Stacy Kingsley - The blog of author Stacy Kingsley

Movie Review - YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE

1/22/2019

2017 saw a movie that never really got much attention, even though it should have. You Were Never Really Here is about a traumatized veteran, who is not afraid of violence. His job is to track down missing girls. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered leading to what may be his death or his awakening.

Joe, played by Joaquin Phoenix, is a man who does what he needs to, providing he is paid. He has a job to do, and it is to track down missing girls who were taken in the name of sex trafficking. Most of the time he may not be successful in getting the girl, but he does exact vengeance when it is asked of him.

Joe, throughout the movie, does have some obvious issues. He takes care of his aged mother, and he remembers childhood trauma that causes him to risk his own life almost every night. There isn’t much given about his past, but the audience does see that there is one incident when he is working with either the military or after, that has caused him to take on the role of a paid savior.

This movie is a slow burn. It begins in a hotel room and ends in a diner. There are scenes which seem to be placed just to confuse the audience as to what is really going on, but overall it is a movie in something of the same vein as Leon: The Professional. Joe is sent to find and rescue Nina, the daughter of an elected official. Her father finds out who has taken his daughter and is understandably upset when he finds it is the man he is working on a campaign for. The man has been so taken with Nina that when she is rescued, she is immediately retrieved, setting off events that cause death to those Joe loves, and causing him to do what he has learned to do best, kill.

This movie was slow and weird, but there were several scenes that were interesting. One scene is Joe laying next to a man he has been fighting with. They are both laying on the floor, one dying and one exhausted from the fight. A song comes on and they both sing softly to it, holding hands as the man dies. There are several other intense scenes which makes one question the sanity of Joe, or what his plans are. He is searching for something, and in the end, like Leon had Matilda, Joe has Nine to save him from himself.

You Were Never Really Here is not a bad movie, but I don’t think everyone will enjoy it. It is a thought provoking movie, and for me, it made me wonder once again, about man’s inhumanity to man.

Movie Review - BIRD BOX

1/17/2019

The movie of Bird Box was a lot different than the book. While it had the same idea, don’t look at the world outside or you will go mad and kill yourself or others, the rest of the story was a lot different.

The movie still revolved around the character of Malorie, and her trying to get to a safe haven with two young children. Most of the characters were different, and the conflicts in the story were a little less obvious. However, at two hours and four minutes, it does go on a little long and it should have been edited down a little bit.

Malorie, in the movie, seems to have a more tender heart in the movie than she does in the book, and I think this adds and detracts from her character. It gives her a little depth, but it also takes away from the strong will that she has in the story, the will that makes her seem like she is protecting the children, but also not giving them the love that they deserve. The children are still called simple names, or have the same lack of names, yet they are more like children in the movie. In fact, I fell in love with the little girl, and felt both pity and enjoyed her for her strength.

The sister of Malorie is different, her name is Jessica, and she ends up dying in a different way in the movie than she does in the book. The whole idea of Malorie is a little different, especially since she is played by Sandra Bullock, who looks great but is not a twenty-something young woman. Malorie also doesn’t share an apartment with her sister, nor does she find out she is pregnant in the beginning of the movie, which I think was a bad decision on the directors/producer’s part.

The people in the house where Malorie ends up are not the same either. They have different interactions, in the house, and there isn’t a bad “Don” character in the film as there was in the book. I feel like the film tried to hard to create relationships for the characters which didn’t need to be created. The movie was too polite, when is shouldn’t have been, and created conflict in characters that wasn’t necessary. The guy who takes down the house in both the movie and the book is also different, which I didn’t think fit. I don’t think someone needs to be insane to be able to survive the monsters we aren’t supposed to look at.

And lastly, just that point. Why do we keep making movies and writing books where the creatures or monsters aren’t seen? I think we already know that man is inhumane to man, and we hurt each other because we can, but why do we focus so much on that in these movies and novels? Why can’t we have a monster, and only have that monster? Why do we need to be reminded that humans are monsters? And the ending of this was a little too loose, to much placating. The novel had a much more realistic ending, the ending with a woman not yet willing to trust others with her children, the children she had been training and protecting for four years, alone. The book wasn’t great, but the movie doesn’t really stand up to it.

