Scream Slashes A Brutal And Worthy Sequel That Honors Wes Craven's Legacy

Note: This review contains NO SPOILERS

      Making a sequel or as the film describes it, a "requel" that not only connects between the past and the present, is a tricky task as it must not only make things feel new but maintain respect for the legacy characters who gave the original work its soul. With recent examples  including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, 2018's Halloween, Terminator: Dark Fate, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Scream      becomes the latest sequel to follow the requel trend with it aiming to continue the franchise legacy after Wes Craven's tragic death in 2015. The fifth entry in the series not only brings back the franchises main stars Neve Campbell, David Arguette, and Courtney Cox, but surrounds them with fresh faces and a storyline that both honors Craven's legacy of work while giving the franchise a new approach that brings it up to modern standards with the results being a dark, brutal, menacing, and bold sequel that ultimately makes it a worthy entry in the series

      Continuing a decade after Scream 4, Scream has a new killer donning the Ghostface suit and terrorizing a group of teenagers who share connections to the original killers and victims. Scream's plot aims to embrace the originals legacy while continuing it with a fresh batch of characters, along with the providing surprising twists with the story. Despite the return of the old trio with them carrying pivotal roles in the plot, the newer characters are placed front-and-center in a style similar to that of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. In doing so, the series never loses its edge with the newest film going back to basics and making things shocking and gory. Scream takes huge risks in maintaining the series edge with it mostly succeeding at doing so, while laying a new path forward that's linked to the past. 

      When it comes to casting, Scream maintains the series tradition of assembling a group of young rising stars to combine with the original trio. The performances here are strong with Campbell, Arguette, and Cox easily slipping back into their roles and advancing their characters. Campbell remains tough as the series final girl Sidney Prescott with her shown to have moved on from the legacy of Ghostface yet finds herself being drawn back to Woodsboro. Arquette is intense here as a more broken down and serious-toned Dewey with Cox once again excelling as story-hungry Weathers with their chemistry remaining spot-on. The franchises new faces thoroughly impress here with Melissa Barrera making for a strong female lead as Samantha Carpenter, whose essentially the Sydney Prescott of this story and sister of Tara Carpenter, played surprisingly well by Jenna Ortega. The rest of the cast all perform well as Sam's circle of friends with Jack Quaid as her boyfriend Richie, Kyle Gallner as Vince Schneider, Mason Gooding as Chad Martin, Mikey Madison as Amber Freeman, Dylan Minnette as Wes Hicks, and Marley Shelton from Scream 4 as Deputy Hicks. As a whole, Scream's cast is convincing with the original trio still possessing their chemistry.

      Taking over Craven's directorial duties are Ready Or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett with the duo immediately putting to bed any concerns that fans have over them taking over the franchise from Craven, as they not only do right by Wes, but give the series a more aggressive edge that makes it more violent than previous installments with heavy amounts amounts of blood, spurts, sprays, and gurgles. The film carries a more grittier atmosphere than previous Scream's with a clever buildup of suspense such as the films opening scene involving Tara's character that works as being a brilliant throwback to the originals opening with Drew Barrymore. The sequence in itself is notably impressive because of how well-staged the tension is built while paying direct homage to the first. The films pacing is kept frequently moving with the score by Brian Tyler being haunting with it drawing key cues for from Marco Beltrami's work in the previous films. Overall, the newer directors do a terrific job of extending the series while making it more brutal than ever.

      As a whole, Scream's writing is clever with the script including numerous Easter eggs to previous films in the series. What's notable here are the risks that the new film takes with introducing subplots and twists which links the newer characters to the past. The use of old characters serves as a bridge between both generations, while showing their growth in between films. The script places heavy emphasis around the importance of family with the story exploring some interesting dynamics like the relationship between Tara and Sam, along with the origins behind the latters family tree. It also takes aim at bad sequels with its movie-within-a-movie approach with the acknowledgement of Stab 8, along with showing characters watching the first Stab movie which mirrors the events of the original Scream. Although Sidney, Gale, and Dewey remain key players in the story, it's Samantha that now becomes the face of the franchise with her character being strong enough to stand on her own. Scream's writing serves as being both clever and witty with it embracing numerous pop culture references in driving its requel logic, in addition to referencing more recent horror flicks like Hereditary. The script does a fine job of balancing the series legacy while moving it in a new direction that's excitingly brutal with effective twists.

