God Help The Girl
Cast: Emily
Browning, Olly Alexander,
Hannah Murray, Cora Bissett, Pierre Boulanger
Writer/Director: Stuart Murdoch
112 mins
Hannah Murray, Cora Bissett, Pierre Boulanger
Writer/Director: Stuart Murdoch
112 mins
Stuart Munro’s debut cinema outing "God Help the Girl" takes a set of songs, animates the lyrics literally – and as each has a sturdy narrative, he builds a decent enough feature from them. Murdoch, of Belle & Sebastian allows the music material to dictate the story as against the usual reverse formula.
The opening scene shows a girl slipping out of a mental health establishment, intent on heading for Glasgow’s famed Barrowland to check out a band – but is caught sneaking back in later. The girl - the film’s charming heroine Eve (Emily Browning) is undergoing treatment and counselling for anorexia. At the gig she makes friends with geeky guitarist James (Olly Alexander), and as he needs someone to take over the spare room in his west end flat, she takes up the offer. Later we encounter Cassie (Hannah Murray) to whom Olly gives piano lessons, and before long Eve is writing songs for the three to play, with Eve totally missing the fact that James is well and truly head-over-heels with her.
The whole premise of the film is light, fluffy, retro-aware and just the right side of twee, but it has an undeniable charm – with well-cast leads conveying totally engaging performances - and the soundtrack being ideal for cult followers of the B&S back catalogue is a real bonus. Emily Browning's voice has a gently sardonic tone evolving into a quite beautiful fragility which perfectly synchronises Eve’s experiences throughout the film. The songs she/they perform are simple and minimal, which is enough for them to sound under-rehearsed, but in reality they are carefully constructed.
Surprisingly none of the cast actually sound like they're from Glasgow, where the film takes place, but it still works. Murdoch and his crew have made a decent film, perhaps lacking a little in the screenplay where some real experience could have lifted the project up a few notches – but then again a shiny polished feature for this would be at odds with the material at his disposal.
The Purge: Anarchy
Cast: Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zoe Soul, Zach Gilford, Kiele Sanchez
Director: James DeMonaco
103 mins
103 mins
The
first “Purge” feature was an incredibly stupid horror-thriller dragged down by
its comically far-fetched concept, cardboard villains and idiotic characters.
As you might expect from a sequel written and directed by the same idiot
responsible for the original, “The Purge: Anarchy” is plagued by many of the
same issues.
“Anarchy” has shed itself almost entirely of all horror elements, aiming for something more along the lines of a retro-John Carpenter film, the only problem being – it’s utter dross. In an attempt to lower the national crime rate and control overpopulation, the USA’s newly elected government – the New Founding Fathers of America – have enacted an annual day known as The Purge, a 12-hour period where all crime (including theft, murder and rape) is completely legal.
It’s designed to provide citizens with an outlet for their repressed urges, but it’s not pleasant for those beneath the poverty line. Those who can’t afford protection are easy targets, like single mother Eva (Carmen Ejogo), who’s just trying to make it through another Purge alive with her daughter Cali (Zoe Soul). When a well-armed group of assailants raid their seedy and grubby flat (why are most homes like this in so many American films?) and take them outside to be executed in the streets, they’re saved by a mysterious stranger (Frank Grillo) seeking revenge on the man who killed his son. Along the way, they’re joined by a married couple (Zach Gilford and Kiele Sanchez) who have been stranded in the city after their car breaks down - and they must work together to survive the night against psychotic gangs and the government’s personal hit squad.
“The Purge: Anarchy” is much more action-oriented than its predecessor, less concerned with building suspense than watching its would-be victims fight off a never-ending onslaught of crazies, and in that respect, it’s very reminiscent of cult films like “The Warriors” and “Assault on Precinct 13.” Curiously, writer/director James DeMonaco penned the screenplay for the 2005 remake of the latter, so he’s clearly a fan of those kinds of movies, and it shows in this open-world sequel that expands upon the idea introduced in the first film. Unfortunately, there are still so many questions about the sheer stupidity of the premise (like why these sociopaths don’t commit crimes other days of the year, or why people don’t just leave the country instead of barricading themselves inside their homes) that it’s hard to completely invest in the story.
There’s an interesting subplot involving an anti-government rebellion led by Michael K. Williams, but it’s never fully explored (perhaps they’re saving that for Part Three), while the half-hearted attempts at social commentary are difficult to take seriously when DeMonaco is constantly cutting away to people being mindlessly murdered.
Just like the dire original, this sequel is packed with flat, tedious one-dimensional characters that make a series of bad decisions and deliver even worse – unimaginative dialogue (the usual ‘motherfucker this and motherfucker that etc ad nauseum). The couple played by Gilford and Sanchez, for instance, think it’s a good idea to be driving around town (and even stopping to get some groceries) with only an hour remaining before the Purge commences. Adding in even more stupidity, atrocious acting and unintentionally funny moments – this is just a hateful waste of time.
“Anarchy” has shed itself almost entirely of all horror elements, aiming for something more along the lines of a retro-John Carpenter film, the only problem being – it’s utter dross. In an attempt to lower the national crime rate and control overpopulation, the USA’s newly elected government – the New Founding Fathers of America – have enacted an annual day known as The Purge, a 12-hour period where all crime (including theft, murder and rape) is completely legal.
It’s designed to provide citizens with an outlet for their repressed urges, but it’s not pleasant for those beneath the poverty line. Those who can’t afford protection are easy targets, like single mother Eva (Carmen Ejogo), who’s just trying to make it through another Purge alive with her daughter Cali (Zoe Soul). When a well-armed group of assailants raid their seedy and grubby flat (why are most homes like this in so many American films?) and take them outside to be executed in the streets, they’re saved by a mysterious stranger (Frank Grillo) seeking revenge on the man who killed his son. Along the way, they’re joined by a married couple (Zach Gilford and Kiele Sanchez) who have been stranded in the city after their car breaks down - and they must work together to survive the night against psychotic gangs and the government’s personal hit squad.
“The Purge: Anarchy” is much more action-oriented than its predecessor, less concerned with building suspense than watching its would-be victims fight off a never-ending onslaught of crazies, and in that respect, it’s very reminiscent of cult films like “The Warriors” and “Assault on Precinct 13.” Curiously, writer/director James DeMonaco penned the screenplay for the 2005 remake of the latter, so he’s clearly a fan of those kinds of movies, and it shows in this open-world sequel that expands upon the idea introduced in the first film. Unfortunately, there are still so many questions about the sheer stupidity of the premise (like why these sociopaths don’t commit crimes other days of the year, or why people don’t just leave the country instead of barricading themselves inside their homes) that it’s hard to completely invest in the story.
There’s an interesting subplot involving an anti-government rebellion led by Michael K. Williams, but it’s never fully explored (perhaps they’re saving that for Part Three), while the half-hearted attempts at social commentary are difficult to take seriously when DeMonaco is constantly cutting away to people being mindlessly murdered.
Just like the dire original, this sequel is packed with flat, tedious one-dimensional characters that make a series of bad decisions and deliver even worse – unimaginative dialogue (the usual ‘motherfucker this and motherfucker that etc ad nauseum). The couple played by Gilford and Sanchez, for instance, think it’s a good idea to be driving around town (and even stopping to get some groceries) with only an hour remaining before the Purge commences. Adding in even more stupidity, atrocious acting and unintentionally funny moments – this is just a hateful waste of time.
