Archive for May, 2021

Movie Mayhem – Spiral: From the Book of Saw

Posted by Bryan Caron in Entertainment, Film, Movies, Reviews on May 31, 2021

Spiral: From the Book of Saw — 2021; Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman; Starring Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Marisol Nichols, Dan Petronijevic, Richard Zeppieri and Samuel L. Jackson

The Saw franchise did two things when it first launched with Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell stuck together in a filthy bathroom: 1) it launched what would eventually be termed the “torture porn” genre; and 2) it set itself apart from that same genre. As opposed to films like Hostel and The Devil’s Rejects, which killed for the sake of killing, Saw gave John Kramer (Tobin Bell), a strong motive for what he did to his victims. Though the franchise ultimately devolved into a state of torture porn, the original three films, and 2018s Jigsaw, highlighted how John, aka Jigsaw, gave his victims a chance to redeem themselves and live a better life. This doesn’t condone his methods, but at least there was a reason other than simple blood lust. Spiral: From the Book of Saw, attempts to expand the Saw universe with a story that tries to emulate the reason for killing its inevitable victims, but still borders a little too close to what makes torture porn itself such an uncomfortable genre.

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Movie Mayhem – The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Posted by Bryan Caron in Entertainment, Film, Movies, Reviews on May 2, 2021

The Mitchells vs. the Machines — 2021; Directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe; Starring the voices of Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Eric André, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett and Olivia Colman

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first saw the trailers for The LEGO Movie. Up until Phil Lord and Christopher Miller crafted a beautifully referential work where everything was awesome, the LEGO movie franchise had been relegated to straight-to-video and cable movies and shows that were good-natured fun for the kids but didn’t have much pop behind them. Lord and Miller followed this up as producers of several films, including the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, in which Lord was also a writer. With these, and many other films in the duo’s prolific list of film and television credits, they have mostly been in control of the narrative. With Netflix’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines, producers Lord and Miller take a bit of a back seat, providing the film with a good bit of clout, but ultimately handing over the majority of creative control to relative newcomers Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe.

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