Rocketman Review

Rocketman

Dir: Dexter Fletcher

Starring: Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, Gemma Jones, Matthew Illesley, Kit Conner, Tom Bennett, and Steven Mackintosh

Arizona State University, during my freshman year of college, was a great place to go to school if you were music fan because of a little slice of heaven called Hoodlums Record Store. This music shop was on campus, always had a great selection of music, and had a staff recommendation wall where you could find brand new musical adventures to explore. It was on this wall where a choice selection from one of my favorite record store clerks was on display, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” from Elton John. 

Up to this point Sir Elton was an overlooked artist in my music catalog, I knew the all the hits but never explored an Elton John album completely. By the time you get to the third track on “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, “Benny and the Jets”, it’s undeniable that you are listening to something special, something classic. 

Director Dexter Fletcher, who stepped in to fill the shoes vacated by Bryan Singer on “Bohemian Rhapsody”, brings the story and music of Reginald Dwight to fantastical and heartfelt life in “Rocketman”. This is a musical, from start to finish; one that feeds on the fan fascination of Elton John’s musical prowess with touches found in direct song and dance numbers to simple composition moments tinged with familiar elements from the artist’s catalog of songs. It’s also a story about therapy and rehabilitation, about a broken family structure and a newfound relationship found through friendship, and it’s also a story about that magical process of making music and the magic that happens when music touches the heart. 

The film begins in a room with a support group where Elton John (Taron Egerton) is telling his story, from the beginning, as a young boy (Matthew Illesley) called Reggie by his mother (Bryce Dallas Howard) and ignored by his stern father (Steven Mackintosh). Reginald is a prodigy, playing music by simply listening to the tune, composing original melodies by simply feeling which keys sound good together. It doesn’t take long for Reg to gain notoriety in London, soon leaving home to compose music for Liberty Records, and quickly skyrocketing to an American showcase with songwriter Bernie Taupin (Jamie Bell) at the West Hollywood venue The Troubadour. It’s at this concert where the legend of Elton John takes form.

Director Dexter Fletcher and writer Lee Hall apply some interesting elements throughout “Rocketman” which is trying to be more than just a standard music biopic. The film implements a good narrative structure which starts in a support group room and moves back in time to tell the story. While this causes a few occasions where the timeline may be hard to identify, it allows some freedom in crafting the design of the film elements. Throughout the movie characters move from dialog to song, from walking to dancing, and the world changes from reality to fantasy to match the personal themes Elton is experiencing at each specific moment in time. It allows the film to have a fairytale like quality in some moments but also some poignant imagery when it comes to the relationship Elton had with being loved and the harmful indulgences that consumed part of his life.

Taron Egerton is great in the lead role, singing all the songs with familiar inflections and displaying performance scenes with all the swagger and confidence Elton is known for. Egerton also does an impressive job with the emotional aspects, specifically in scenes where Elton is craving simple moments of love from his father and his partner/manager John Reid played by Richard Madden. Jamie Bell is also good throughout film playing the calm and quiet songwriter Bernie Taupin. You can feel the unbreakable kinship that Elton and Bernie have for one another, Jamie Bell and Taron Egerton handle the changing identify of the characters with ease. 

“Rocketman” struggles in moments, specifically in terms of scope in addressing the reach Elton John had during his career which transcended mere album sales and extended into another definition of what a “rockstar” could be. Also, some of the indulgences in the design take over too aggressively, with forced dance numbers or music cues that don’t fit into the narrative composition of the character. 

Still, “Rocketman” is having a great time showcasing the joy of making music while also characterizing a musician who struggled to find happiness and love outside of the tunes he crafted so beautifully. While some elements struggle to hit the mark they are aiming for, the vast majority of the film does a great job of making people remember why the music of Elton John will never go out of style. 

Monte’s Rating

3.50 out of 5.00

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Dir: Michael Dougherty

Starring: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Thomas Middleditch, and Charles Dance

From 1964 to 1988 KPHO-TV5 in Phoenix, Arizona had a television program called “The World Beyond”, it’s the seminal foundation for my young movie loving mind. Where most young people were influenced by Saturday morning cartoons, mid-day western cinema, or the Sunday night family movie…my love for moving pictures started with “The Twilight Zone”, “The Outer Limits”, and “Godzilla” monster movies. 