      Like the previous Scream's, this one keeps audiences guessing on who the actual killer is with the writers creating suspicion with each new character right up until the ultimate reveal. As a fifth entry in the franchise, Scream is a highly effective sequel that demonstrates pure devotion to the series. It doesn't top the original, but it establishes itself as being a worthy follow-up that maintains the series edge while moving it forward in a way that would make Craven proud knowing that his legacy is in good hands. As far as requels go, Scream is an effective relaunching of a series done right.

Final Verdict: A must see for fans of the series.

Images Courtesy Of Paramount

Ridley Scott's The Last Duel Is A Slow-Moving Yet Unflinchingly Brutal And Thought-Provoking Period Drama

      The division between audiences and critics over a films reception can prove to be an interesting dynamic at times. Sometimes a motion picture comes along that has the makings of being a sure fire hit with audiences, but for whatever reason it doesn't connect with audiences enough to make it a box office success. With Ridley Scott's The Last Duel, one only needs to look at the strong reviews the film has generated only to end up as being a total financial dud despite boasting a talented cast which includes Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, and Ben Affleck. Perhaps it was that the film is too slow-paced for young audiences or that the medieval period setting feels played out, but for whatever reason the film largely underperformed  and undeservedly so because it actually serves as being a brilliantly executed historical set-piece with stellar acting and directing. 

      Based on true events, Duel's plot chronicles the December 29 1386, trial by combat in which Norman Knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) duels squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) after accusing the latter of raping his wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer). The event is significant because it marked Frances last trial by combat in the middle ages due to its brutality. The story is divided up over the course of three distinct chapters with each perspective staged to differentiate from the other. Despite being slow moving, Duel's plot is one that pulls audiences in and keeps them engaged largely thanks to the strong performances of its cast combined with the films epic grandeur that accompanied past Ridley Scott epics. Duel's plot is one that's thought-provoking and makes audiences reflect on its main narrative after watching it. 

      The acting delivered by Duel's cast is hugely effective with both Damon and Driver delivering top-notch performances along with Comer elevating the trio with a commandingly powerful performance. Damon is on top form as respected French noble and squire Jean de Carrouges with him showing his characters loyalty to his king along with the built up frustration that he harbors towards Le Gris being favored over him with his wife's revelation being the final straw. Driver is commanding as Carrouges fellow squire and persuasive friend Le Gris, who becomes instantly smitten with Marguerite. He continues to demonstrate his fearlessness in playing toxic, villainous men with his performance here being no exception. Comer gives a restrained yet excellent performance as Carrouges wife Marguerite, with her character shown as remaining resolute in accusing Jacques of rape while her accusation goes into question. With the supporting roles given, Ben Affleck both impresses and surprises as the slimy Count Pierre d' Alencon, whose named Jean's overlord by King Charles VI. When it comes to Duel's cast, everyone gives highly commendable work that adds a tremendous amount of realism to the story. With Damon and Driver's performances, the audience gets a genuine feel of the growing tension between the two knights which resulted in a gruesome duel that changed France's legal system.

      In terms of directing, Scott gives the production the same epic feel that was prevalent in Gladiator while adding a personal feel to it with the main characters arc. The film is wonderfully shot with its cinematography giving it a bleak look. The score carries an orchestral feel to it, which appropriately fits the films setting while not being bound to a single instrumental sound. The films authenticity is further heightened by its costume and set-design accurately depicting the stories medieval era. With its production values, Scott presents Duel's story as appearing grand in scope while adding brief snippets of gore during the films battle scenes to enhance their brutality with the climactic fight being extremely brutal to watch, along with multiple scenes showing Marguerite's rape as being uneasy for the audience to watch. 

