2012, USA, Drew Goddard, 95 min.

This isn’t really a review of Drew Goddard’s brilliant and entertaining film. This is more a rant on the usual genre movies and a love-letter to the ones that got it right.

As most reviewers are doing. I am going to avoid describing Cabin in the Woods and just urge you to go see it. Don’t read about it. Don’t watch previews. If you are a fan of film, just go see this one.

What I can say is that while watching this movie I was thoroughly entertained. I have watched a lot of films, and it is rare when a great film comes along that is different and surprising.

Sure, there are a lot of films that are different and surprising (The films of Noboru Iguchi for example), but most of that lot suffer from the misplaced notion that being bizarre and shocking is enough to make a good film.

Cabin in the Woods is the rare film that provides a refreshing and engaging viewing experience by being smart. Let’s face it. Most horror films are stupid and most horror fans are as well.

Yes, I know that is insulting. But watching a film like Cabin in the Woods makes me realize how genre audiences have let themselves be treated for years. By praising the likes of Saw, Hostel, Trick ‘r Treat, Dead Snow, Splinter, [REC] and Chillerama as “fresh new horror”, we (myself included) are lowering the bar. We are just asking for more of the same. More slashers, more gore, more stupid humor and copy-and-paste writing.

The film that I can most closely compare Cabin in the Woods to is Shaun of the Dead. The same things make both films great: A knowledge of what came before them, a fresh and unique script, the intelligence to present the story with the proper tone, and a breakout director helming the production. Both films have enough respect for the audience to create something different.

Props need to go to Joss Whedon for pulling this together, to Drew Goddard for showing he is a true talent, and to all the actors involved who played their parts pitch-perfectly. Especially Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, and Fran Kranz. I can go on, but what I really want to say is that Cabin in the Woods makes me realize why I love genre film, and makes me realize why we shouldn’t settle for the same old movie just because it falls into a genre that we know and love.

This film wins the award “Best Happy Frog” for, well, I’m not gonna say. Just go see the movie!

USA, 2012, Gary Ross, 142 min.

I can see the appeal of The Hunger Games story. It’s a compelling idea with a good hook and potential for some good action and character development.

The film is well-made. It’s a solid sci-fi/action/drama anchored by a strong central performance by Jennifer Lawrence.  Great costumes and atmosphere. The pace moves quickly and it does entertain. But I couldn’t help but feel that the whole thing was a missed opportunity.

The future dsytopian world was interesting but unsurprising. Maybe more will be explained later but for this film the story of the games and the world around them are simplistic. But the biggest issue was the lack of choices presented to the main character.

The story was ripe to have interesting moral choices for Katniss. But instead of taking advantage of that, the film is written in such a way that she never has to make any of those hard choices. In fact, besides her first big scene where she volunteers for the game, Katness just ends up getting pushed into each new situation. She has no control over anything and rarely gets to choice what to do.

There is so much potential for more, but its never realized. So although the film entertains and excites an the surface, its too broad and simplistic to really engage.

This film wins the award “Most Intricate Beard” for Wes Bentley’s carefully shaped facial hair.

USA, 2012,  Chris Kentis/Laura Lau, 88 min.

The setup of Silent House is not surprising. A young heroine (Elizabeth Olsen), her father and her uncle are cleaning up an old summer home the family owns so they can sell it. Things turn bad quickly, and the house soon becomes the setting for the usual horror tropes.

Those tropes are unsurprising, sometimes effective, sometimes not. But the gimmick of the film, and really the thing that elevates it above a standard horror outing, is that it appears to be filmed in one shot. The camera starts following Olsen at the beginning and does not cut away from the action until the credits roll.

This allows us to enjoy the film on a technical level throughout instead of only intermittently as a horror film. And the third act effectively highlights the use of that gimmick. Without ruining it, I’ll just say that the film cleverly includes breaks from reality, and some well-timed character blocking. It’s all impressively presented.

The film is a remake of an Uruguayan film of the same name, which I have not seen. But here Elizabeth Olsen does a great job in a demanding performance. The one-shot idea is used in some ingenious ways. Overall, it’s an interesting and well-paced film. Of course, you have to give a lot of credit for that to the unsung hero, the person who had to hold the camera.

This film wins the award “Best use of a Camera Flash” for a cool sequence full where we know something is going to scare us and we just have to wait for it.

Eli Craig, USA, 2011, 89 min.

The draw of the film is its gimmick. Tucker and Dale, two well-meaning West Virginians, just happen to look like psycho hillbilly killers. But all they really want to do is go to their vacation home in the wilderness, and have a nice weekend of home improvement, fishing, and drinking.

A group of teenagers happen to be going on a camping trip in the same area. Through a series of comical misunderstandings, the teenagers beleive Tucker and Dale have kidnapped one of their own and are out to kill them all. But Tucker and Dale are just trying to be helpful, even though these crazy teenagers are accidentally killing themselves all over their property.

It’s a great gimmick, and has some great scenes. But the gimmick is over too quickly and the film turns into a standard, if comedic, horror film for the last third. But by that time I was in too much of a good mood to care. The leads and the film are likeable and the whole thing is over before you get a chance to want it to be better than it is.

This film wins the award “Best Use of Horror Cliches”  for taking all of the tired old scenes and reversing them to great comedic effect.

Lars von Trier, Denmark, 2011, 136 min.

I don’t normally give away plot points in my reviews, but the best way to look at Melancholia is to examine the ending.

The film is about a wedding at the end of the world. A rogue planet is coming towards Earth. Will it hit us? No one is really sure, but the wedding goes on as planned.

There are many characters, but the film hinges on three. Kirsten Dunst plays the severely depressed bride, Charlotte Gainsbourg is her strong-willed sister, and Kiefer Sutherland is Charlotte’s rich husband.

The rest of the characters are auxiliary and are there to highlight those three. And what happens at the wedding, which is darkly funny, awkward and depressing, helps us put those three characters into focus.

I would categorize them as the optimist, the pessimist, and the realist.  The realist is Dunst’s character, the one with severe depression. Because in von Treir’s world, depression is a real, tangible thing.

When the end of the world is eminent, they react in different ways. The pessimist, who was sure the planet was going to hit the Earth, breaks down and rails against the situation. The optimist, who believed the planet would pass them by, gives up and commits suicide. The only one who handles the situation with any dignity or grace is the realist.

Von Trier and Dunst have suffered through depression in real life, and together they create a sense of what that must be like. The symptoms, both mental and physical, are somehow larger than life. As large as an awesome, unavoidable catastrophe that is coming to end… well, everything. What I believe the film says, is that the only way to true happiness is to accept the fact that you and all humanity will die, and that an empty life-less universe will be all that is left.

This films wins the award “Most Awkward Wedding Reception” for a party where the bride has a mental breakdown every ten minutes, her mother proclaims her truly evil thoughts on marriage, and her father shows up with two young girls as his dates.