This past weekend was truly a wild mix of films.
Borderline – I think at this point I will watch anything that Samara Weaving is in. She’s just too pretty and has a banging filmography! Interestingly enough, this particular film happens to be her husbands feature film debut. Also having written the script, it makes a ton of sense that Weaving would want to star. She plays Sophia, a pop star in the 90s who has a mentally unstable superfan named Paul. He’s the kind of obsessed that wants to kill her. He also really wants to marry her. Then kill her. But obviously his mental illness is pretty strong because he mistakes Sophia’s bodyguard as her early in the film and lands himself in prison. But he’s crafty and plans an escape and an elaborate marriage scheme. I will admit that for the majority of this film I wasn’t totally sold on anything. It mainly just freaked me out, but I applaud the ability to capture that feeling on screen. The last thirty minutes, give or take, really turned it around for me and had me silently cackling a few times. At least I was highly entertained in the end, though I’m not sure that the beginning of the film is enough to convince wider audiences to tune in.
A Working Man – Somehow, this new Jason Statham vehicle has a pretty similar Rotten Tomatoes score and I really have no idea how that’s possible. Reader, this is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Will it topple Movie 43 from the top spot? I don’t know that anything ever will, but this one is surely in the top 5. The only thing it had going for it was that I had no idea what ridiculous thing would happen next and most of those things were laughably bad. The thing is, I think the acting was alright. I think they all delivered exactly what the script provided and the director wanted. Both of which were no good. Apparently this is based off a pretty good book, but I hesitate to add it to my reading list purely based off of this abysmal adaptation. Long story short, Statham plays a blue collar construction worker who’s pleaded with to get the owner’s daughter back after she’s kidnapped at random on a night out with some friends. Statham’s been on a pretty decent run recently, so I blame myself for doing next to no research on this film. Laughably bad.
Dead Talents Society – In order to erase that bomb out of my mind, I was thrilled to learn that Dead Talents Society landed on Netflix this past week! This was easily my favorite film from TIFF last fall, and the runner up for the Midnight Madness pick! In a world where ghosts are just like celebrities, Catherine’s star power has weakened thanks to the new tricks and betrayal of her younger protege, Jessica. She still thinks she’s all that and a bag of chips though when a rookie ghosts comes to her hotel to try and earn her haunting license. The rookie isn’t doing so hot, but time is not on her side. If she fails to get licensed, she’ll be gone forever since her family accidentally discarded her final living token. This film, while bloody and scary in some instances, is absolutely hysterical. I won’t ruin any more of the fun, but you must stick around for some of the credits. And though this is a Taiwanese film, it’s one thousand percent worth the watch!