      Co-written by Damon and Affleck, The Last Duel's script explores themes regarding toxic masculinity which the climactic fight represents, the notion that women were viewed as being property at the time, the exploring of gender roles with Marguerite being ordered to obey her husband by remaining at home while he's off fighting along with providing a suitable heir, and the humiliation that her character feels as friends end up disbelieving her story and insinuating that she had an affair with Le Gris instead of it being rape. Duel's script explores the dynamics of what a woman's role was viewed as being back then, while showing people's disregard towards accusations regarding sexual misconduct. What the film does which proves to be an interesting twist, is exploring the story from the perspective of all three main characters with the audience seeing the same events unfold through the eyes of each character. Although this makes the overall story-structure feel repetitive, it conveys the systemic misogyny that women endured at the time. The audience also sees that neither men are noble in terms of how they treat Marguerite with LeGris not only raping her but Jean aggressively questioning her claim and ordering her to have sex with him afterwards so that LeGris won't be the last man she's been with. The tension between the two men is shown to be steadily rising as Carrouges becomes more frustrated as the things promised to him regarding property and stature are given to Jacques instead.  Duel's script is one that's complexed yet smartly written in its revealing of how women were neglected and mistreated by men. 

      Despite the ever-changing landscape of Hollywood, it feels like Duel's story is becoming rarer to find as modern Cinema becomes more franchise and comic book driven. With its plot, Scott and the writers show not just the villainization of women but also the power of a woman's voice with them doing an exceptionally good job at doing so. For its intended audience, The Last Duel satisfies as an underappreciated piece of entertainment that showcases Ridley Scott's continuous skill at crafting a slow-moving yet effective but screen drama that's grand in scope and rich in character development. 

Final Verdict: Worth Watching for those who enjoy historical set-pieces, though beware of its slow pacing. 

Images Courtesy Of 20th Century Studios

House Of Gucci Delivers Glamorous Yet Uneven Entertainment That's Elevated By A Mesmerizing Performance from Lady Gaga

      

       When it comes to making a solid biographical drama, two essential ingredients are required: The first is the possessing of an extremely talented and well-crafted filmmaker, along with a leading actor/actress who  not only meets expectations but surpasses them as the films main historical figure. For legendary director Ridley Scott, the filmmaker is no stranger in bringing historically-based stories involving real life figures to the screen with his latest effort, House Of Gucci being no exception. Here continues that trend with the results being an effective biographical crime drama surrounding the popular Italian fashion brand that's flashy, brilliantly directed, and engaging to watch from start to finish with Lady Gaga delivering a knockout performance.

      Based on a true-crime story, Gucci's plot centers around Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), an outsider from humble beginnings, marrying into the Italian Gucci family. Throughout the course of her marriage, her bridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy, triggering a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately murder. As a biographical crime drama, Gucci works due to Scott's skillfulness as a storyteller with him assembling a dynamic cast to bring realism to the story. The combination of Scott as director and Gaga as the lead make Gucci's story one that's engrossing to watch despite being slow-paced. Overlong or not, audiences will ultimately find themselves drawn to the story from the start and not letting up until the films shockingly powerful climax. 

      In terms of performances, Gucci's cast deliver fantastic work with Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, and Jared Leto delivering hugely impressive performances. Gaga thrills at portraying an manipulative Patricia Reggiani, who slowly ascends her influence over the Gucci household. Both her humanizing of the character and physical transformation are stunning to watch with her showing her characters lusting for a more prestigious lifestyle. Adam Driver does a terrific job as Maurizio Gucci, law student and heir to a 50% interest in the Gucci fashion house through his father Rodolfo. Driver holds his own next to Gaga with him playing a more reserved and socially awkward character, who offsets her characters boldness and larger-than-life persona. Whereas some may find the pair to be lacking chemistry, it can also be argued that the contrast in their performances were intentional to show their strengths and weaknesses as an ill-fated couple. Jared Leto is completely unrecognizable here as Paolo, who aspires to be a designer within Gucci despite a noticeable lack of talent. Leto steals the screen when given the opportunity while providing the story with some humor. Both Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons give terrific performances as Maurizio's uncle Aldo, and Irons as his controlling father Rodolfo Gucci, who mistrusts Patrizia and deems her unworthy of being his sons wife. Salma Hayek impresses as Giuseppina, Patrizia's psychic for guidance whom she often seeks assistance from. Gucci's cast display an extraordinary amount of talent on screen while producing complete believability.