Book Review - BIRD BOX by Josh Malerman

1/14/2019

Bird Box by Josh Malerman is about a young woman, Malorie, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world where if you look at the world around you, you either go crazy and kill others, or you kill yourself. Malorie must choose what to do, to protect not only herself, but her child and a child she saved just after birth.

The premise of the book is that there is some sort of creature which when gazed upon makes one go crazy. Malorie and her sister, Shannon, are alone at their apartment when they find out about this issue. At first, not a lot of people believe that looking at something is going to make them go crazy, then the stories get spread worldwide. Soon people are covering their windows with blankets and cardboard and anything they can to keep the world out. When things become unbearable and Malorie is forced to leave her house she drives to hope, all while closing her eyes and pregnant.

Malorie finds safety for a while, but then that safe haven is destroyed by a madman with goals unknown to everyone but himself. Malorie survives long enough to find a new safe haven, but to get there she must risk everything.

I enjoyed most of this book, although it was a little slow in parts. There were scenes when Malorie was rowing and most of them were trying to build up suspense and be creepy, but overall, I found them dull and a little tiresome. The scenes in the second house, where Malorie and the others left are trying to figure out what to do and how to survive in a world where they can't look outside, are more interesting as there is more going on. They only added to the story a little though. The characters are not as developed as they could be, I mean I like a little more background story for my characters. I did enjoy the idea of the story, but the trope of an unseen or unknown monster is becoming overdone and dull.

Unless all of these books and movies with unseen or barely seen monsters are going to explain the monsters in future books or movies (which the Cloverfield series has yet to do), then stop making them. I don't need a book that tells me of man being evil and homicidal towards men, that is the plot of life, who is evil and who is compassionate and kind.

Then ending of Bird Box is a little predictable, and I do wish that it had gone another way. There were things that foreshadowed the ending too much, and basically the story gave away what was going to happen in the end. While I did enjoy the story, I enjoyed the idea more than the story. It wasn't as developed as say Dean Koontz's From the Corner of His Eye, about a boy who goes blind and the man he becomes. The main character is blind and the story is not only more developed, but more suspenseful, and creepy.

I do recommend that before watching the movie you read the book for Bird Box. I always recommend reading the book before watching the movie, of any book, except Harry Potter, I could not get through those books. Sorry, not sorry.

Book Review - OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE by Neil Gaiman

1/10/2019

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman is a story of a young boy, now an older man, who heads back home for a funeral. He finds himself on a path to memories and the story takes off from there.

Lettie Hemstock is a girl unlike any girl the boy has ever met. She is magical and takes him to see the ocean on her property, which is really a pond. The story if filled with the wonderful world of Lettie, her mother, and her grandmother. Three strong women live out on a farm where the boy runs for protection. Throughout the story the boy learns that the world is more than what he has always believed it to be. There are secret worlds, and there are secrets in his world. When bad things escape, and his family is thrown into turmoil due to consequences of his own actions, Lettie is the only one who might be able to save him, his family, and the world.

I have to say, from the beginning of this I felt my heart be torn into pieces, stitched back up, then slowly pulled apart again. I slowly bled to death as I read this book. I bled on the pages. I bled in my bed. I felt my heart stop beating when I realized how much was lost and what it took.

That being said, this is a beautiful, haunting, and very sad story. It begins at a funeral, then heads to a seven-year old’s birthday party, a party no one comes to. Death and more death follows before tragedy forces itself into the young boys heart. He finds that his family is rotting from the inside due to the thing he couldn’t let go of. He tries to protect Lettie, but instead dooms the world.

His father changes and he runs away, seeking help from Lettie and her family. In the end, Lettie learns that she is the only one who can save him, and the world.

Then the end. The reader learns that he goes back to Lettie’s farm, throughout the years, and he learns different things while there, but what he really learns is that Lettie thought he was special, and worth something. Lettie no longer lives on the farm, but he goes back, hoping one day to see her. One day, he might see her again, and hopefully by that time, he will be complete.

