Terminal is a weird one, to say the least. All but ignored at the box office, despite the presence of star Margot Robbie (who also co-produced the film), then-hot off her Oscar-nominated turn in the excellent biopic I, Tonya, it went straight to home video after making a measly $626, 245 in theaters.
Granted, reviews were reportedly mixed, but the film isn't that bad. Trust me, I've seen a lot worse. Hell, I've seen worse over the last couple of weeks, as I prepare my Best of 2018 list. As a critic, you learn to take the good with the bad, and- speaking for myself, at least- I've always been one to try and find a few good things about a given film, even if it's something like solid camerawork or a unique soundtrack.
Terminal, while nowhere near the best film I've seen from 2018 thus far in my quest to come up with a decent-sized list, does have quite a bit going for it. In addition to a fine turn from leading lady Robbie, there's also solid turns from a cast-against-type Simon Pegg (the Star Trek and Mission Impossible series), Max Irons (who I just watched in two entertaining TV series: Condor and The Little Drummer Girl) and former SNL funnyman Mike Myers, here making his first feature film appearance since a small role in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds back in 2009.
Myers made a bit of a comeback last year, between this, a tongue-in-cheek turn in Bohemian Rhapsody and a near unrecognizable hosting gig on the resurrected Gong Show on TV. He's also in disguise in this one as well, keeping up the theme that seemed to be his thing last year, perhaps in a bid to be cast more on talent than his name. Granted, he did quite a bit of that sort of thing in the past, but it's only last year that he did so in service of more dramatic roles than silly ones.
Here, Myers plays a janitor at the titular terminal, which is purposely shadowy and located in an unnamed city, but which is clearly somewhere in England, given all the accents on display. As with many service workers, he keeps his head down and does his job, but he also keeps his eyes and ears open. One quickly gets the sense that he is someone who pretty much always knows what is going on at any given time.
Enter a host of colorful characters. Among them is Annie (Robbie), who is aiming to become a hit woman for the omnipresent Mr. Franklyn (whose face is intentionally kept hidden), and isn't above eliminating the competition to do so. In exchange for becoming his sole contract killer on the scene, she wants him to find someone for her. He agrees and she goes about her business, seemingly working as a waitress in a local diner.
Or is she a stripper at a local club? Or a prostitute in the area? She's all of the above and then some, as it turns out- hence her ability to move quietly between worlds- all the better to stalk and kill her prey. But might she have a hidden agenda? Of course, or we wouldn't have a movie.
As you might suspect, that motive is almost ridiculously convoluted and complicated, and her methods more than a little ludicrous. Not so much the reason why she does what she does, which is completely understandable, but the wacky lengths she goes to in order to succeed in her overall task.
The end result is a bit bonkers, but ultimately not that hard to follow if you know your Noir and crime-thrillers, a la Kiss Me Deadly, Blade Runner, Pulp Fiction, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Usual Suspects, Atomic Blonde, et al. Indeed, two of the cast members, Dexter Fletcher and Nick Moran, are vets of Lock Stock and I don't think that's a coincidence.
Clearly, writer/director Vaughn Stein, making his feature film debut here, knows his Noir stuff, but like many a first-time director before him, he does admittedly bite off a little more than he can chew. One certainly can't fault him for ambition, even if the end results are a bit dodgy. It is, however, easy to see how he was able to recruit such a high level of talent for his first film.
Robbie, in particular, is able to add another wild card to her ever-impressive resume, this one firmly a cousin to her much-beloved turn as Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad, another film in which her work as an actress rose above iffy material. (So much so that they opted to spin her character off into another movie, rather than doing a Suicide Squad 2.)
Though not nearly as over-the-top as Harley Quinn, Robbie's work here definitely tows the line between crazy and sly as a fox. There's a method to her character's madness here, and it's much more subtle than her work as Harley, but then, it's meant to be. Here, it's more about how past damage can manifest itself as present psychosis, but minus all the manic theatrics of Harley.
To be sure, Annie is very theatrical, what with all the costume changes and different personas she adopts, and there is a clever reason for that, which those familiar with this sort of thing will probably see coming. She's not the only one, either, given Myers' role.