Films like 1973’s “Godzilla vs. Megalon”, 1956’s “Rodan”, 1980’s “Gamera-Super Monsters”, and the monster movie that most affected me, 1968’s “Destroy All Monsters” played critical roles in my development as a cinephile, and ultimately as a genre film fan. 

The king of the monsters, Godzilla, has played an extensive role in film history; serving up nearly 40 films ranging from the Toho Studios franchise to the American adaptations of recent years. Director Michael Dougherty, who previously guided two successful horror films “Krampus” and “Trick ‘r Treat”, tries to find balance while bringing the bang and boom to the monster party with “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”.

Monarch, a crypto-zoological agency developed to investigate ancient monsters, has been working towards a peaceful existence between the mighty Godzilla and numerous  newfound monsters around the world. Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) has developed a new technology called Orca that can control the monsters; it can calm them, agitate them, or signal them. It doesn’t take long for this technology to get into the wrong hands, unleashing the ancient monsters on the world with only the beast Godzilla and the human Monarch team to come to the rescue. 

Gareth Edwards’ “Godzilla” film from 2014 brought the beloved “titan” back to the big screen, though the film was highly criticized for its lack of monster mayhem. But it was this film that signaled the beginning of yet another franchise universe, one filled with giant kaiju. 

It didn’t take long for a film featuring another famous monster, “Kong: Skull Island”, to continue the franchise, however this film seemed to find the balance between its monster and human counterparts. Having fun while finding the human elements to add substance to the story.

“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is also aiming for balance, in a sense it wants to deliver on everything fans have been waiting for, which is a battle royale of some of the greatest kaiju to be brought to the silver screen, but also find a sense of humanity in the mortals clamoring beneath the bellies of these gods. Unfortunately, the human element of this film is completely lost. We have a wide selection of some talented actors, Ken Watanabe, Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Sally Hawkins, Ziyi Zhang, and Bradley Whitford to name a few, but none of them are every given the development necessary to make them impactful with emotion and motivation. Instead, they are relinquished to roles that really have no more purpose than to introduce the monsters and watch in captivated/shocked awe of the chaos happening. 

The story of how all these monsters are conjured and combat is convoluted, but are people really coming for a story? I would hope so, but the one presented here is barely formed. This is unfortunate because there is a wealth of social commentary to mine for a story about a monster born of nuclear destruction, born of war, born of discourse. 

The kaiju are plentiful however, the three headed dragon King Ghidora, the winged fire beast Rodan, and the unusually beautiful Mothra all make an appearance. Some are allies and some are foes, but all fight in a collision of debris, dust, wind, rain, fire, and electricity. So much of the action between the “titans” is done in the dark with a wealth of elements masking much of the action, it doesn’t help as well that many of these scenes are done with jarring camera moves and constant motion. The few wide screen, stable shots display the impressive scope of these monsters, it’s picturesque and quite stunning when it happens.

“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is searching for balance between its many spinning plates, it is seldom found. Instead, the film shifts heavily from one battle scene, then into a strained family drama, and back again. Yes, there is monster movie mayhem galore, but is that enough? For some it might be. 

Monte’s Rating

2.00 out of 5.00

Booksmart Review

By Emery Snyder @leeroy711

Director: Olivia Wilde

Starring: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, Jessica Williams, Jason Sudeikis, Lisa Kudrow & Will Forte

Annapurna Pictures & Gloria Sanchez – May 24, 2019

On their last day before high-school graduation, bosom buddies, Amy (Dever) and Molly (Feldstein) are horrified to learn that all their academic efforts and seriousness have only gotten them exactly as far as the rest of the hoi polloi in their class. So naturally, in a ditch effort to make up for lost time and to show their classmates that they too know how to have fun, the two plan to blow the roof off of their comfort zones and party with their peers. Who could have imagined how difficult and complicated this would end up?

