Tag: Blumhouse

Fairytales of The First Purge

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A review brought to you by the word “subtlety,” which this movie has none of and you know it shouldn’t, if the news every day isn’t freaking you out, as this film appears more like a documentary on America *shudders*. “Fairytales of The First Purge.”

Once upon a time in a film far, far away, well as Randy Marsh would say, “I Thought This Was America” and it is, The First Purge pulls no punches and if you’re not looking to be offended black, white or otherwise maybe you should skip this one, because you will be offended. One way or another this movie is meant to rub you in the wrong way but not like Lex Scott Davis as “Nya” and speaking of the cast I can’t say I honestly knew who any of the actors or the actresses were but even without huge names, it’s still so awesome.

However seeing as how this is a prequel to all the other movies in the franchise, is this one came out before The Purge (2013) I don’t believe the franchise would have ever taken off the way that it has. The First Purge is plenty political, some horror and if you want to see a black man honestly save the day without a good white man to be seen you have to check this out though some call it propaganda, I say “truth hurts.” Leave the kiddies and MAGA hats

Fandango gods appeased, okay you want something genuinely controversial, *ahem* The First Purge was probably blacker than Black Panther, now I hear you all booing, being an African-American man from the suburbs what do I know, my grandmother’s house was only Projects adjacent. I’ve never been to Africa and the only time I thought about it was to see what inspired the land of Wakanda, with The First Purge I was brought up with a ton of racially charged movies. A black crime lord is what is going to tick plenty of African-Americans off; this movie has some black on black crime, a killer high off everything and the hero; well, we’ll get to that, no spoilers but get ready.

Now any white people who use the word as I said propaganda has undoubtedly not seen the President and who he supports, if anyone is mad because of that, look in the mirror, and I will show you a racist. I think plenty of people missed the boat when it comes to The First Purge, always too much of something but I don’t think there was enough purging, and that’s one of the points, but I do think this movie is trying to imagine people as better than they are.

At least when the purge first begins, this movie is not meant to be subtle by any means, it’s focus and truly direct, a “This Is America” reference in your face like Childish Gambino and there is no spoon full of sugar, take your medicine. If you bury your head in the sand for all the references this movie displays, it’s still one hell of a ride, if you like guns, your heroes manly, and as was said in the trailer, you’ll see the best and the worst of people.

Long story short, an experiment will take place on Staten Island they call The Purge, residents may leave if they choose but are offered five-thousand dollars to stay and are implanted to make sure. Those who wish to “participate” may earn more, what a way to find out who to purge and two opposite sides of the spectrum, Nya with no money and “Dmitri” played by Y’lan Noel, the rich drug dealer are saying the same thing, “DO NOT PURGE.” We also have “Dr. Updale” played by Marisa Tomei… excuse me for not recognizing her, but who I agree with well her concept even if it was proven wrong, right…

Politics, Horror, action aside, the President is a racist for those of you who don’t know and you see this when Dr. Updale’s theory is disproven and the NFAA steps in, with full KKK, Nazi, and *gasp* cop uniforms, where one man is beaten to death by the police. It gets worse in another scene we see armed white men leaving a church, where they have shot the congregation to death. In one of the lesser gruesome moments, let’s call it a Trump moment when Nya feels the hands of an “unknown” assailant and three guesses as to what he was feeling for, she’ll tell you as she runs away.

Another reason people will hate this movie besides facing themselves is that sometimes you only want to quiet your mind for a bit, but this is The First Purge I’m talking about; you sort of know what you’re about to watch. Show somebody that knows nothing about America and isn’t white, and they might seriously reconsider coming here, which might show how great this country is, if this doesn’t scare them away that’s for sure.

The reason I’ll give The First Purge four stars (Fandango Scale) is because it couldn’t figure out what it truly wanted to be, better than one, lesser than Anarchy, I would tie it with Election Night. If I haven’t given too much away up to this point, prepare for spoilers but movies these days give too much away at this time, but somethings got to me here and there, both great and annoying just saying.

Near the end, the film says, okay you know who’s going to survive let’s have our leading man kill some Nazis and have him be redeemed back with his lady and the community, though you know in the long run they failed as The Purge went nationwide. In ways, this movie will hurt you, but we can’t forget, how the ruling party talks “thoughts and prayers” while Nya and Dmitri show that we must take action. It was ironic that all the guns Dmitri’s crew bought up that the NFAA thought would be used to kill the poor came back when they fought against the goons the NFAA brought in.

A few of my favorite parts, when Dmitri and company helped out “The Three Wiseman” from a KKK raid, and how the citizens themselves would not surrender even when they were out of bullets and were ready for the final attack. The battle of Nya’s building when Dmitri let loose on the Nazis, and Nya with her brother took up arms despite both having failed to kill anybody for the majority of the movie at that point. Who didn’t like the killer prostitutes, that took me back to my days of playing Saints Row: The Third, talk about predictable but yes most of the movie was you have to roll with it, well you might.

You should; you have to if you don’t think we’re approaching these days, hell you might even say we’re there because how are some people punished again but others will believe this movie is punishment enough. For me, I’ve stopped myself from seeing it again a couple of times while I’m out and about, if I want to watch this country descend into madness, I’ll watch the news tonight seriously Fairytales of The First Purge.