So, once again, Robbie absolutely rises above the admittedly sub-par material- although, to be fair, even if you see the twists coming, it's still a relatively fun ride and the ending is gratifyingly nuts. But the cast is nothing if not game, and if there isn't much in the way of likable characters to root for, at least Robbie's inherent relatability grounds the often-surreal events somewhat.
Speaking of which, if there's one thing that I can wholeheartedly recommend the film for beyond the solid cast, it's undeniably the gorgeous cinematography, which is as colorful as the original Argento version of Suspiria, albeit used to decidedly different ends.
Although, if there's one thing this film does have in common with that one thematically, it's the fairy tale-like inspiration. If Suspiria is Little Red Riding Hood gone horribly awry, then Terminal is clearly Alice in Wonderland gone Noir.
If that sounds appealing to you, you'll probably like this, though keep in mind, those elements only reveal themselves slowly and are not as overt as they are in Suspiria. But they're definitely present, especially in that bent ending.
Hats off to cinematographer Christopher Ross, who- wouldn't you know it- also did the honors on the film Malice in Wonderland, as well as such films as Eden Lake, Black Sea, Detour and the recent TV show Trust. His work here is nothing short of stellar, as is the production design by Richard Bullock (Frank, TV's Peaky Blinders and Les Misérables).
Granted, one never loses sight of the fact that a lot of what we see is highly stylized within an inch of its life and doesn't look like anything you'd see IRL outside of maybe Las Vegas, but it does add to the effect of it being isolated from the rest of the world and kind of its own thing, giving the film an almost sci-fi quality in the process.
I suppose whether or not you normally like this sort of thing will be a large factor in how much you like it- see the above list of films I referenced, and judge accordingly, while knowing it's nowhere near as good as any of those classics, to say the least.
Think of it as being more akin to the flood of post-Tarantino flicks that came out in the wake of his success. Some of them were crap, some were surprisingly effective. This one is sort of like Dark City fused with The Usual Suspects, with a heavy dollop of Streets of Fire, in terms of visual style. And neon. LOTS of neon.
So, it's colorful, it's heavily stylized, and the plot is pretty nuts. Robbie is sexy as always, all the characters are pretty vile- even the normally amusing Pegg- and things eventually go a bit off the rails, which is fitting, given the title. You will probably be able to readily figure out at least a few of the twists, maybe not some of the others. Even if you do, it's still reasonably entertaining, IMHO.
I say check it out, but only if you normally like this sort of thing. If not, you're liable to be lost, and possibly even a bit bored by it. If you're watching this for Robbie, you might be a bit disappointed, but if you prefer her in Harley Quinn mode, you might dig it more than casual fans.
Pegg fans might be taken aback by how serious he is here, on a side note, so also take that into consideration, if you're watching it for him. Likewise, Myers isn't particularly playing it for laughs, either, so don't expect much in the way of comic relief from either of them- it's not that kind of movie.
What it is, is a demented crime-noir thriller with lots of striking imagery and twists and turns and all the expected back-stabbing and double-crosses one might expect from such a film, just done in a more colorful, almost graphic novel/comic book-style, but minus much in the way of camp.
But if that sounds like your cup of tea, it probably is. Just don't expect anything on the level of a Blade Runner- or even the belated sequel. It's more like a second-tier 80's Noir that might get some love years down the line, but which didn't get much in the way of love at the box office. It happens.
But I dug it, overall, for whatever that's worth, and any movie in which Robbie gets her crazy on in full force can't be all bad. 😍
Unfriended: Dark Web is the thematic follow-up to the original Unfriended from 2014, a unique film known as being one of the first to adopt the approach of having the entire film take place on a computer screen, as if it were happening in real time.
Most cite The Den as the actual first, which pre-dates Unfriended by a year, but there was a similar segment in the anthology film V/H/S before that, and Wikipedia cites a film called The Colingswood Story as pre-dating both of those, going all the way back to 2002. (I haven't seen that one, for the record.)
Whatever the case, Unfriended was certainly the first bona-fide hit of the found footage-style offshoot, grossing some $64 million on a measly $1 million budget. As such, a sequel was perhaps inevitable, but the harder-to-pull-off than you might think original was a tricky achievement, and ultimately, the original filmmakers, save producer Timur Bekmambetov, balked at doing another one.