This is a formula we’ve seen before, largely because it works. CAN’T HARDLY WAIT, DAZED AND CONFUSED & of course, SUPERBAD all center around the archetypical nerdy high-schooler seizing upon the opportunity of graduation for an epic swan-song of coolness. The template exists, the only question remaining is whether it can be utilized to elevate the story to something that stands out. Well, this one had four credited writers (Susanna Fogel, Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins and Katie Silberman) to do so but the resounding answer is: Yes, yes it can… This is a film that will be easily adopted and cherished by future generations. It will be endlessly quoted and requoted. It will be found replacing films like MEAN GIRLS and EASY A on the slumber party playlist. And you may even see lines from this movie silk-screened onto t-shirts at your local Target someday.

But alas, the impending cultural significance is not what makes this a good movie. What

elevates this film above so many others is the filmmakers’ obvious love for the characters that have been crafted here. Dever’s Amy is timid but thoughtful and patient. While Feldstein’s Molly assertiveness and confidence manifests itself to others as abrasiveness and arrogance. Together, the two complement and balance each other’s traits. This is typical of a lot of buddy comedies. But this film is for a new era. And these days, writers are asked to flesh out even the least supportive of a supporting cast. There are no expendables here, everyone gets their moment. This is especially impressive considering the pace at which this film clips along. Each tangential quest is used to color and realize the world that Amy and Molly are navigating.

This is an impressive directorial debut for Wilde. Equal parts absurdism, surrealism and expressionism are all tethered to core dedication of simply making a funny movie. Wilde is known for her political and social activism in various causes around the world. And although you could probably guess which way her politics lean, I don’t think you could sum up anything specifically profound or radical that this film is trying to say. It is a raunchy female-centric comedy, written and directed by all women, with a gay main character. But it never seems to heighten the fact of this rarity. If anything, it’s goal may only be to normalize this type of story and to inspire future storytellers. In that it succeeds.  

This is one of those very rare comedies that actually lives up to the promises made in its trailer. The ‘LOL’ moments are contextualized and colored by the film’s duo of heroines and the richness of their characters.

Emery’s Rating

4.5 out of 5 Stars

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The Perfection Review

The Perfection

Dir: Richard Shepard

Starring: Allison Williams, Logan Browning, Alaina Huffman, and Steven Weber

Practice makes perfect. There are musicians who practice the most difficult musical compositions for their entire careers, all with the hope of achieving the perfect manipulation of notes. The amount of perseverance, motivation, and ambition needed to accomplish this feat of perfection is a mindset that many cannot, and will never, accomplish. 

Director Richard Shepard crafts a genre-bending tale of perfectionism, jealousy, and deep trauma with the “The Perfection”. Assisted by a wonderful performance from Allison Williams, this bizarre, engaging, yet also unfortunately flawed, horror/thriller/science fiction mashup is consistently operating at maximum capacity, even when there are moments that it should make room for something other than gratuitous spectacle. 

Charlotte (Allison Williams) is a former musical prodigy who had to leave a house for musicians, run by an eccentric and wealthy husband and wife (Steven Weber and Alaina Huffman), when her mother became ill. Charlotte, now older and no longer a revered musician, seeks out the new prodigy, Lizzie (Logan Browning), who is now the star pupil of Charlotte’s old school. The two women are drawn to each, and eventual take a journey together that begins to lead to sinister outcomes. 

The mystery presented “The Perfection” is a major piece of the fun; the design of the narrative utilizes more than a few fun devices that keep the viewer guessing about what is going on and where the film is leading, specifically the editing style and the manipulative nature of the character development are key elements. There is a Brian De Palma-esque quality to the structure of the film, with manipulation of time and detailed story perspectives, however this film doesn’t have the auteur’s sense of subtlety within the frame. 

The film isn’t too interested in balancing the different elements of tension and suspense. Instead, this film completely swings for the cinematic fence every time it steps to the plate. And, on a few occasions, the approach towards instituting a twist in the story feels so forcefully implied that it ultimately takes away from the dark and twisted fantasy horror story being told. Still, it’s refreshing to see the chances that this film is willing to take, especially in its push towards being its own unique and unexpected vision. 

