During the last half of 2018 I was lucky enough to see two of director Stanley Kubrick’s most discussed films on the big screen.
For my birthday I got to see the 50th anniversary IMAX screening of: “2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)” a film I tried {and failed} to watch many years ago and didn’t really like. And just before Halloween: “THE SHINING (1980)” a film I love and can discuss for hours on end. After watching these and thinking about them again I have a few thoughts I’d like to share.
The saddest thing any piece of media can do is have potential and waste it. It breaks the heart because you can see deep down what it could have been. I’m sad to say “IT COMES AT NIGHT (2017)” fits into this category.
Yikes where to even start?
The Good:
Unfortunately….
The Bad:
But the biggest sin, the thing that brought it down to a mediocre piece of work for me:
This film tried to pull a trick that many master filmmakers struggle to do: tell a story that’s open to interpretation. And I’m not against leaving details out to make your mind do some heavy lifting, but what I saw didn’t work. It felt like critical pieces of the puzzle were left out for no real reason while there were a host of other details shown numerous time to foster debate.
Honestly, I was with the film until the last fifteen minutes, at the end it all falls apart.
The problem is something I might have mentioned before, but I’ll go into again. An issue I see with many modern filmmakers is about subtext. They grow up on a diet of Kubrick and Lynch and think the most important part of a film is the hidden subtext. So when they set out to make their own film they focus on the hidden meanings and clues so hard that they fail to make a good, or even a coherent film.
Yes, “THE SHINING (1980)” is a masterpiece. Yes, it has many things left to your imagination. But it still tells a great surface story that when is over ALL MAKES SENSE!
It Comes A Night, for all the good parts in it fails at being complete.
It had one subtle detail I liked, during what I can only describe as dream sequences the aspect ratio changed into an obvious widescreen with visible black bars. During the final minutes when the plot falls apart we slip into this aspect ratio until the credits roll. It doesn’t make sense here at all. The director changes the rules at the last moment for what reason? To foster more debate?
It’s just empty. It Comes At Night is an empty film pretending to be a horror masterpiece.
The trailers for sure lied. The impression I got was it would either be all a paranoid delusion gone wrong, or there would be some sort of evil/supernatural entity that would appear. And in the end I got neither! If you took out the clear dream sequences the tension would be gone too and it wouldn’t even be a horror film.
As is it’s more of a drama than horror and not a good one at that.
Short-Story-Long:
Yeah, I wanted to love this film, after seeing it I thought it was weak, typing this review I’ve realized it wasn’t good at all. Skip it.
~_M.H._~
Follow Me on Twitter: @MHSmith22
So the “House of Mouse” now owns the “House That Skywalker Built”? This is to say the least a shocking bit of news. Not only did Disney buy out LucasFilm for 4.05 BILLION dollars, they also snagged all the subsidiary corporations Mr. Lucas owns…ILM for instants! But the real news of the matter is that Disney doesn’t plan to just sit by and collect cash from sales of previous films. Nope, the world will be getting “STAR WARS: EPISODE VII” by 2015! With a new episode planned for every 2-3 year after.
Yes, Disney made themselves a sweet deal now owning Marvel Comics AND the STAR WARS/INDIANA JONES sagas! But like all new things, the internet community has already begun voicing loud opinions on the matter. Most of which are so far down the negative path, I doubt there can be a turn around. ALL of these opinions sight unseen of what Disney is planning!
This is where my option comes in:
I think this is the best thing that could happen to the Star Wars franchise! People complaining about it being Disney just remember: these are they people who’ve been doing such an amazing job with the Marvel franchise; don’t you think that level of quality would continue with the galaxy far, far away? Of course it will! They know what they have, they know the love and respect it garners, and they will do great with it!
Now I know what y’all are thinking about my last statement about respect: “didn’t the prequels screw that up?” Absolutely not, the prequels aren’t as terrible as people think they are, they just weren’t the same. Which as a filmmaker I understand it, and as a fan I accept it. It’s George Lucas’s vision and if that’s how he wanted it, then that’s what we got. But George isn’t in charge anymore! He’s agreed to be a “creative consultant”, that’s all. Which in all reality is what’s best, it’s what he was on “THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK” and “RETURN OF THE JEDI”.
All in all, I suggest we as a whole should take this news as a good thing, sit back and see what Disney plans to do. You never know they could very well make the best Star Wars movies ever made! And if they fail, then we as the internet community can do what we do best: COMPLAIN!
Something to keep in mind though:
Not long ago I was in Walmart and I nosed through the toy section, and I saw where the Star Wars section had been reduced to a small wedge of an aisle that’s only a week away from clearance. I got a little sad and though about the future. Would Star Wars be remembered in 10 years? It’s a sad fact that the modern generation doesn’t appreciate things of old {by their standard 5 years previous}, so the new upcoming generation probably would never know of the magic of the Force! This was a tragic thought to me. Even the prequels, flawed as they are, are still Star Wars!
Knowing Disney plans to continue on shows there is indeed A New Hope! {sorry I couldn’t resist}
~_M.H._~
Follow Me on Twitter: @MHSmith22
The Pork-Chop Express 