This book man, this book broke me. It started with sadness, and ended with both hope and sadness. I really enjoyed this book, even though it ripped my heart apart and caused me to slowly bleed out. It offered something that most books don’t offer, the truth of life, and the reality of death. As Lettie says, “That’s the trouble with living things. Don’t last very long. Kittens one day, old cats the next. And then just memories. And the memories fade and blend and smudge together . . .” (pg 45). Everything in this book is a memory, everything in life eventually becomes a memory, and those memories blend together to become what we think they are, but no two memories of the same event are ever the same.

Read this. It’s an excellent book, a book that will break you, but give you something in return.

Apologies and Movie Review for STRANGERLAND

1/7/2019

Before I review this movie, I'd like to apologize to all of my readers for the lack of posts these last few weeks. I was on break from work and unfortunately I spent most of that time sick. I am back to work, but I am also feeling much healthier, which means back to real life and all work. I am working on two books, one I am sending queries out for, and the other I am writing. Sometimes my writing has to take a backseat as I have papers to grade, but I am down to three classes this semester and I feel that I've managed my grading time well. So, without waiting any longer, here is my review of Strangerland. You may not have heard of this movie, and now you can read my review before deciding on if you want to or not.
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Strangerland starring Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes, and Hugo Weaving, is a movie about a family who has moved to a rural area in the outback (is there any other area?) and try to escape the doldrums of this new life.

The family, of which Kidman and Fiennes are the parents, have been forced to move to this new town because of the actions of their teenage daughter. They have two children, their daughter, Lily, and their son, Tom. These two children are precarious and I found them incredibly annoying. The couple have some serious issues in their marriage and they seem to be on their way to divorce, as the audience sees they don’t sleep in the same bed, and they don’t seem to be on the same page when their children have issues.

In the movie Kidman seems to be a desperate mother, while Fiennes is a distant father. Kidman walks through the movie trying to figure out her daughter and save both of her children, while Fiennes not only continues on with his regular day, but he doesn’t see the trauma he is causing his wife to endure. In the end, this family seems broken, and there is no way to fix them or put them back together.

I have to say the most interesting characters were Kidman and Weaving, as they both go through a lot in the movie. The movie itself however, wasn’t a very engaging one. As the family goes through a huge trauma nothing about them, or what they are going through, falls strongly with the viewer. There are issues that don’t make them interesting, and I couldn’t feel anything but blah for them. I wanted to be more interested in what they were dealing with, and I wanted to feel something about what was happening to them, especially since they were dealing with the possibility of losing their children. I just didn’t feel sympathy or happiness or anything for them.

The ending of this movie didn’t settle well with me either. It left the movie unfinished, which isn’t horrible, but it is a little overdone, as a lot of movies seem to end with a mystery still left to be solved. I wanted it to have an actual ending. I wanted this movie to give me answers, but instead it created more questions.

While I enjoyed the acting of the top actors, they weren’t enough to keep me interested, nor were they a reason to watch this movie.

My recommendation is to skip it. Don’t even waste time watching it on streaming, it isn’t worth the time.

Movie Review - Infini

12/26/2018

Infini is a horror science fiction movie released in 2015. It is about a search and rescue team who travel through time slips to other worlds. The company that trains and operates the slip streams are a mining company, and their practices don’t quite take the human element into consideration. One planet where mining is taking place erupts in a horrific outbreak, and no one is quite sure where it has come from.

The movie revolves around a young man named Whit, who has left his pregnant wife for one last job. These jobs are dangerous and they pay very well, which is why Whit has decided it do it one last time. Once he arrives things start happening and the other people on the planet begin showing signs of a sickness that makes everyone a little violent. A search and rescue team is sent to not only find out what happened, but also make sure the product is still being produced.

This was a very bloody movie, which was fun for a horror movie. However, the science part of it wasn’t explored as much as it could have been. The being behind the outbreak was interesting, although it has been done before, I liked how it was interweaved between the horror of what was happening, and the reality of what humans do when they see or meet an alien being.