One of the strongest links within “The Perfection” is the fascinating performance from Allison Williams, who is building a strong horror credential with this film and Jordan Peele’s “Get Out”. Ms. Williams has a way of being devious and delicate at the same time, of being a manipulator and the manipulated; her smile has a quality that is both naïve and sinister. Watching Ms. Williams build her character, amidst the twists and turns, is amusing throughout the entirety of the film. 

Elements pile one after another, building upon each other, and all leading towards a finale that seems impossible to conclude after all the genre manipulations being operated at every corner of the film. This makes it difficult to conclude this film, especially when the spectacle of everything is being pushed towards extraneous limits, and unfortunately the addition of a specific story device doesn’t help “The Perfection” find its place in the end. 

“The Perfection” is a nicely composed, sometimes bizarre and sometimes fascinating, genre mashup. With a great performance from Allison Williams it’s a pleasant surprise to see a film play with genre in such interesting ways, even when it doesn’t always work out like it should. Still, for those willing to take the strange journey being offered here, “The Perfection” is looking to stimulate all your horror senses. 

Monte’s Rating

3.50 out of 5.00

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum Review

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Dir:Chad Stahelski

Starring:Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Lance Reddick, and Anjelica Huston

There is a moment in John Woo’s seminal action classic, “The Killer”, when the movement of bodies amidst the barrage of bullets begins to find an unexpected rhythm, as if throughout the gratuitous violence there is a dance being organized. There is a moment in Lana and Lily Wachowski’s film “The Matrix” when the meticulously choreographed fight scenes begin to have an unanticipated elegance, a ballet of bodies dipping and dodging one another within the chaos of viciousness. It’s mayhem and carnage arranged with beautiful and artful composition. 

These pure, cinematic, adrenaline-fueled qualities are prominently on display in “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum”, the continuation of the lone assassin dressed in black hell bent for revenge. In true action movie sequel style, everything is amped up to the highest degree. However, where some movies lose track of how to handle the bigger and faster element of it all, “Chapter 3” somehow deftly handles the lofty expectations and crafts the one of the best action movies of the year. 

 John Wick (Keanu Reeves) is still out for vengeance, taking his unstoppable skillset to task against the bad guys that killed his puppy, then the organization that betrayed him, and now, in this third installment, it seems like Wick is out to fight the entire world. After being “excommunicado” from the assassin agency, known as the High Table, a 14-million-dollar bounty has been set for Wick’s life and every assassin in the world is provided the open opportunity. Hoping to find mercy from the leader of the High Table, John Wick travels across the globe to find atonement for his actions. 

One of the downfalls with modern action films exists within the design of the action. Some directors will shoot with a realistic camera perspective, one that shakes and jolts in discombobulating ways with every punch and kick. Other directors will overedit scenes, cutting at moments to hide the fact that the actors in the movies just don’t know how to sell a fight. The great Jackie Chan, an action actor/stuntman who meticulously choreographed all his own fight scenes, has discussed this concept of fight scene composition at great length, specifically how the modern action movie falters in the design of human combat.

“John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum”, in the first 10 minutes, has one of the most exhilarating and impressively composed fight scenes seen in some time…inside a quiet library and with the utilization of a book as a weapon! Add a chase scene with motorcycles and horses with homage to “The French Connection”, ingeniously orchestrated gun combat involving two Belgian Malinois dogs, and the superb casting of the underappreciated Mark Dacascos of the 90’s action film “Only the Strong”, and “John Wick: Chapter 3” is doing everything at its highest quality. 

Director Chad Stahelski, who started his career as a stunt coordinator and stunt double for Keanu Reeves, deserves much of the appreciation for the great structure of action seen throughout this film. The hand-to-hand combat is often times shot with a wide-angle lens, showing all the movements within the frame so that the viewer gets all the visual information they need to distinguish characters and see the ferocity of the hits. 

Keanu Reeves should also be praised for his performance throughout this series. With a quiet and calm demeanor, Mr. Reeves’ John Wick feels like a faster, more agile version of Clint Eastwood’s Blondie character from “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”. Plus, take a moment to search for YouTube videos of Keanu Reeves training with real weapons for this film, it’s absolutely amazing. This type of training provides a foundation for making the physical movements of the character have purpose and reason, all adding to making the many fantastic elements throughout this film somehow seem reasonable and realistic. 