Oh Is Death Day Today?

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I could only wish someone hated me enough to come looking for me to kill me, let alone cared enough to actually remember the day but honestly I try my best to hide that day from everyone to be sure. “Oh Is Death Day Today”, is not something I’ll hide

Maybe I should quit complaining about my “birthday”, honestly, that word creeps me out more than this movie, not scary, painful, but not scary and I don’t mean painful as in it’s bad. It’s actually quite good, decent, more a parody of a slasher flick than anything else though it takes itself quite seriously honestly.

I never played “Clue” as a child but “Happy Death Day” seems to be akin to that I believe and it was fun trying to guess whodunit because clearly, it’s not who it is or maybe I’m just sort of dense. The cast isn’t really known to me but they all took the roles exceptionally well and personally I always take to a love story, think Groundhog Day meets 50 First Dates. I also appreciate that they didn’t shy away from the blatantly obvious, but I won’t spoil that, a conversion between Tree and Carter.

I don’t expect this movie will be winning any awards, but I’d go see it again but Bill Murray can take it easy, I wouldn’t call “Happy Death Day” a classic anytime soon. Fandango gods having been appeased let’s get started, how did I really feel about this movie… I was honestly hoping there was more to it, I laughed, cringed here or there, and when it all came together I just went “what”? Some actors ask what’s their motivation for a particular scene and the directions must have been, remember any slasher flick with a pretty girl, what would your character do in that situation, and action.

If it does differentiate from Groundhog Day, it’s the fact that Tree technically was set to a timeframe, you probably saw in the trailer the doctor “Gregory Butler” played by Charles Aitken telling Tree that she should already be dead. It won’t take anyone long to realize how long she has to find the killer. As for the killer, my guess was wrong, I was somewhat expecting a person out of the blue but when you notice a certain aspect it’s “oh” so amazingly simple.

Not that I would call, “Tree Gelbman” played by Jessica Rothe simple, more a stereotypical, college girl, gets drunk and parties, sleeps with random guys, sticks to a particular crowd but doesn’t take crap from anybody. Of course to erase all of this they have to throw a bit of emotional depth into the mix, her romantic entanglements, the strained relationship between her and the dad, and of course and I know I keep stressing this but the Groundhog Day, I need to be a better person ideology of course.

For the most part, her character is the only one that received any real development, though giving her the love interest of “Carter Davis” meant that they cleared up how he met Tree in the first place. He became her “Rita” more Groundhog Day, the only one who she confided in about her predicament which already lets you know where this is going. As far as the character v. character development, nothing changes, though they attempt to throw you off the trail again and again.

You have the usual trope of characters from the popular sorority club president, to the dumb frat guy antics and roommates, to the yeah this guy isn’t the killer we’re looking for exactly. Now the real killer, that must have been hard, just saying how they probably shot all the scenes with Tree the same day I would have probably been laughing my head off. Plus, the backstory couldn’t help but be rushed so as not to tip off the audience of the motivation but the killer is a bit of a twist indeed.

The reasoning though again is cliché, which made the final conflict just sort of unbelievable, Tree was mad as Hell, I was pretty mad but, yeah let’s just end the killer like this and pretend Tree would have been thinking clearly. Of course the last scene, well I just sat in the theater after the credits expecting something more or even a cameo by Billy Murry or Tom Cruise, shooting for the stars am I right?

I’m essentially torn between three or four stars but I will give it four just on the grounds that birthdays suck, the movie is a solid three just so you know, and yes I’m about to get to some spoilers so you might want to turn away at this point. Maybe because I’m friends with a nanny, I feel I should mention this movie isn’t exactly bad kids, PG-13 no bad language other than bitch, no real nudity… I’m trying to figure out why she was naked, just because, some implied sex, but nothing was shown, maybe a little bit of blood but on a door, and a few minutes of violence, nothing too graphic.

The best part for me was the last death, given the fact that six were murders, one accident, one suicide and then the last one puts everything together and reveals the killer’s identity after she lived the perfect day too. On that day I also liked how she admitted her feelings for Carter, after death seven she died for him as he died for her, and she needed to reset the day and revealed: “I’m going to have his babies”. Ignoring the reasoning of the killer, the culprit eye-opening after Tree’s list and attempting to decipher who would try and kill her, you will say no way, along with the killing montage.

I like scary movies but this just wasn’t scary, though if you have no insurance and you hear how the doctor talks about Tree’s injuries, yeah ouch. I’m a fan of Blumhouse movies and I was somewhat worried “Get Out” might be a comedy but that was an original bit of horror, again Happy Death Day wasn’t a parody but more a facsimile of what a horror movie is. I just wish the characters perhaps were flushed out more, and when they showed emotion weren’t exactly over the exaggerating everything.

Three for the movie, four just on the personal level and maybe I’ll take a girl to see it sometime; speaking of girls I look forward to seeing more of Jessica Rothe. Happy Death Day, I’m glad I remembered because it is a “more than adequate” film but not legendary, Oh Is Death Day Today?