I didn’t think this was a great movie, and at times I was impatient for the characters to do something together or figure things out, instead they were at each other’s throats and it wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen in a movie like this before. It reminded me of movies like Sunshine and Event Horizon, which were both better movies. I would have liked to see the characters do something new, and I would have liked less of a religious view on motherhood in this film.

This was not a bad movie, but it was lacking in some of the elements and originality. It isn’t a bad movie to watch on streaming, but I wouldn’t recommend paying for it.

Movie Review - Creep 2

12/17/2018

Of course, this review will have spoilers because this is the second in a series. I can’t really talk too much about the movie without mentioning what happened in the previous movie.

The movie, Creep 2, was released in 2017, and I am not sure if people watched it as much as they should have. The plot definition from IMDb is: A video artist looking for work drives to a remote house in the forest to meet a man claiming to be a serial killer. But after agreeing to spend the day with him, she soon realizes that she made a deadly mistake.

Everyone who has seen the first movie knows that Aaron, played by Mark Duplass, is a serial killer. He killed his videographer from the first movie at the end of the movie. In this movie, he starts with a murder, but has hired a videographer, Sara, to document his death. As the film continues on he talks about how he has lost his mojo, and how killing has become boring. With Sara he finds new life and finds that he still has an urge for something. Sara, for her part, shows that he doesn’t scare her, even though he actually does. Then again Sara doesn’t believe Aaron is a serial killer.

I thought this movie was fun, and I have to say I also enjoyed the first movie, Creep. I think part of this was due to Mark Duplass. I have to admit I really enjoy his acting style, as he is often weird characters, but also subtle and engaging. In this movie he takes his serial killer to a new level, and he makes the audience believe what he says. His serial killer was also written well and it was such an honest portrayal, I could honestly say that he made me think about what an actual serial killer might think. He did, in fact, make me think of the real serial killer, Edmund Kemper.

Edmund Kemper is honest about what he has done and why. He is intelligent, and Aaron is also intelligent, which made him seem realistic and wonderful.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and if you haven’t seen it you should absolutely watch it. First, watch the first movie. After you watch both of these you should watch anything else you can with Mark as an actor.

Book Review - INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS by Jack Finney

12/12/2018

Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney is all about what the title sounds like, an invasion, of body snatchers. Doctor Miles Bennell discovers something is off in the town of Mill Valley, California. He is frightened, and concerned, as well as intrigued. Learning that several of his patients have concerns about loved one being different, he visits one, and notices that nothing seems amiss, that is until he is called to the house of a few of his other patients. What he finds there is something he doesn't understand, nor does he know what to do. With the help of his patients, Jack and Theodora, and a recently divorced woman he used to, and still does, love, Becky, they see answers and learn secrets about pod people taking over their town, with aspirations to take over the world.

This book first appeared as several stories in a magazine in 1954. The story takes place in 1976, and the reader can see some of the way life was in the 1950's in the 1970 version. The way the women react and are treated, like fainting flowers, is the way women were looked at often in the 1950's. This was the most disturbing part of the story.

The book was interesting in regards to the idea of the pod people. They had no emotions, because they weren't needed. They came down and counted themselves as parasites that wanted to survive, like all lifeforms. The alien pods do have issues, they don't last long, and they can't reproduce unless they are cloning something else, and they can't clone something they have already cloned. Once the pod people realize that the lifeforms on earth, ie the humans, don't want to die, the alien lifeforms realize they may not be able to take over the world as easy as they thought they would.

It is an interesting book, and it does make one wonder how humanity would survive, or what the survival instinct of humans would be. How far would we go and how hard would we fight. I enjoyed the sneaky way that the pod people inserted themselves into the lives of others, or took over the lives of others. It was also interesting because if one thinks about it, what if there are aliens here right now, and we don't know because they have been slowly taking over. It reminds me of the movie They Live.

I should add, I have only recently seen one the original two movies, although I have seen The Invasion (Not great) and The Thing (which is the same type of story). The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) is not the same movie as the book, although there are some things about it that are the same. For example, there is a main man, who is in love with his female counterpart. There is a doctor who says it is all mass hysteria. And there is a couple who find they are being cloned and taken over. I think the original movie might be the one that is closest to the book, so if you read the book, you might want to start there.

