The Beast Within, 2024.

Directed by Alexander J. Farrell.
Starring Kit Harington, Ashleigh Cummings, James Cosmo, Caoilinn Springall, Adam Basil, Ian Giles, and Martina McClements.

SYNOPSIS:

After a series of strange events leads her to question her family’s isolated life on a fortified compound deep in the English wilds, 10-year-old Willow follows her parents on one of their secret late-night treks to the heart of the forest.

Where is a film supposed to go when the central metaphor is painfully obvious from the early stages? The Beast Within director Alexander J. Farrell doesn’t really seem to know, trying to obfuscate this into a story of mystery and dread. It’s admirable that he is allowing it to unfold from the unassuming and innocent perspective of a 10-year-old daughter, but in doing so, he keeps the viewer one step ahead of her practically until the climax. This also wouldn’t be too much of an issue if the characters had some depth to them, which the film takes as giving the child an illness conveniently requiring oxygen during moments of terror and, expectedly, typically losing that source of air during the danger.

Beginning with the all too common phrase “there are two wolves inside” proverb, it is made apparent that the literal beast Kit Harington’s Noah mutates into once a month is perhaps not the only beast to worry about. If you had a hunch that this family drama is not so secretly about domestic abuse, you would be right. And even though Kit Harington is putting in the work trying to convey a multilayered father who can snap and turn into a figurative beast at any moment, putting his wife Imogen (Ashleigh Cummings) and child Willow (Caoilinn Springall) in danger from his path of outward physical anger, the film still amounts to nothing more than a metaphor that needed more time and another rewrite (Farrell also wrote the screenplay alongside Greer Ellison) to cook up something compelling around that dynamic.

There isn’t anything special to note about the beast’s design, which also happens to be generic and buried in darkness to cover up what had to of been a low special effects budget. However, a creative aesthetic and unnerving unfamiliar designs can always overcome that budgetary constraint. Here, it is nothing more than the most familiar of werewolf tales.

Imogen takes Noah deep into the woods once a month to shackle him up, ensuring that he doesn’t fatally wound anyone he loves during one of his regular transformations. Curious about what is actually happening, why her father disappears once a month, and why her mom has bruises and marks all over her body (the viewer’s first clue that not all of this is probably related to the literal monster), Willow sneaks away from grandfather Waylon (James Cosmo) to follow her parents and see what happens. Fortunately, Imogen catches on and can protect Willow following the mutation.

As for Waylon, he mostly exists to explain away exposition regarding this generational curse. The rest of The Beast Within consists of Willow slowly learning the dark truth about her father, and once again, that’s not strictly limited to the supernatural element. For such a perilous folkloric concept, there also isn’t much dread or suspense, and the surrounding forest isn’t exactly striking to look at or appropriately ominous (it’s filtered through a weak display of smoke or fog, giving the impression of a sinister environment but not feeling it.)

There is one captivating scene observing father and daughter in the woods, with the former cutting some wood, casually engaging with her about her interest in helping, taking on big responsibilities, and generally coming across as a gentle and wonderful guardian. In that same scene are flashes of the cruelty within The Beast Within. It’s the closest the film comes to functioning as compelling, otherwise hampered by the tiny scope of its blatantly obvious metaphor bludgeoned into the viewer five minutes in.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist

Transformers One is a 2024 American animated science fiction action film based on Hasbro’s Transformers toy line. It was directed by Josh Cooley from a screenplay by Eric Pearson and the writing duo of Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, based on a story by Barrer and Ferrari.

The ensemble voice cast includes Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm.

Overview

The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but who once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. It is set on Cybertron, the home planet of the Transformers, and depicts the origins and early relationship of Optimus Prime and Megatron.

In March 2015, following the release of Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), Paramount Pictures tasked Akiva Goldsman to set up a writers’ room to create ideas for potential future Transformers films.

By May 2015, Barrer and Ferrari had signed on as writers, and they came up with the idea of an animated prequel set on Cybertron. The film was announced in August 2017, and by April 2020, Cooley had been hired to direct.

Story

Sworn enemies, once friends. An untold story for Orion Pax and D-16. The story followed the early days on Cybertron where Orion Pax wanted more from life whereas D-16 was just happy following the ideas and rules of Sentinal Prime.

The story showcased the friendship between the two enemies and how they always looked out for each other mainly D-16 saving Orion Pax from the trouble he gets into. The story shows that not everything is what it seems which ultimately ends in a war for Cybertron.

