Movie Reviews
Movie Review: 'The Monkey' is a family drama with guts — the kind that spill all over the place
It’s not a toy. Whatever you do, do NOT call it a toy.
That’s the chilling message from the spooked airline pilot (Adam Scott) who arrives at a pawn shop, covered in blood that’s not his, trying to get rid of the monkey. It’s an old mechanical organ grinder toy — sorry, NOT a toy! — and it’s been causing lots of chaos.
Thus begins “The Monkey,” Osgood Perkins’ latest horror film, an absorbing and stylish if not quite smoothly blended mix of family drama, humor, and blood-and-guts mayhem. Not all of it works, but it’s never uninteresting or uncreative — especially when it comes to finding inventively horrible (or horribly inventive) ways for people to die.
Perkins, basing his story on a 1980 tale by Stephen King, has returned to a few themes from “Longlegs,” his breakout horror hit of last year. For one, he clearly has a thing for creepy dolls. (And after this film, you may never find a monkey’s face cute again.)
More deeply, he likes to explore family dynamics. If “Longlegs” centered on a mother-daughter relationship, “Monkey” focuses on twin brothers, and the dynamic not only between them, but with their parents: an absent father whose departure left a crater, and a mother doing what she can.
It’s not surprising that Perkins should be occupied by both the horror genre and family drama. His father was Anthony Perkins, who in “Psycho” created one of the creepier performances in the genre, and he’s often spoken of using his own experiences in his work.
In “The Monkey,” he also seeks to bring an absurdist, gleefully malignant humor to the proceedings. It’s a lot to bring to one table.
But back to the pawn shop, where the monkey makes his (or her) first appearance. The shop owner is unimpressed with the pilot’s warning of the monkey’s dangers. A second later this is irrelevant, because he’s been disemboweled by an arrow.
The monkey, you see, unleashes murderous mayhem whenever someone turns its key and gets the drums going (that’s the other lesson; never turn the key!) The pilot tries to destroy the critter with a flamethrower.
Then it’s 1999, and twins Hal and Bill Shelburn are looking through their late dad’s closet (Dad was that very pilot). They live with their single mom (Tatiana Maslany), who does her best to parent them. Hal is the sensitive, spectacle-wearing child; Bill is the nasty one who ate most of the placenta at birth. (Both are played by Christian Convery.)
One night, soon after discovering the monkey in a box, the kids boys go with their nice babysitter to one of those hibachi restaurants where they chop and cook at the table. The monkey’s in the car. Soon, the babysitter loses her head, and we don’t mean metaphorically.
Things continue in that vein. Hal, bullied mercilessly by Bill and at school, tells the monkey, who keeps appearing in places like his bedroom or backpack, that he wishes Bill would die. But when the dreaded drums start playing again, it’s Mom who’s the victim.
The two boys are sent to live with their aunt and uncle. Even moving to a small town in Maine does not rid them of the monkey. They try to dump the thing down a well.
And then 25 years pass.
When we next meet Hal, he’s working a low-end job in a store. He has no friends — which is pretty shocking, even in a film full of shocks, because he looks like actor Theo James. (Adult Hal and Bill are played by James, again with a pair of spectacles the key difference.)
Hal is a father now, about to spend some rare time with his teenage son Petey (Colin O’Brien, in a moving turn), whom he only sees once a year — he’s too afraid of what the monkey might do. Hal has, indeed, become the absentee father his own dad was.
Of course, it’s highly inconvenient that just as Hal is on a road trip with Petey, evil brother Bill is embarking on a dastardly plan, which involves, of course, you know who. And the deaths start happening again, with that unique blend of horror and humor.
Does the blend work? That depends partly on how easy it is for you to laugh at cartoonish violence. But combining this with an exploration of brotherly ties and missing dads, as Perkins does, lends the enterprise an uneven feel. Surely there will be an audience for the creatively rendered gore. The rest of us may feel left with a witty, visually arresting, highly inventive quasi-mess on our hands.
“Monkey,” a Neon release, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association “for strong bloody violent content, gore, language throughout and some sexual references.” Running time: 98 minutes. Two stars out of four.
