Ready or Not leaves no rich bastard un-punished

Get ready to watch a hunt where I'm not sure everyone knew what was going on.

The genre of people-hunting-people stories has been done to death with every action type you can imagine. From the straightforward "rich people killing hobos" like Hard Target to the more politically acceptable "innocent man on the run" stories like The Fugitive, every action man on the planet has been chased and chased in return. Hell, even Arnold did it with Predator. In Ready or Not, we see Grace (Samara Weaving) marrying into the super rich and elite Le Domas family. The family has a little tradition, however, in that every new member has to play a game. Around once every generation or so, that game is "hide and seek," and the family hunts the new member and sacrifices them. Grace wonders who she can trust in this bag of crazy, even down to her own groom, as she fights for her life. Ready or Not gives a clever twist by making Grace seem like a real person without resorting to making her into a "final girl" aka the last girl alive in a slasher movie. Unlike Veronica as the assassin in Final Girl or Erin the survivalist in You're Next, Grace has no training to fall back on. She thinks things are a joke until maids start dropping and struggles to live for the rest of the movie, coming out of it battered and beaten. The family chasing her as equally as inept. They have not killed someone in thirty years and are rusty at it, up to and including using weapons. As the family is whittled down and Grace's wedding dress gets more tattered, the subversive ending creates a cheer-worthy pop to the senses in this laughter filled comedy-thriller. 

Come for the light dose of horror and leave wanting to know so much more about what other rich assholes have done for their money.

Ready or Not

You're Next'

Starring Sharni Vinson, AJ Bowen, Wendy Glenn, Joe Swanberg, Ti West

That Night by Chevy Stevens lacks a compelling mystery but succeeds with great drama

Typical cool ass nineties girl Toni rocked flannel and loved her boyfriend Ryan. Then her sister was killed, and they were arrested.

Told in three timelines, Toni's story follows the events leading up to "that night," Toni adjusting to prison life, and after Toni is released fifteen years later. As a teenager, Toni had to deal with her overbearing mother and a former friend turned enemy. Navigating through the minefield of high school proved tough but doable as Toni plans to move away with Ryan. Then the murder of her sister throws her into prison. Plagued by the truth, that she did not kill her sister, Toni's prison stint goes well after a few years. She makes friends and forms a kind of family inside, the kind of family she did not have outside. While not as fleshed out as her mother's disapproving nature, the book shows what a kind and loving parental figure can bring to a shiftless life. Then Toni gets out of prison and moves back to her hometown amid the stares and whispers. The structure of telling three parts of Toni's life at once, interweaving the mystery and Toni's characterization is very well done even if some parts (like the earlier parental example) are underdeveloped. The whole is a journey of a woman from unsure and listless young girl to confident woman. The mystery of who killed Toni's sister is an afterthought for the most part, informing Toni's journey rather than being a central throughline. Toni's teenage self navigating a mother who does not understand her, her time in prison, and her ability to reclaim her place in society despite the beliefs thrust upon a convicted felon give this story a bulkier narrative than an average whodunit. 

For those wanting a more straightforward mystery, look elsewhere. Otherwise dive in to this well told crime drama.

That Night: A Novel

By Chevy Stevens

19. Rope (1948) Movie Review: Smug Assholes, it turns out, are universal

What does the perfect murder look like? The victim deserves it, the murderer is just, and no one gets caught. Turns out if you've got enough education you can justify any of those points.

    Brandon (Dall) and Philip (Granger) have strangled their friend David to death. Believing themselves to be above reproach of the law and David's friends and family, the two then throw a party with David's body stuffed in a chest they use as a buffet table. As the party goes on, their old schoolmaster Rupert (Stewart) becomes suspicious.

    I won't say everything everyone else says about this movie. Alfred Hitchcock's grand experiment in long shots, the film composed of ten long shots with a few edits, Rope is a novelty of a movie. I won't mention how the homosexual undertones inform on the rather problematic motives of the upper crust privilege. I won't even say how the plot was based on a stage play and was based on the real life Leopold and Loeb murder. Not going to say any of that.

    Not Jimmy Stewart's favorite of his work with Hitchcock, the movie holds up as both a cultural artifact and a damn good movie. It's a masterclass in blocking and small space acting. You have no choice but to rent this or do what I did and get if from the library.

8. Insidious: The Last Key (2018): I Guess You Could Skip It If I Saw the Others

Horror movie sequels are hard to make. Do you rehash the original or do a new thing? Bring back the old characters or start with new people? Continue the story or just do whatever?

    I have no idea what this Insidious: The Last Key did. I never saw the other (three?) movies, so I can't say. But I can say that this one is B-grade horror at its best.

    An old lady who can see ghosts gets a job to go back to her old home so she can confront some ghosts of her own. See what we, the movie and I, did there? Because her dad was abusive so she has trauma and that can be seen as metaphorical ghosts and there's real ghosts. It's supes cogent.

    The jump scares are few, the jokes are peppered, and nothing really does great. Like, no great was had. Some fine happened. Some okay squeaked in there. They got me on one twist, double downed and kinda wasted it. Then threw in another and I stopped caring.

    In this movie, humans are the real monsters. Except when a demon is tricking or manipulating them? The whole thing is just a mess that plods along. I wish I could say it is at least fun, but I checked my phone during this one which is a sin in my world that gets you banned to hell where you watch this movie.

    Still, if you can't find anything on streaming one hungover day, yeah, there's better movies.

Invitation (2016) Movie Review: Because I can't get enough what the fuck did I just watch

Going home is hard. In this life, our new generations has decided that home is an expansive topic and we create our own families bereft of blood. So recreating those cobbled relationships after devastation is frightening as the people we choose choose different paths.

    Will and his girlfriend attend a party given by his ex-wife Eden and her new husband as well as all their friends. The gang hasn't all been together since Will and Eden separated and find it awkward, especially when Eden starts talking crazy cult nonsense and shows a snuff film. Are Eden and her new husband in a murder cult or is Will just seeing an imagined spectral trail of insanity stemming from deep trama?

    I'm not answering that fucking question because the truth is kinda amazing. Director Karyn Kusama has lacked some punch in her previous directorial efforts, especially the high profile and campy fun Jennifer's Body, but man… The suspense and tension in this movie as you wonder what the hell is going on builds and builds. Just a crazy good story.

    Not sure how to end this. Wanna talk about the ending? Well, you see, after everything goes down and all the secrets are