“John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” is not the strongest version of the story told within the series, but it is the best composed in terms of action set pieces of all the films. It’s brutal, bloody, barbaric action composed with so much artful attention that it’s impossible to look away. Prepare for a war of the senses in the best way possible.  

Monte’s Rating

4.25 out of 5.00

Pokémon Detective Pikachu Review

Pokémon Detective Pikachu

Dir: Rob Letterman

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Chris Geere, Bill Nighy, and Ken Watanabe

Remember the 1988 film “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” which paired a down-on-his-luck gumshoe and an anxious animated rabbit named Roger? At the time of the release, this was a cutting-edge combination of movie magic, placing real actors with animated characters and bringing the animation studio giants together where Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse could share the same frame, where Donald Duck and Daffy Duck could perform skydive hijinks. But one element that is often overlooked is that the film pieces together a nice homage to the detective tales and film noir styles of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Adding a mature element to the world of cartoons.

“Pokémon Detective Pikachu” takes much of its influence from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, bringing the iconic Japanese “Pocket Monsters” together for their own brand recognition praise with a film that is mostly fan service, framed within a flimsy neo-noir detective story. 

Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) lives in a world where Pokémon and humans live peacefully with one another, some becoming connected enough to create an inseparable bond. When Tim’s father Harry goes mysteriously missing, Tim returns to Ryme City to investigate his father’s disappearance. Helping Tim with his search is Harry’s Pokémon, Detective Pikachu, who has suffered amnesia after an accident. The two encounter more sinister plans involving the Pokémon, leading them to a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse. 

The cute star of the film is Detective Pikachu (voiced by Ryan Reynolds); for those unfamiliar with this property, Pikachu is a small yellow critter who conjures electricity as a defense mechanism. Ryan Reynolds is a good choice to voice this character, his charm and quick wit provide the tiny animated character with cuteness that distracts from some of the issues with the story. Justice Smith, who had a nice turn in the Netflix series “The Get Down”, tries to keep up with the disorganized plot but his character seems lost amidst everything happening. It’s unfortunate because at the core of this story is a relationship, the bond between a boy and his pet. As the film develops, when it’s not random action scenes or detective story clichés, Pikachu and Tim have nice chemistry and offer some minor moments where you can see Tim regain his love for his childhood that ended too early.  

Amongst the many forms the franchise brand has taken in multimedia avenues, the film is based on the video game and the pacing of the story resembles the structure of those video games. One clue leads to a mission which leads to another adventure, the story moments don’t tie together so well when this logic is translated to the cinema but there are enough fan moments to distract from this absence of plot structure. 

“Pokémon Detective Pikachu” never completely commits to the mystery story it’s trying to tell, it seems more concerned with offering fun moments and fan appreciation. You don’t have to be a fan of the Pokémon to find the easy-going fun trying to be had here, but if you do like those “Pocket Monsters” it may be easier to overlook the glaring issues with this detective yarn. 

Monte’s Rating

2.00 out of 5.00

Shadow Review

Shadow

Dir: Zhang Yimou

Starring: Chao Deng, Li Sun, Kai Zhang, Ryan Zheng, Qianyuan Wang, Jingchun Wang, Jun Hu, Xiaotong Guan, and Lei Wu

Director Zhang Yimou rose to international acclaim with the brilliant wuxia films (a genre of Chinese fiction where martial artist heroes interact with Ancient China) “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers”. The director’s big splash in America was supposed to be the epic heroes versus monster’s movie “The Great Wall”. The splash, unfortunately, was a misstep for the talented director who, with his earlier films, accomplished the often-difficult combination of crafting grand action fight scenes and detailed character development supported by exceptional performances. 

“Shadow” is Yimou’s newest film and it’s a welcome return to form for the director. The film is carefully crafted, with some exceptional fight choreography and action set pieces. It is sustained by an impressive design, one that the director has become a true auteur in the development of desaturated atmospheres and mesmerizing locales. These aspects are complimented nicely by some great performances, ones that make the slow and complicated courtroom-like drama sensibilities much more manageable than they otherwise might be.