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — In this episode of 8News Reel Talk, digital producer Julia Broberg is joined by anchor Deanna Allbrittin and reporter Allison Williams to talk about “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”
The hosts gave their reviews and assigned the following star ratings:
Deanna: ★★★★.5
Allison: ★★★.25
Julia: ★★
To watch more livestreams and digital video content, head to the WRIC+ Originals page. You can also watch full on-demand videos on your smart TV using the WRIC+ app.
Billie Eilish fans prepare yourself, the much talked about secret project has finally arrived on the big screens!
Billie Eilish has always been about intimacy over artifice, but her latest concert film takes that to a visceral new level. Co-directed by Eilish and James Cameron, Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) manages to bridge the gap between a massive stadium show and the quiet grit of life backstage.
The film starts 18 minutes out from the show and builds the tension until audiences are literally folded into a box with her. Being taken under the stage, passing fans who have no idea she’s inches away, sets a tone of total immersion. What makes this film different is the balance between the spectacle and the behind-the-scenes reality. We see the creative shorthand between Billie and James Cameron as they chase what she calls the “best kind of sensory overload”.
The film is very much fan focussed, with the sound mix being so specific that you can hear individual fans singing along in sync with the visuals.
There are so many standout moments, the handheld camera work during “Bad Guy” that gives a dizzying POV of the band, and the chilling minute of silence Billie requests from the crowd to record a vocal loop.
The film captures her unique stage presence. Influenced by rap culture, Billie refuses to have anyone else on stage, unlike many female artists that use back up dancers. Billie can hold the entire stadium in awe by herself which is incredible to witness, until Finneas joins her for a beautiful, emotional piano set.
Between the high-tech visuals and the “Puppy Room” (where she keeps rescue dogs for staff to decompress), the film feels incredibly personal. While the film doesn’t give us any new insights into Billie, Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) is an enjoyable experience that elevates the tradition concert film.
Movie Reviews
Mortal Kombat 2 film producer asks ‘why the f**k’ critics who ‘have never played the game’ were allowed to review it | VGC
The producer of the Mortal Kombat 2 movie has called out critics who gave it a negative review.
At the time of writing, Mortal Kombat 2 has a score of 73% on film review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, and a score of 48 on Metacritic.
While this means reviews have generally been mixed, the film’s producer Todd Garner took to X to criticise those who wrote negative reviews, suggesting that some of them were written by critics who aren’t familiar with the source material.
“Some of these reviews are cracking me up,” Garner wrote. “It’s clear they have never played the game and have no idea what the fans want or any of the rules/canon of Mortal Kombat.
“One reviewer was mad that a guy ‘had a laser eye’! Why the fuck do we still allow people that don’t have any love for the genre review these movies! Baffling.”
When questioned on this viewpoint by some followers, Garner explained that while he doesn’t have an issue with negative reviews in general, his problem is specifically reviewers who don’t appear to be familiar with Mortal Kombat.
“My comment was very squarely directed at a couple of reviewers that did not like the ‘zombies’ and the fact that there was a ‘guy with a laser eye’, etc,” he said. “Those are elements that are baked into the Mortal Kombat IP and therefore we were dead in the water going in.
“There is no way for that person to review how it functioned as a film, because they did not like the foundational elements of the IP. I just wish when something is so obviously fan leaning in its DNA, that critics would take that into consideration.”
One follower then countered Garner’s complaint by arguing that he shouldn’t be criticising people who don’t know the games, when the films themselves take creative license with the IP.
“Bro to be fair, you invented Cole Young, Arcana and couldn’t even get the simple lore of Mileena and Kitana correct,” said user Dudeguy29. “I’d say you shouldn’t be tossing any stones here.”
“Fair,” Garner replied.
Garner previously criticised the cast of the Street Fighter movie when, during The Game Awards last year, comedian Andrew Schulz – who plays Dan in the Street Fighter film – claimed that the Mortal Kombat 2 movie cast were also in attendance, before joking: “I’m just kidding, they didn’t come, they don’t care about you, they only care about money.”
The jibe didn’t go down well with Garner, who stated on X at the time: “I don’t climb over others to get ahead”. When recently asked how he felt about the cast vs cast rivalry, however, Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon laughed and said he had no issue with it at all.
Mortal Kombat 2 is released in cinemas this Friday, May 8, while Street Fighter arrives later in the year on October 16.
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