Rich Rodgers

Am I this out of touch with people? Almost everyone gives a 5 because they like the sappy melodrama or a 1 because “so slow, people talk and stuff, no splosions or brawndo.” I found it was somewhere between. The daughter was pretty much the whole point of the movie. She loved her Dad and they were always there for each other. But as she grew up and experienced more, she wanted more from life. It’s something we all face with children. When and how yo let go and let them spread their wings and tell their own story. Some struggle with this, even without the mental illness aspects. This was just a different take on that old story. I come from a long line of vets. My Dad saw horrible shit in Vietnam (I’m visiting this week and it’s a great place despite everything), my brother saw the worst of Iraq, although my mother, myself and my daughter all serviced overseas during conflicts. Life isn’t always pretty. My Dad said, if you’re not affected by those things then there is something fundamentally wrong with you. But I thoroughly disliked the Dad character in this. Having a family is about sacrifice. Taking on burdens so your kids can live better. I really felt the love of the daughter, but the Dad just made me angry. I’m not sure if that’s what they were going for. They wanted to make him seem safe and giving and harmless and loving, but also completely incapable of being around people or sacrificing for his daughter. I think the film missed when they tried to thread that needle. The father’s dual nature and the fact that they were consistently given breaks by very caring people and they got more chances than most people ever would in that situation. It made the whole thing seem very unrealistic. Nance but kinda Disney family friendly stuff.

If you’ve seen Wicker Man and A Serbian Film, there is no reason to watch this. It’s hard to express how much it is just those two films. My biggest issue is that I really didn’t like the protagonist even a little bit. I couldn’t bring myself to care about anything that was happening to him. The people who say it “the worst film ever”, as usual, must not see too many movies. It wasn’t horribly made and you can tell what’s happening. It’s just that if you’ve watched many films, you know way too much about what is happening. I’ve never been less surprised by a movie. So I’m not real sure what the market is for this?

MNS has always been a guilty pleasure. He now seems to have resigned himself to making long form twilight zone movies. I appreciate watching Bautista act better than anyone expects, even though that’s kinda what he always does. As for the story here… it never addressed what I thought to be the point of the whole predicament… what kind of monster would create a world with those rules? It’s hideous and I’d want no part of it. The only real villain is the creature that would torture his ant farm in such a way. Religion can be really gross.

The unibrow… I know they had mirrors in the 70s but they had a completely different view of hair.