Multiplex Madness
Werewolves
⭐️⭐️1/2
🏆Must-See Bad Movie Award🏆
Genre: Action, Horror
Director: Steven C. Miller
Starring: Frank Grillo, Katrina Law, Ilfenesh Hadera, James Michael Cummings, Lou Diamond Phillips, James Kyson
No, it's not the James Cameron sequel to Tony Zarrindast's MST classic Werewolf. Instead, Frank Grillo is in a lycanthrope apocalypse! The idea of the film is that every human has werewolf genes in their DNA, and every now and again there is an event called a "Supermoon" that unlocks it, turning everyone into a werewolf for a night. Most humans lock themselves at home to avoid exposure to the moonlight, while other use the event to work on a suppression vaccine to cure it. And also others just turn into werewolves and start murdering people. Basically, it's The Purge, but with werewolves.
To get straight to the point, the movie is not particularly great. It's an undercooked production with a big idea, trying to sell itself on that idea alone. A big idea can only get you so far, but it's not nothing. Given what it has to work with, ranging from a low budget to a melodramatic script, I respect the ambition the movie has. No matter what you can fault the movie for, it doesn't skimp on the schlocky entertainment. The movie is grim and gritty, while being goofy and silly all at once. The werewolves will tear people to pieces while looking like Rahzar from Ninja Turtles II. The movie appeals to a very particular kind of entertainment value, filling a niche that larger budget films do not. Though, as amusing as the film is, one does wonder what this particular production might have accomplished with more money and a more complete script. If the movie had gone direct to streaming, it probably would be seen at as an overlooked cult film. In theaters, it comes off as dismissable. But if you're willing to vibe with it, you'll slap your knee and have a good chuckle at the reckless disregard for human life.
TUSK!
Y2K
⭐️⭐️1/2
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Director: Kyle Mooney
Starring: Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, Lachlan Watson, Mason Gooding, Fred Durst, Alicia Silverstone
The actual Y2K scare is a weird asterisk in pop culture, one that Gen Z would likely look at Gen X and Millennials with less respect if someone tried to explain it to them. It was this whole idea that computer systems of the time were programmed with yearly dates that were whittled down to two digits instead of four, so when the year "99" switched over to "00," all hell would break loose in the digital world because systems would think everything reset. There was even a TV movie thriller exploiting it, that's how in the subconscious it was. It's one of those "You had to be there" things. This new Y2K movie is made for people who were there, see the title, and were like "lol, I remember that bullshit."
Y2K reinvents history by centering on a group of teenage party-goers on New Years Eve 1999, only to be caught off-guard by the realization that not only is the Y2K virus real, but it has caused all electronic devices to come to life and try to wipe out the human race. It's kind of a hindsight joke about the apocalyptic fear people had, but my understanding was that Y2K was mostly about potential power outages and data resets erasing bank accounts and the like, not the creation of Skynet. This movie rejigs what it was so it can make fun of how it made people feel, stylizing it in a way that is best described as a simulator of what it's like to get high and watch a double feature of Mallrats and Chopping Mall made by people whose TVs would only switch away from MTV if That 70's Show was on. If that's your idea of a good time, by all means, Y2K is a movie made for you. But if you think it looks dumb, then it's exactly what you think it is. It's really fucking stupid, but it's stupid in an endearingly sincere way. The movie has nothing but love for its retro era and lovingly makes it burn with its kitschy camp flavor. Aspects of the film are underdeveloped in favor of a vibe, as we watch machines supposedly brought to life in a hive mind through the internet, even though most of the internet required cable connection back then, which makes these free-roaming creatures more advanced than what can be reasonably expected. That's the same type of digital understanding you'd see in crappy 90's media of this type, like a Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad, so it kinda works in a roundabout way. The movie doesn't want you to think that hard about it, it just wants you to chill to its vibe and its playlist, while making you bask in the glow of its parade of 90's legends in supporting roles, like Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, Clueless star Alicia Silverstone, and cinematography by The Matrix's Bill Pope. If you get it, you get it. If you love it, you love it. Y2K has little thought or care for people who don't get it or love it, and, if nothing else, I respect that.
Movies Still Playing At My Theater
Gladiator II ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heretic ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Interstellar ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Moana 2 ⭐️⭐️
Red One ⭐️⭐️
Wicked Part I ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
New To Digital
Good One ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Weekend in Taipei ⭐️⭐️
Your Monster ⭐️⭐️⭐️
New To Physical
Alien: Rolumus ⭐️⭐️1/2
The Dead Don't Hurt ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Never Let Go ⭐️⭐️1/2
White Bird ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Wild Robot ⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Coming Soon!
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