous avenues of inquiry.

General Zod's (Michael Shannon) still a bit of a dickhole.

Wasn't impressed with the new Ursa (Antje Traue as Faora-Ul).

Some of the supporting cast had more depth in the earlier films.

It's not just that I was 7 years old when I first saw them.

It's not.

1408

The latest Stephen King text to find its way to the big screen is 1408, an adaptation of the second short story found in the audiobook Blood and Smoke. Director Mikael Hafstrom delivers some genuine chills and pertinent thrills although the overall product warrants its PG-13 rating.

Nice to see John Cusack in a thriller. For a while, I figured Cusack's career would interminably churn out romantic-comedy after romantic-comedy, but, low and behold, the fates stepped in and provided us with 2005's The Ice Harvest, and, now, 1408. The thriller can occasionally till troubled ground for a performer's career, but a script like 1408's gives the actor in question enough room to competently maneuver (if she or he can resiliently respond to its frequent gesticulations). And Cusack sophisticatedly uses every second as disgruntled, sort of married, bitter, writer, Mike Enslin, whose life became a 24 hour misery after the death of his daughter. Enslin works as a travel writer who spends his time visiting hotel rooms that are reputed to be haunted, chronicling his visits in bargain bin novels that keep his surfboard afloat. When he discovers the Dolphin Hotel's fabled room 1408, with over 50 recorded deaths, he sets out for his first real encounter with the terrifying affects of the paranormal.

Which situates 1408 within the fable category of the thriller/horror genre. Rather than horror for horror's sake (see Rob Zombie's Halloween later this summer), 1408 has a moral dimension that its protagonist must face in order to challenge his nightmare. This moral dimension synthesizes well with the tame and frightening drama and allows 1408 to function as a successful introductory fright flick for those curious about the genre. While the ending can be thought of as a more docile version of John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, the ambience established throughout is of the cutesy variety that contains an horrific agenda of its own, depending upon the status of your belief in biblical good and evil, or, the intensity of your faith.