Set during China’s Three Kingdom’s era, the King of Pei (Kai Zhang), an arrogant and pompous ruler, and his sister, Princess Qingping (Xiaotong Guan), rule a kingdom that has found peaceful times because of the cruel King’s policies. The Commander (Chao Deng) holds much of the admiration for finding this peace. However, the Commander has a secret shadow, an identical double that has been trained since childhood to take the place of the Commander in case something unfortunate should happen. Shifting influences and betrayal soon begin and spell disaster for the kingdom. 

Zhang Yimou has an impressive visual style, capable of combining meticulously crafted action scenes within a beautifully composed environments. “Shadow” is desaturated of color, the deep variations of grey, black, and blue take over and add an atmosphere that feels lonesome, one that feels steeped in an everlasting state of dread. It’s a nice design once the action settles into its superb spectacle; combinations of slow-motion acrobatics and swordplay mix with large droplets of rain and deep gushes of red blood unleashed amidst the battle. Yimou’s talents are on a full and impressive display in the final act of the film. 

The narrative is dense with plot devices that have subtleties intertwined within that aren’t always easy to make sense of. There are no straight forward answers to questions, motivations are blanketed in mystery, and conversation is filled with untrustworthiness. While it takes some time building towards the true purpose of why all the wheels are spinning, the performances from the cast make it completely interesting to watch. Chao Deng plays two characters within the film and does a fantastic job of displaying the melodrama of each, one that bleeds rage and another that controls the internal struggle. 

“Shadow” is a return to form for Zhang Yimou, an action film filled with moments of impressive violence and the stunning dance of combat. It’s so wonderfully composed that it feels more like a ballet than a fight. While the story wanders more often than it should, the grand style and careful structure of the characters make “Shadow” an entertaining and artistic action drama.

Monte’s Rating

4.00 out of 5.00

Strawberry Flavored Plastic

Strawberry Flavored Plastic

Dir: Colin Bemis

Starring: Aidan Bristow, Nicholas Urda, Andres Montejo, and Bianca Soto

Language is the primary component in how we express emotions, how we explain the world to others and ourselves. The films of legendary documentary filmmaker Errol Morris looked towards an understanding of the complicated balance between what and how people express themselves through language. And Morris, who’s innovation behind the camera is notable in every single film, positions his subjects in intimidating yet vulnerable positions, many times looking straight into the camera lens, almost talking to the viewer.

The popularity of true crime stories, look no further than Netflix’s most recent water cooler conversation starter “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes”, provides viewers with an inside look into the crimes, pop culture, and history of some of the most infamous criminals in history. While some may not completely understand the appeal of these shows, they are undoubtedly fascinating insights from a safe distance into the perspective of people who have committed some of the most violent acts against humanity.

In Colin Bemis’ feature debut, “Strawberry Flavored Plastic”, a filmmaker aptly named Errol (Nicholas Urda) examines the composition of humanity, and inhumanity, for a fictional serial killer named Noel (Aidan Bristow) in the suburbs of New York. Through a combination of first-person interviews, found footage photography, and documentary style filmmaking techniques, “Strawberry Flavored Plastic” composes an introspective analysis of horror that is disquieting, lonely, uncomfortable, and unsettling. 

The film structure of “Strawberry Flavored Plastic” starts with a combination of every single technique horror films have utilized to a point of exhaustion over the last decade. It’s initially annoying, however once these aspects become accompanied by the killer in question, Noel, the form changes. Where these initial moments come off as frustratingly familiar, they morph and change into something surprisingly interesting as the film team and Noel utilize the different techniques to begin the examination of habits, behaviors, mannerisms, and journey into darkness for the killer. When the film changes to the first-person perspective, typically shot on a Go-Pro, you begin to feel the uneasiness of tension build as the dread of bad things lingers on a shaky frame of someone walking into a home or walking down unfamiliar hallways. It’s disturbing.

