Been reading and watching a bunch of stuff and don’t have the time to do a singular review for everything, so welcome back to the Mixed Media Review!
Barbarian
We are finally in the fall season, it is late September, and pumpkin spice is out in full force, so that can only mean one thing: That Halloween and Spooky season is here! One of the first new movies they caught my eye for the start of spooky season was Barbarian, by first time director Zach Cregger (Whitest Kids You Know).
If you had just watched the trailer for this movie and that seems intriguing to you, don’t look up anything online or read anything else about it, I know it is cliche to say you need to go in blind for this but you really should. It has a Cabin in the Woods vibe to it if that tells you anything.
This movie definitely went in directions that I was not expecting at all based on the trailer. I think Georgian Campbell (Tess) and Bill Skarsgârd (Keith) are pretty good as your lead actors. There really seems to be a major theme with regards to how women are treated by men, how that has (or hasn’t) changed over the years, and how dangerous men can be to women. I think for the most part, Barbarian does a pretty good job of handling that theme with as much touch as a horror movie can, but is not always perfect in highlighting it to the audience. One of the characters (that I don’t want to spoil) asks himself if he is “a good guy or a bad guy” and from modern knowledge if you have to ask, then you probably know which one you are
I think this is a good start to spooky season 2022, but if you are expecting a traditional horror experience then you might want to wait for Smile to come out later this month
See How They Run
The first of two mysteries, this is the one that I have seen more recently. Set in the West End of 1950’s era London, the plot is centered around the making of a movie version of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, which ends up being its own murder mystery
The best part of this movie is the interaction between Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and the rookie officer Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) and the chemistry they portray through their odd couple relationship. This is not my favorite performance from either of them but the few jokes that land are pretty great. I also did enjoy Harris Dickinson as David “Dickie” Attenborough, probably the stand out from the movie.
The first thing that comes to mind is that this movie is less than the sum of its parts. With Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, and David Oyelowo have big roles in it and all their performances are at worst fine, but nothing that really blows me away.
I think that is the worst thing I can say about this movie is that it is fine. My expectations were a little higher and while it was not a bad movie, I expected to laugh more than I did especially for a movie that is supposed to be a spoof on the traditional murder mystery genre. If you like a murder mystery, are a British comedy type of person, or just have AMC A-List then it is definitely worth a watch in theaters, if that does not describe you than you might just want to wait till it comes to streaming.
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
The second and better of the mystery stories that I have interacted with recently is by author Stuart Turton. This story is a great mixture of traditional mystery with a Groundhog’s day style repeating day scenario, that Turton makes his own by creating a series of rules that are well explained and while complicated the rules make sense.
The strength of this book is in the first half of the book were you are trying to figure out the mystery and still trying to figure out how the world works. I do think that while I enjoyed the twists and turns that happen in the final 100ish pages, it is almost too much and does kinda undermine some of the journey that you go on throughout the book. Also for a concept that is of a more complicated nature, it does end almost too perfectly, though it does a good job of showing its major theme of trust and believing that people can change for the better. For a mystery novel, it is extremely positive where I feel like other books in the genre are not
One of the major themes that I feel like the book tries to portray at the end is “can a bad person change to become a good person and be reformed”. I think this is an interesting concept but I think the story goes about it in a flawed manner, and is part of that last section of the novel that really feels rushed.
If you have a book club, this is another strong contender for great and easy discussion and I could not recommend it enough for that. I think this is definitely a unique take on the mystery genre and is worth a read, even if you are not someone who frequents the genre.