      With Gucci's directing, Scott brings another historical setting to life and makes it gorgeously filmed with fantastic cinematography, ideal costume and set-designs that gives the story a vintage feel while showing the lavishness of the Gucci family life with tremendous attention being given to detail. The clothing that Patrizia wears also experiences a progressive change in style throughout the film with her bearing sharply-cut outfits and get ups, that give her fashion choice an animalistic approach. The films scenery adds its visual flavor with the film's locations in Rome and New York being wonderfully photographed in ways that makes them feel vibrant. Whereas audiences will find themselves engulfed by Gucci's visual landscape, the films excessive 152 minute length may be a bit off-putting for audiences, despite the performances from the main cast help in sugarcoating that glaring fault. While Gucci doesn't represent Scott's strongest directorial work, he puts all his famous trademark filmmaking skills on display here with him crafting a visual feast for the eyes.

      The script for Gucci not only shows the lavishness of Italian lifestyle, but covers the rise and fall of the family with Patricia's influence taking hold of the family brand as well as her marriage. The story is about rich families that don't necessarily get along and are riddled in scandal, mistrust, deceit with the outcome resulting in murder. The script does an excellent job of fleshing out all of the key members of the Gucci family along with making the narrative immersive for audiences. The marriage between Patricia and Maurizio is established with the audience witnessing the couples rise in stature, and their ultimate collapse as Maurizio begins to dislike the person Patrizia turned into as she manipulates others for her own personal gain, ultimately making their relationship a toxic one with everything surrounding it falling apart as well. The films dialogue is both quotable like Gaga's character spurring the films catchy number one quote "Father, son, and House Of Gucci". Some interesting subplots are incorporated into the script like Paolo's character being looked upon as an unintelligent hack, whose constantly disrespected by members of the Gucci family and ultimately betrayed by Patrizia and Maurizio. Though Gucci's isn't perfect, it does an exceptional job of showing the rise and fall of the Gucci empire based on a marriage that ends up going south due to greed with the film carrying an underlining campy tone mixed with drama. 

      While the films campiness combined with dour drama may appear as being a bit unbalanced at times, Gucci is elevated by Scott's masterful craftsmanship as a filmmaker, as well as Gaga's mesmerizing performance. Though slow going, audiences will unquestionably find themselves intrigued by the films set of main characters, and the world of glamour that surrounds them while becoming increasingly unstable and tragic as the story progresses. Nonetheless, regardless of questionable pacing and an uneven balance of camp and drama at times, House Of Gucci stands as being intriguing to watch. If for no other reason, it should be watched solely for Gaga's performance whose range continues to surprise and impress audiences.

Final Verdict: For Ridley Scott fans, Lady Gaga fans, or those who find the real life story of the Gucci family intriguing, House Of Gucci is worth watching despite its overlong running time. 

Images Courtesy of MGM

Netflix's Don't Look Up Cleverly Blends Satire And Heart To Deliver An Important Message To Audiences

        

       The objective of any film is to entertain its audience. Whereas they're made for that sole purpose, there are some whose goals extend further with them serving as a reflection of the world itself. With Netflix's Don't Look Up boasting Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Meryl Streep as the main leads, the film not only delivers a vital message but does so in a style that's fun, satirical, and thought-provoking.

      Don't Look Up's plot has two astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jannifer Lawrence) discovering a comet heading towards Earth that will cause an extinction level event. Both go to extreme pains to convince  the government and media that it's real, only to have their efforts met with indifference and political backlash. Don't Look Up provides laughs while delivering scrutiny towards certain sectors of the American population, the media, and right-wing authoritarian style leadership for its disregarding of science and caring more about image. Although its messaging can be seen as appearing heavy-handed at times, Don't Look Up tackles it's important subject matter with humor and heart.