Mr. Bemis, who also wrote this film, does an impressive job building the slow-burn narrative to a palatable position; a place where Noel’s character is slowly stripped away, the layer of introspection, the layer of charm, of trauma, of history, of self-pity, of cowardice, of arrogance, all the way down to the layer of analysis into the spectrum of evil Noel discovers and struggles within himself. It’s unnerving to listen to the language Noel uses, a mix of emotional outbursts on the filmmaking crew and unsuspecting bystanders, sweet musings towards his young daughter, misguided intellect when the camera is at attention on Noel and his exploits, and unhinged explicit screams into the faces of people Noel feels have disrespected him. It progresses from an innocent charm into pure disturbed derangement. 

“Strawberry Flavored Plastic” pushes its purpose strongly in the third act, perhaps going on about 10 minutes longer than it should have. Still, this is a film that uses expectation and familiarity to blindside the viewer. What you see and hear may seem familiar but it moves and progresses into territory that gets underneath your skin, that pushes you to feel something for characters only to challenge your perception and move you to moments of understanding that are difficult to watch. Director Colin Bemis has composed a unique and unexpected genre film.

Monte’s Rating

3.50 out of 5.00

4 Questions w/ Joe Berlinger

4 Questions with Joe Berlinger

Director of Netflix’s new Ted Bundy drama “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile”.

My Netflix queue has changed, recently, from independent films and arthouse classics to a combination of cake decorating shows and true crime documentaries. While I have no excuse for the cake decorating shows, I do enjoy a good holiday themed three-tier cake, true crime documentaries are fascinating shows to experience.

Director Joe Berlinger is one of the auteurs behind the true crime film boom. Berlinger is responsible for the superb “Paradise Lost” film series and the equally fascinating “Brother’s Keeper” documentary from 1992. The director has always pointed his lens and focus within the people involved in crime, behind their reasoning and decisions, and throughout the pathways that have led them to the present. It’s captivating work. 

Mr. Burlinger’s latest documentary, “Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes”, dropped on Netflix earlier this year and immediately became one of the most talked about new shows on the streaming service. And today Mr. Berlinger releases his first feature film that is not a documentary, “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile”. The film stars Zac Efron as Ted Bundy.

The Coda had the opportunity to sit down with Joe Berlinger to ask him about his new film, the process behind turning true crime into a feature film, and understanding the characters behind these infamous crimes. 

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The Coda:  Was it your intent from the start to do both the documentary and the feature? Did they inspire one another or contribute towards the development of ideas?

Joe Berlinger:  I wish I could say that there was some master plan and that I’m this amazing stratetician like, “Oh, I’m going to do both of these shows that come out at the same time. Isn’t that great?”. But, honestly it was a lot of coincidence. In January of 2017 a guy named Stephen Michaud, who wrote this book two decades before called “Conversations with a Killer”, recorded all these death row interviews with Bundy. He used that as the basis of this book, he reached out to me in January of 2017 because he was a fan of my work.  He said, “I have these tapes that I based the book on that have been sitting in my closet. Do you think there’s something there? Because there seems to be more and more interest in this kind of programming”. I said, “Well, there’s been a lot of stuff done on Bundy. So, let me take a listen and I’ll tell you what I think”. The bar has to be high because there has been other Bundy stuff. So, I got the tapes and immediately was captivated by them because just hearing from him, going inside the mind of the killer, I thought was just a fascinating way to tell the story. I knew the 30th anniversary was coming up and it just seems like a good time to reflect back. 

After doing the documentary, did you feel any pressure or desire to take liberties with the facts while doing the feature film?

Joe Berlinger: I wouldn’t say pressure, but the nature of narrative filmmaking is that you have to compress time on film. That the unfolding of time is not the same as in real life and you do have to take certain liberties. But I’m very proud of the film, and that it actually hues very closely to real life. But you have to think of the three-act structure, you have to make it entertaining for an audience.