The story delivered the origins of Optimus Prime and Megatron. The story showed that Orion wanted to find the spark and become something other than a miner whereas this was also the beginning of D-16 turning into Megatron.

While the story focused on the origins of Orion Pax and D-16, in the background it delivered the origins of the two factions that ultimately go to war for centuries. The story delivers a fresh look into the war, the connections, and the uphill struggle for leadership on Cybertron.

Characters

Obviously, the characters within this movie would not be the same characters we see later in their history, the rugged, war-torn Cybertronians we saw in later movies. The characters within this movie were all light-hearted, friendly, and well-respected in the sense that everyone got along with each other, there were no Autobots vs Decepticons.

Chris Hemsworth as the voice of Orion Pax was such a great choice for the voice acting, Chris has a voice that is friendly but also can be a mean leader when needed. Bryan Tyree Henry as the voice of D-16 was a unique choice but ultimately was able to capture slow turn into evilness.

One of my personal favorites within the movie was B-127 voiced by the incredibly funny Keegan-Michael Key. While we’ve seen some early days of Bumblebee within different Transformers projects, this one gave us a new spin on the character as someone who essentially was forgotten about on Cybertron, left on a floor of Cybertron that no one went to.

For the full cast list, you can visit IMDB by clicking here.

Hype

Now the hype for this movie seemed to be very well. People were generally excited to see it. I continued to see people talk about the movie even after its release in the States. From comments such as “The best Transformers movie” to “It didn’t need to go this hard”.

The hype has been hurt because of the box office performance as of now. The movie had a budget of 75 – 147 million dollars but at the box office has only reached $100 million.

Favorite Moments

1. Seeing just how smart and curious Orion Pax actually was before coming Optimus Prime. He would break into the archives searching for the answer to what happened to the first Primes and the matrix. While he does get caught, he gets away by his best friend, D-16.

2. Seeing how easily Orion gets D-16 into some adventures. Orion manages to get D-16 into the race to prove they are more than just minors but ends up losing the race and gaining the respect of Sentinal Prime.

3. The introduction to B-127. We are seeing how forgotten he was by other Cybertronians and forced to work in the garbage incineration. He’s just full of life and is always at 110% energy to the point where he still speaks when knocked out.

4. Trion provides cogs to the group to allow them to become full transformers and see how gaining a cog and some information revealed changed the group. You saw Orion, B-127, and Elita-1 all become better while D-16 slowly began to turn evil.

5. After a battle. D-16 shoots Orion but catches him before he falls to his death, although, this was the moment Megatron was born as D-16 tells Orion that he’s done catching him and lets him go. Orion falls into the spirit of the Primes where he receives the Matrix of Leadership and revives him as a new prime, Optimus Prime.

Dislikes

Honestly, going into this I thought I would have some dislikes but I was surprised to see that I didn’t have a single dislike.

Recommend?

Would I recommend this? For sure! It’s everything. This movie is for the children who like Transformers and animated movies and this is for the Transformers fans who want to see the early days of Cybertron.

Verdict

A fantastic prequel movie that sheds new light on the time before Cybertron was ravaged by war and destruction. The movie showcases a friendship between Optimus Prime and Megatron long before they were enemies. The action was fantastic. The story was great and the animation was incredible.

Rating: 9.4/10

Transformers One is available in cinemas worldwide. You can visit here for more information on Transformers One.

For a limited time, Paramount+ plans start at $2.50/mo. for 12 months! Billed annually. Stream the NFL on CBS live and more. Redeem now!

The knock on “Rounders” (1998) was always that it was, to quote a review or two at the time of its release, “lazy.”

It’s a genre pic, gamblers’ ups and downs as one (Matt Damon) tries to focus on law school and his law school classmate/girlfriend (Gretchen Mol) and law school mentor (Martin Landau) as his disreputable hustler pal (Edward Norton) drags him back into his favorite vice.

There aren’t a lot of ways for this hand to play out, and director John Dahl (“The Last Seduction,” lots of TV in recent years) and two screenwriters pick the lightest and one could make the case, the lamest.

Damon was young, with a young Hollywood haircut, playing another version of that smart, motormouthed working class knowitall “type” that launched his career in “Good Will Hunting” the year before. So the writers wrote him lots and lots of little “read the player/read the room” monologues, some delivered in the lazy screenwriter’s best friend — voice-over narration.

“I’ve often seen these people, these squares at the table — short-stacked and long odds against them, all their outs gone — one last card in the deck that can help them.