Movie Review - IT'S ALIVE (1973)

12/10/2018

SPOILERS included in this review. You have been warned.

I previously watched the remake of It’s Alive, and after watching the 1973 original movie I really don’t think it needed to be remade, because the remake is a million times worse than the original (which wasn’t the best movie itself). The 1973 version of It’s Alive is about a couple who have a monster of a baby. The baby goes on a killing spree to survive and get home to his parents. Frank, the father, feels an incredible desire to destroy the infant, but the mother has other ideas after she returns home and tries to start life back up. Their older son, Charlie, is left in the dark as the parents try to protect him from what happened, but in the end Charlie doesn’t need protection from his baby brother, the rest of the world, they might.

The original version of this movie was very different from the remake. In this version the mother hides the child for a few days in the basement of their house, only wanting to protect him. She doesn’t get to take him home from the hospital because after he slaughters the medical staff he runs in fear, whereas in the remake they take the baby home and find that the only weird things about him are his teeth and his size (he grows incredibly fast). The father in the remake doesn’t seem to take an interest in the movie, and the mother in the remake tries hide her infants murderous deeds by moving and concealing bodies.

One thing I liked about the original is that the father eventually comes around and tried to protect his child, unlike the remake when the mother sets the house on fire, killing herself and her baby. In the original the parents seem to really care for their oldest child, Charlie, while in the remake the kid seems to be left on his own, or he disappears and the audience has no idea what might have happened to him.

Since the original was made in the early 1970’s it is a little bit hokey, but the fun of it is the badly done effects and some of the interesting acting. In fact one of the best lines of the movie came from the lead detective trying to find and destroy the infant. The line was, “Hunting and killing babies doesn’t seem to be my specialty,” and I thought it was the most apropos line in the movie, since how does one justify hunting down and killing an infant, even if it is a homicidal monster?

I actually enjoyed the original version a million times better than the remake, and I thought it not only had a better story, but a better ending. If you haven’t watched it, look for the 1973 version, and skip the 2008 version.

Movie Review - LET'S BE EVIL

12/3/2018

2016’s Let’s Be Evil is a movie that doesn’t quite have a specific plot or outline. What it seems to be about is a young woman named Jenny, who accepts a temporary job at a research facility to help care for her ailing mother. While there she is set to watch the children in the facility as they are trained for unspecific purposes.

Jenny is a young woman who must find a way to care for her ill mother. She ends up getting a temporary job at this research facility. She is never told what she is doing there, nor what the children she is watching are doing there. Each day she is awoken by an alarm and must wear special glasses to view the augmented reality of the facility she is at. In reality she may or may not be in some sort of virtual reality game. Throughout the movie she tries to connect with the children and feels that she does connect with a young girl named Cassandra. In reality it is all a game.

This movie started out very interesting, because as Jenny and her two coworkers do what they are supposed to be doing, they don’t really learn much about what they are doing. Neither does the audience. There are suspicious things that happen throughout the movie, like lights going out, black smoke roaming over a door, and children playing vicious games on Jenny and the other two workers. The audience sits waiting for something, anything, to happen. Then when something does happen, it is both expected and unexpected.

At the end of the movie, I can’t say I was shocked. I found that the entire idea of the movie changed with the end of the movie. I didn’t think the ending was a good one, and it was frustrating to see the movie ending like it did. It was one of those movies, one where you find out at the end that the movie was just a dream. This was just like that, except it wasn’t a dream, but it was close to one of those stupid movies.

Now, I don’t mind a twist at the end of a movie, but I really think directors should try to make things more interesting, and stop with the ambiguous or circular endings of movies. Please, I’m begging all of you directors and producers and writers out there, stop writing the same ending in different cities and realities for all of the movies out there. Try being original! I don’t need another twist to another movie that tells me that none of it really happened at all. I’m so over that!

So, did I like this movie? Yes, until the end. Was it worth a watch? Yes, until the end. Should you watch it, I mean, if you don’t mind something that seems like it will be a good movie that craps out in the end? Yeah, go ahead, it’s not a long movie, and it is free on a few streaming services.