This Week in Cinema, I Learned…Sept 29-Oct 05 2024
Written by Cameron Geiser
Welcome to This Week in Cinema, a yearlong film criticism project wherein I will be watching a new film that I haven't seen every single day.
Welcome to the end of September and the dawn of October, aka the month of Horror movies. I came to the Horror genre late in my twenties, I wasn't much of a fan of it early on in my cinematic journey. However, once I decided to dive into the spooky stories I took to the genre like a slasher icon grabbing a bloody blade. What scares a person is almost entirely subjective to that person’s lived experience, and I find that immensely interesting. For example, I found Longlegs, the surprise indie horror hit of the summer, to be effectively unnerving. My girlfriend who accompanied me to the theater however thought it was boring and slow. Then when we went to see Alien: Romulus, I enjoyed it overall, but she *really* liked it. Movies are fascinating, and how people respond to them is an equally alluring endeavor.
This week’s films include the last two films of September with The Zero Theorem and The Lost City. These last two films in the Surreal/Fantasy month were a so-so end to a rollicking month of unexpected and strange stories. With all due respect to Terry Gilliam, I honestly found myself bored to tears by The Zero Theorem ultimately making his later film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote that much more impressive in my mind. The Lost City, stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in a romantic comedy where an Author gets dropped into a situation eerily reminiscent of the novels she writes. I have not seen Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle from earlier this year, but based on the reception of that film he may have done well to learn a thing or two from The Lost City as it treads similar storytelling grounds, but in a more entertaining way. Also, The Lost City has Daniel Radcliffe starring as the unstable Billionaire Antagonist and well, that's enough for me to check it out.
The remainder of the week was the first five films in the Scream franchise as I had never seen any of these films before. Now that I have seen the majority of the series, I too am incredibly frustrated at the exit/removal of Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega as they completely reinvigorated these movies and were an excellent addition to the story and world of Scream. Anyhow, next week I will give you my ranking of the six films and dive further into the Horror genre. However, with all of that in mind, I have to admit that I am a very jumpy person. Every jumpscare will get me, even when I see them coming a mile away. This can put me on edge, and given that I plan on watching one Horror movie every day this month, I had to give myself an out if it becomes too much. Therefore, I have two films behind glass, so to say, in which I will “break glass in case of terror” and watch Paddington 1 and 2 if need be. So check back each week to see if any particular film broke my spirit and forced me to check out for a day and enjoy the warm-hearted world of Paddington (Which I keep hearing are fantastic films, so eventually I probably will sit down and give them a watch).
September 29th
The Zero Theorem (2013)
1.5/5
Maybe I'm just asking for too much, but if your story is muddled, overly complex, or extremely philosophical in nature then at least make the characters that populate your film interesting to follow. The Zero Theorem from Terry Gilliam unfortunately does not do this. The protagonist, Qohen Leth (Christoph Waltz), who refers to himself in the “Royal We”, is a computer programmer living in the future who’s tasked with solving the unsolvable Zero Theorem which may or may not prove that the universe and the big bang essentially happened by mistake and that everything is meaningless. We make our own meaning. Now, this could have been an entertaining or interesting outcome but the performances from all characters, especially Qohen, are cold, lacking any humanity or personality, and the plot is seemingly operating in the background without connecting to us, the audience. It's as if Gilliam was trying to recreate a story about the oppression of bureaucracy a la Brazil by way of 2001: A Space Odyssey- and it just didn't work. It's not all bad though. The production design and cinematography are, at times, curiously inventive while drawing your eye with good and effective blocking. It's just too meandering and muddled for me personally.
September 30th
The Lost City (2022)
3/5
Sometimes all you need is an action rom-com that just wants to entertain you. An easy breezy flick that comfortably falls into the category of “rainy day” movies, The Lost City is just that. The long and short of it is that Loretta (Sandra Bullock), a former archaeology researcher who now writes romance-adventure novels ends up being kidnapped by an eccentric Billionaire Mr. Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe) who knows her previous novels were partially inspired by her work in archaeology. He believes that Loretta knows the location of a long lost treasure on a mysterious island in the mid-atlantic. Unfortunately for Fairfax, Alan (Channing Tatum) the cover model for Loretta's novels who portrays fan favorite character “Dash”- witnessed her kidnapping and tails them to the island with CIA operative Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt) to rescue her. Obviously things don't go according to plan and the remainder of the film involves entertaining shootouts, well designed chase sequences, and some occasionally cringe but well-meaning attempts at comedy. Like I said, it's a perfectly enjoyable adventure flick that doesn’t demand much of its audience.