            When it comes to performances, Don't Look Up's star-studded cast deliver fantastic performances that help make the films plot feel more engaging to audiences. Both DiCaprio and Lawrence are on top form here as astronomers Dr. Randall Mindy and Kate Dibiasky. They show their characters shock and frustration towards the lack of seriousness being directed towards their discovery by authorities. Both performances go hand-in-hand and work exceptionally well together on screen. Meryl Streep is brilliant as neglectful President Of The United States, Janie Orleans, who shows herself to be less concerned about the dangers of the comet and more about her public image regarding the upcoming midterms. Jonah Hill does terrific as Janine's son and White House Chief Of Staff Jason Orlean with his character appearing to be as equally tone deaf as his mother upon learning of the comet. Other noteworthy performances from the cast include Rob Morgan as Dr. Teddy Oglethorpe, head of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry as co-hosts of The Daily Rip, Brie Evantee and Jack Bremmer, Mary Rylance as tech billionaire CEO of Bash Peter Isherell with his character feeling like a combination of Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, with Timothee Chalamet as young shoplifter Yule who supports Kate's claim. Overall, Don't Look Up's cast is stellar and add to the stories realism with everyone effectively slipping into character and delivering strong work.

      Directed by Adam McKay who helmed 2018's Vice. He applies the same satirical style of that film here while uniquely blending comedy and realism together. He gives Don't Look Up cinematography that's clean and bright with the films colors really hitting the screen, along with different camera tricks to capture the actors facial expressions. He does a fantastic job of blending the two together when disaster strikes, increasing the audiences anxiety regarding wanting to know what happens next in the story. The film contains a few visual moments which showcases the comet barreling towards Earth along with other shots including outer space, explosions, and the revealing of an alien creature. The film is exceedingly fast-paced with the audience growing more anxious of what happens next as the story progresses. The soundtrack consists of a wide-variety of songs, including a low-key score that hits home during the films emotional moments. Whereas McKay's films generally boast a documentary style look to them, he opts to deliver a different approach here that presents a rapid feel that mirrors audiences everyday life. 

      Don't Look Up's script contains fun twists along with numerous themes regarding the destruction of mankind, political power, science, freedoms, and exploitation that not only feel alarmingly relevant but reflective on today's society, even going as far as showing the politicizing of the comet with the country becoming intentionally divided by President Janine's administration. The latter is shown as being a cap-wearing GOP president, who showed herself as being apathetic towards the comets threat and only addressing it when becoming politically convenient to do so. The resistance that both astronomers receive in alerting the public about the discovery, along with the medias focus on Ariana Grande's characters on and off relationship with fiance DJ Chello being hilariously believable. What's most impressive about the script is not just that all the key characters are well fleshed out, but how it reflects on the horrors of real-world idiocracy in American culture such as the neglecting of facts, the denial of science, and the embracing of a fascist type of governing. In terms of exposing a collective denial that many practice, Don't Look Up does a fine job of doing so without its plot never feeling too silly or being overly dramatic. It also manages to be depressing when observing how close of a resemblance its world behaves in comparison to reality. 

      As well-intentioned as the plot is in wanting its audience to save the world before its too late, those who actually require hearing the films message will be the quickest to dismiss it. The filmmakers make no apologies with the shots they fire and make a strong plea for audiences to trust science. Though its plot is climate change driven, there are many striking similarities between the reaction people have towards the comet and Covid-19. There's even a bit in the film where the comet becomes visible in the sky which vindicates the astronomers, yet Janine's administration encourages its voter base to not look up despite Ariana Grande's plea to do so with the films key song. Netflix's Don't Look Up does well in striking a unique balance between drama and comedy with the film always carrying a dark edge when exploring modern worlds collective behavior, that heavily consists of those choosing blatant ignorance and greed over reason while those in power gain from inaction. For a film that's bound to be polarizing in getting its point across, it does its job very well and will provoke necessary discussion after watching it.

Final Verdict: Don't Look Up is a must see not just for its stellar cast, but for the boldness of the message it aspires to convey.

Images Courtesy Of Netflix