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Armageddon Time 2022 ★★★★
This review may contain spoilers.
Armageddon Time is a beautiful story about a young dreamer searching his way in life in the last days before Reaganomics and the war on drugs and what not.
Paul is touched by Kandinsky and wants to find his voice in art. therefor not playing by the rules of the schools he goes to. Also shown in his bonding with Jonathan/Johnny, a storyline depicting the racism of the seventies. The dreamer beating to a different drum. Though Paul, in a way, ends up betraying Johnny as well. Leaving him behind, partly as a conscious decision, partly because there was not much else he could do at that point. Only, as grandpa tells him, stand up to the bullies who say hateful things about his friends.
Also the dynamics in the family are very recognisable. With the bullying brother and most of all the parents, conflicted between the values they grew up and the changes they experience and have to face. How they mostly just want a better life for their children than what they have and thus (un)consciously end up pushing them towards conformity.
Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong deliver very good performances in their respective parts. Hathaway as the housewife wanting to expand and have an impact on society, complete with the wolf traps on her path (like the kid thinking he can do anything because “mom runs the school” when she's “only” in the PTA). Or the dad, torn between stern parenting and a looser style of raising his children. The clearest example being the scene after Paul and Johnny get caught smoking a joint in the school bathroom. Be nice to mom, or she'll set the dogs on ya. Anthony Hopkins is the kind, supportive grandfather, whose passing results in a cathartic moment for the family.
Throughout all of this, the 1980 election is playing. It just so happens that earlier in the day, I saw a Bill Maher monologue in which he claims Ronald Reagan was in fact the original teabagger and the source of many of today's problems surrounding income equality. In that aspect, it does not seem like coincidence that Fred Trump gets to speak at Paul's new school. Donald never makes an appearance as such, but I did sense an implied link. Though I'm pretty sure that The Donald, contrary to Reagan, never called any of his wives “mommy”.
A lovely document of its time and a feascinating cinema experience. Certainly worth seeing.
Ps: Curious to se emore of Jeremy Strong. If there are any roles of his you would like to recommend, feel free to leave them in the comments.
The Houses October Built 2014 ★★★
This review may contain spoilers.
A found footage that hovers around the solid mark.
Par for the genre is the slow start. The different haunted houses are good for a few jumpscares, but nothing really special. It's only after the altercation with the clown that things really go south.
The scene with the tongue is pretty scary and, as one character puts it, the scare of being in the dark and not knowing what's going on or where to go. A decent sommaton of the subgenre.
The ending certainly delivers and you feel for the protagonists as the carnies toy with them and finally bury them. What's beyond me, is a) why these people would drop everything around Halloween to teach these kids a lesson (instead of waiting until early november) and b) how the hell this got a sequel.
Solid FF. Maybe no top 10 material, but certainly on the list for people who just found the genre and want to do some exploring.
Healing 2020 ★★
A girl goes over to a spiritual healer in order to debunk his methods and expose him as a criminal.
The story depends mostly on the tension between the main actors, but I did not really sense that. Maybe partly because the dialogues were hard to understand and the Swiss accent did not really help.
A good and mysterious twist at the end, sure, but that does not save things.
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