October 1st
Scream (1996)
3.5/5
Going into this franchise, all I knew was that Ghostface was a slasher villain that mocked his victims over the phone. So I was happy to discover that these movies are themselves obsessed with Horror movies, very meta indeed. So for the uninitiated like myself, the Scream Franchise runs on an evolution of tropes, themes, story flow and structure, and trying to guess who in the group of friends is actually the Ghostface killer. The script was whip smart and very clever with how it unfolded over the runtime. Everything from “The Rules” speech to the myriad of ways Scream showcases its cheeky 1990’s riff on Horror movies from the past decade. All of this rendered that much richer by the fact that Wes Craven himself directed these films, at least the first four, making him playfully aware of his own Horror bonafides with The Nightmare on Elm Street films. One of the lines that stood out immediately was a line from series regular Final Girl, Sidney Prescott (played by Neve Campbell) when she realizes that “It’s never gonna stop is it?” Oh Sidney, no… * looks down at news of a seventh Scream film bringing back Neve Campbell going into production next year* No it will not. But I’m okay with that (minus the whole Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega exit).
October 2nd
Scream 2 (1997)
4/5
I really enjoyed how this first sequel expanded on the world and characters of Scream in strong ways. Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) the TV reporter from the first film wrote a book about the experience and called it Stab. It’s also being made into a movie. The dopey Cop, Dewey (David Arquette) is also back and he gets a bit more to do. Sidney is in College now and trying to get over the events of the first film, but also while sharpening her skills of alert awareness and defense. There’s a new copycat killer on the streets of Woodsboro, but there’s some good core story elements going on at the heart of this one too. There’s some great stuff about profiting from tragedy, how sequels are just gutless cash grabs, and all while continuing to build up Woodsboro as this legitimate Horror town much like Haddonfield from Halloween or Derry in IT, this small town is starting to become the center of killers and conspiracies alike. This was a tightened version of everything that made the first film work so well while also effectively escalating the stakes. A very good sequel indeed!
October 3rd
Scream 3 (2000)
3.5/5
For the third outing (And what the script believes to be the final film) Scream heads to Hollywood as most of the action takes place on the production of Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro. Gale and Dewey return and get way more to do this time as they represent who was left behind in the wake of the last two movies. Sidney is involved but has more to do in the back half of this one since she’s living away under an alias working on a hotline for abused women. The killer’s identity and how it all unravels is interesting but trivial as Scream 3 tries to go all out as it believes itself to be the trilogy capper- which of course comes with its own rules that must be adhered to for survival’s sake.
The killer this time around is killing the actors portraying the characters from the first movie. Dewey is on set as an advisor to the filmmakers and Gale ends up coming out to Hollywood to investigate the murder of Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) a side character who made brief appearances in the last two films as the original suspect of Sidney Prescott’s Mother’s murder. He was running a talk show when Ghostface killed him, now Gale must pick up the pieces as the bodies start to pile up. While it was totally immersion breaking and confusing, I was starstruck when Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) made a random appearance in Studio Alley amongst the sound stages. While this one wasn’t as tight or fresh as the last film, it did entertain me. However, the jumpscare sound effect was mixed to be louder than the last two films and it was beginning to get overused here. A decent sequel.
October 4th
Scream 4 (2011)
3/5
So far, this is the Scream entry I have enjoyed least. That doesn’t mean it’s bad though, it’s just not quite as effective, tense, or even as personable as the first three films. Scream 4 has the familiar structure, some decent charisma at times, and it continues to expand the growth of the older characters with the tenacity of some younger ones. I admittedly laughed at the idea of Ghostface having to contend with social media, even though “Ghostface” is a new person or multiple people every movie- it was entertaining seeing a VERY 1990s Horror Icon have to manage that. While there are moments of charm and sap, like Gale and Dewey being a married couple now, most of this movie is meaner with more brutal kills, and a higher tolerance for violence than the earlier films. The writing is also cheesier, and not quite as good as before, which could be due to the fact that series creator and screenwriter for the first two films Kevin Williamson (who will be *reportedly* directing the seventh film) had his script changed a lot from page to screen after his drafts were completed. With a decent lesson about the dangers of seeking fame and a great new character introduced in Kirby (MVP), played by Hayden Panettiere- Scream 4 isn’t a bad time, but the other films are just so much better. Also they *really* overused the jumpscare sound effect this time, it was just too much. A middling sequel.
October 5th
Scream (2022)
4/5
Twenty five years after the original Ghostface killings, and the first film in the franchise not to be directed by Wes Craven, Scream (5) is a refreshing update to the series including the best additions to the films in Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega as sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter respectively. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett co-directed this film (and Scream VI) and they were exactly the right choice to refresh the franchise as they obviously have a deep love for this film series as well as the characters. While there’s a lot of “new” wrapped into this Scream the trio of longtime characters Sidney, Dewey, and Gale all return to Woodsboro as the script and the film itself scales it down from the zany heights of the last few films. This film is much closer to the scope and intensity of that first film.
Things feel personal again, with a much more direct connection to the first film than expected, the twists, reveals, killings and tension are all dialed in with a modern edge. While the killers this time were the outcome of Social Media infecting us all with a need to be famous and “Always On”, toxicity and obsession were the real enemies of the day here. Also, the film had a great cast of character actors and actors who are only getting bigger with time. Besides the legacy characters, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, we also got Jack Quaid, Mikey Madison (who’s currently enjoying an awards run with Anora), and Kyle Gallner- but more on him later though. This Scream was easily one of the best in the series.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.