“I used to wonder how they could let themselves get into such bad shape, and how the hell they thought they could turn it around?”

Very Matt Damon speech to make. Very lazy screenwriting to give it to him.

But it’s a GENRE picture. It’s not about the surprises, but the execution, the immersive milieu, the colorful characters. “Rounders” delivers that to perfection. It’s a film that captures a moment in time. And it prefigured the global “Texas Hold’em” poker craze. Hell, even James Bond found himself playing Hold’em and not Bacarat when “Casino Royale” was remade.

I swear I never pass by this film while channel-surfing without stopping to savor Damon, Norton and a long line of colorful supporting players — Chris Messina, Michael Rispoli and Bill Camp before they were famous, Turturro and Oscar winners Damon and Landau, Oscar nominee Norton and future X-woman Famke Janssen.

Damon, a great raconteur and chat show guest (Jimmy Kimmel be damned), has long been telling this hilarious story about working with the odd-accent-slinging John Malkovich, who plays Russian mobster/poker room operator and player Teddy KGB, that’s become a part of the film’s lore.

So there’s a lot to relish in “Rounders,” as it’s become one of those mainstream “cult” films that gets better with age — like “Fight Club.”

The story — Mike McDermott’s a New York law school smarty with a beautiful classmate/live-in girlfriend. He likes to play cards and swim with the sharks, but he keeps that under control for her sake, and to ensure his future.

But when his old running mate Worm (Norton) gets out of prison, Mike finds himself going on a gambling bender to help settle Worm’s gambling debts with Teddy KGB (Malkovich) and the thug called Grama (Rispoli).

Everwhere Mike turns, there’s an old rival/friend (Turturro) who sighs at the lost potential of a player who is great at “reading” the table, the cards and his chief rivals, or a gambling debt collector/barmaid (Janssen) he used to have a thing with. Even the judge (Landau) who is his law school mentor has a “friendly” game of academics and other lawyers that Mike interrupts and “reads” like an old pro.

“You were lookin’ for that third three, but you forgot that Professor Green folded on Fourth Street and now you’re representing that you have it. The DA made his two pair, but he knows they’re no good. Judge Kaplan was trying to squeeze out a diamond flush but he came up short and Mr. Eisen is futilely hoping that his queens are going to stand up. So like I said, the Dean’s bet is $20.”

Worm weasels Mike back into the then-underground world of poker rooms as these “Rounders” — slang for hardcore players — travel from Rahway to Bronxville, Newark to Atlantic City and the bowels of NYC in search of quick cash.

Worm’s a known cheat, but Mike lets him dragshim to the games, winning legit until Worm worms his way onto the same table and starts looking for shortcuts.

That never works out. The movie is about the ballooning nature of Worm’s debt, the beatings and threats to his future Mike endures. Beautiful, rich and about to get richer girlfriend? Law degree?

Norton is in rare, antic form here, showboating about how he doesn’t know Mike when they’ve weaseled into a game with strangers, losing sorely to ensure Mike can win big, taking a bunch of frat boys for a ride, for instance.

“Like my uncle Les used to say “When the money is gone, it’s time to move on”. So enjoy it, you secret handshaking assholes.”

Landau gets to make the big “disappointment to my father” old Jewish judge speech. Mol plays the “It’s me or poker” card as the girlfriend.

“Lazy?” Sure. This movie lays down a straight or a flush, never a straight flush.

But this world is a rare thing, a piece of the “California Split” past before poker and gambling blew-up and ate the early 2000s. We watch gambling movies like that Altman classic and this Dahl classic and “Mississippi Grind” to sample a lifestyle we’d never have the nerve to try. That’s all we really want from this genre.

Hearing Damon recite the script’s poker-professional slang and pro poker player name-dropping might seem “lazy” and heavy-handed. But it’s musical in Damon’s hands. The guy can tell a story.

“Listen, here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.”

And there’s no dishonor in critics’ dismissing a film that goes on to become a classic of its genre and a cultural touchstone. Well, maybe a little. But I guess J. Hoberman’s glad to be remembered for something.

Rating: R, violence, drug abuse, profanity

Cast: Matt Damon, Edward Norton, Famke Janssen, Martin Landau, Gretchen Mol, John Turturro, Michael Rispoli, Chris Messina, Bill Camp and John Malkovich

Credits: Directed by John Dahl, scripted by David Levien and Brian Koppelman. A Miramax release on Pluto TV, Amazon, etc.

Running time: 2:01