Truthfully, probably the biggest issue I struggled with is in the memoir that this is based, there are a few times in the memoir where she (reference to Lily Collin’s character Liz Kendall in the film) talks about having found things that made her think twice. Like she found the knife in the glove box of his car, they kept separate apartments even though they lived together and, in his apartment, she found the bowl of keys. Why did he have so many house keys? But these are isolated events that take place over a seven- or eight-year period.  It’s like if you’re living with a cheating spouse or an alcoholic spouse or a drug-addicted spouse and they claim to be on the wagon or they claim to not be cheating, you have an ability to kind of push that aside over a period of time and it’s only when it reaches a critical mass in real life, that when you have an experience like this, then all the clues come together and you’re like, “Oh right. I should’ve realized this all along”.

That was the biggest issue I had to leave out of her memoir because time is different in a narrative film then it is in real life.

 You have two great performances from Zac Efron and Lily Collins. What was the process for bringing these two actors into such an infamous story? How did you prepare them for the roles?

Joe Berlinger: Everyone working on this movie thought we were doing something special. Every cast member was my first choice, which never happens. Everyone felt like there was something special here, so despite the dark subject matter there was a great camaraderie. Zac and Lily, in particular, worked really hard. These were not easy roles for either of them, both of them are going outside of their comfort zone of what they have normally done in the past. 

I did a couple of different things. With Zac, I gave him a lot of archival and proprietary footage to look at, footage from the documentary that’s not available online. But Lily, I did not want her to see anything. At first, she was like, “where is my footage to look at?” I told her, “I don’t want to see at anything, don’t look on the internet, don’t learn about Ted Bundy”. In fact, the first time she actually saw any graphic imagery was right before we shot something graphic for the film. That’s when I pulled her aside and said “look, this is what this guy did”. She was able to use that.

More importantly, to me, the whole film rests upon you believing in their relationship despite what Ted Bundy did. I believe that there is one spectrum of human behavior. We want to think that serial killers, who are committing terrible crimes and displaying abhorrent behaviors, I’m not trying to lighten that, what they did is terrible…but there is one spectrum of compartmentalization of evil that we all exist on, and we all compartmentalize and do bad things in varying degrees. Most of us here, I would hope, our compartmentalization is a little lie here or a little thing here and then we just move on. 

I believe Bundy actually was capable of love, which is a controversial comment, but I think he needed and craved normalcy but he compartmentalized this terrible evil that he did. So, for me, the relationship being real is the crux of the movie. Some people have criticized, “where is the violence in this film, you are glossing over his evil”. To me, the catalog of killings in a serial killer movie has been done to death. Why do I need to populate a movie with that? What I am portraying is the seduction of evil and how you can be fooled.  So, the key to that is the relationship being real. This love is real between the two of them, and that connection needs to burn off the screen. That was the thing I worked on the most. Not because I’m glamorizing a serial killer or glossing over the violence, just the opposite. I want to portray how someone who is intelligent, who had a child, who had her whole life in front of her, was able to be seduced by a guy who presents to be one thing but turns out to be another. 

It feels like there is a sense of satire within the film, specifically in the way Bundy’s charm was shown in the media. Was that your intent?

Joe Berlinger: To call a movie a satire would be an overstatement. But there are satirical elements to it because I am definitely making a comment on how the media helped to contribute and create this monster and how there were so many opportunities to catch this guy.  It is being somewhat satirical. For example, the title of the movie is “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile”. It’s an absurd title. But if you notice the movie doesn’t begin with that title, it ends with that title because by the time those words are pronounced, the gravity of it is felt. And yet, when I think people see this, see the poster or see the trailer and go into a movie called “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” they think they’re going to have kind of a good time. For me, the truth, just like the title of the movie and its meaning is right in front of you.  By the end of the movie, when the title is spoken, it takes on a whole other meaning. To me, the question of everybody’s culpability in allowing Bundy to flourish is what would be commented on. And so, there are moments when there is some satire because I’m trying to let people know that the truth is often right in front of you. It’s kind of a warning, because especially in today’s day and age, where we live in these curated worlds of Instagram and Facebook and we all pretend to be something that isn’t the actual essence of our life. There is a danger that people could take that to a much greater degree and be dangerous to society. 

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You can watch Mr. Berlinger’s new film today, May 3rd, on Netflix.