Initially, the original's writer, Nelson Greaves, came up with a direct follow-up to his film, in which Laura Barns, the "ghost in the machine," terrorized a new group of teens that were also involved in the events leading up to her death, but it was decided early on that having a whole new group of people involved in the same incident was a bit much, and somewhat hard to believe.
Greaves ultimately bailed on the project. Enter writer/director Stephen Susco (The Grudge 1 & 2), who agreed to do it, if he had creative control over the story-line, to a certain degree. Retaining only Greaves' idea about the story revolving around a group of college-age young people meeting up online for "game night" when the horror ensues from there, Susco opted to go in a completely different direction from there, eschewing the supernatural bent of the first film in favor of something more grounded in reality- truth being stranger than fiction and all that. As such, there is no connection to the first film whatsoever, beyond the overall approach of everything transpiring on a computer screen. (Although, eagle eyed viewers might spot a nod to Laura Barns' user-name, billie227, in a key scene.)
Instead, the action revolves around Matias (Colin Woodell, TV's The Originals and The Purge), who ostensibly buys a used laptop on Craig's List, which we see him setting up his various online accounts on at the beginning of the film. Matias is working on an online program which will make it easier for him to communicate with his deaf girlfriend, and perhaps help turn him into a successful internet entrepreneur in the process.
After a certain point, he meets up via Skype with several of his friends from college online for their ongoing Game Night festivities. Unfortunately, the computer keeps crashing, frustrating his efforts to multitask while playing. Eventually, we get a clue as to why that might be: a persistent user that keeps trying to message him.
The user initially seems to be a girl named Erica, but later reveals herself to be another girl named Norah, whose laptop it actually is- it turns out that, contrary to his claims, Matias actually stole the laptop from the lost and found at a local internet cafe. Berating him for stealing it, she tells him to simply drop it off where he found it and all will be forgiven.
Then, just as he begrudgingly agrees to do so, he gets another message from someone alluding to money sent for a video. With the help of a more tech-savvy friend, Matias pokes around the computer and finds some files, with seemingly random videos of people in them.
His friend, AJ (Connor Del Rio, Level Up) asks him to click on another file entitled "The River" and it proves to be a connection to the infamous "Dark Web" of online lore, where just about anything can be purchased- for the right price. This is where the new user wants to talk to him privately.
Though his friends, who are all watching this transpire, are hesitant, Matias investigates further, where they discover that the mysterious user, who goes by the name of Charon 68, is paying the laptop owner to do some extremely iffy stuff, including what seems to be kidnapping someone and potentially torturing them.
AJ has Matias look around the computer further, opening some hidden files, where they discover much more disturbing videos of women being terrorized by an unseen person. More digging reveals that seemingly all the women have been abducted and are still missing.
Suddenly, Matias' girlfriend, Amaya (Stephanie Nogueras, Switched at Birth) calls him, but when he answers, it isn't her- it's "Norah," who turns out to actually be a hooded man with his face obscured.
It turns out he was able to observe Matias' actions remotely and track down his girlfriend's apartment, and is now there. He tells Matias to either deliver the laptop or he'll kill her, and as proof he means business, he grabs and knocks out her arriving roommate.
Meanwhile, the other user is growing agitated, thinking that something is awry. To placate him, Matias accepts the money transfer, then turns the table on the "Norah" impostor, transferring the money into his own account and telling him if he hurts Amaya, he'll never get his money.
This actually has the opposite intended effect on the man, who immediately freaks out and tells him he doesn't know who he's messing with- and he doesn't mean himself. Things go from there, getting ever more intense, as the group of friends try to figure out what to do next, with Matias at one point trying to convince them it's all an elaborate joke- an online game he's testing.
But will they buy it? And if they don't, and try and contact the authorities, what will the people connected to the laptop do in retaliation if they find out?
I won't spoil anymore except to say that, to what should be no one's shock, things do get worse and much more intense, as an inevitable showdown happens between all concerned. Perhaps needless to say, there are plenty more twists where that came from as well, some of them more surprising than others.
The end result is more of a thriller than the original Unfriended, but arguably a better film overall. For one thing, the characters are much more likable than the ones in the original, who, lest we forget, were all guilty of all sorts of stuff, including bullying- and worse.
As such, this film is less scary than intense, but it gets pretty damn intense, especially towards the end, as we realize just how insidious everything that's going on really is. The results remind me of another movie I reviewed not too long ago, Kristy, as well as the aforementioned The Den and the second season of Mr. Robot.
Given some of the implied subject matter, it's no wonder that the MPAA gave this an "R" rating on general principle, citing an overall unpleasantness that couldn't really be edited out, per se.
The film isn't particularly gory, mind you, just actively intense and hard to take at times. Whether or not you find it actually scary will likely depend on your own given sensibilities. I just found it more disturbing than horrific.
One thing the film does share with its predecessor beyond the approach is that several different endings were shot for the film, which are included on the DVD and Blu-Ray. Which one you prefer may also depend on your own sensibilities, and if you prefer your endings dark or more hopeful.
One is arguably even darker than the one in the film itself, which is pretty damn bleak as it is, and another is more open-ended- probably a little too much so- which is probably why it wasn't used.
Yet another ends on a more humane note, which, if you find yourself attached to the characters at hand, may be the one for you. But I found the original ending to be gratifying dark, so I thought they made the right choice overall. It's just right, IMHO, but your opinion may vary.
There's no doubt about it- this sort of thing can be a tough sell for some. After all, the approach is inherently claustrophobic, and if you don't have a decent-sized TV, or make the choice to watch it on your own laptop/PC (which actually makes the most sense, TBH), some of it may be tough to follow, what with all the multitasking going on on Matias' end and the oft tiny word size or hard-to-see font used at times.
Still, the clear audience for this is obviously fellow internet users, who often do multitask a bunch of different things at once- I'm doing just that as I write this article, in fact- so, as such, I can't imagine any of them having any trouble keeping up. Those of you who are less internet savvy might want to give this one a wide berth.
As before, the cast is effective, only this time way more relatable and likable. While it's true that the main protagonist does steal a laptop, that's hardly a reason for him to be put through the wringer like he is here, and it should be taken into consideration (as it is in one of the alternate endings) that Matias does try and do the right thing, even though it would have been easier for him to bail on the entire situation early on.
As such, this one is inherently better than the original in that you actually are rooting for him to defeat the baddies in the end, instead of wondering if all concerned don't deserve to die the more you discover about the real nature of their character, like in the original.
Here, everyone concerned seem to be good people, trying to do the right thing in a truly difficult situation. Given that, it's a hell of a lot easier to put yourself in their shoes and ask what you would do in a similar scenario.
Would you try to help those in danger? Or would you try to extricate yourself out of the situation by any means necessary, even if it meant throwing a fellow human being under the bus in the process? Given what happens to some of the people involved, it's a fascinating question, because a lot of it ain't pretty.
All in all, if this sounds like something you'd dig, you probably will. If it sounds more like a headache waiting to happen- not to mention a lot of squinting for those with bad eyesight- then you might want to take a pass instead. But I will say it was a marked improvement over the original, so even if you didn't like that one, you might like this one, in spite of it.
Check it out- and whatever you do, stay off that damned Dark Web if you know what's good for you! 😱
Full disclosure: The whole "camming" thing is not something I'm overtly familiar with- it's just not my thing. As such, most of the info in this review is either gleaned from this movie, which was reportedly written by a former "cam girl" by the name of Isa Mazzei, and a friend of mine who is into that sort of thing. So, apologies if I get anything wrong.
Anyway, from what I understand- and feel free to skip the next few paragraphs if you already know all this stuff- it involves a girl (or one assumes, a guy, if you swing that way) sitting in front of a camera, typically alone, but occasionally with a "friend" (or "friends"), who interact online with a group of people who then comment directly to her, compelling her to do certain things.
Depending on how many tips she gets- in the form of "tokens," which I gather participants buy via credit cards or Paypal or whatever- she'll either take things to the next "level" or she won't, with the next level being taking off her clothes, masturbating, or doing something sexual with a partner, if someone else is present there with her.
I gather from this movie that each site has a sort of "rating" system, in which the girls are ranked by the amount of tokens they receive from patrons, so that the most popular girls are in the top ten, with the other girls ranked accordingly below them.
This sets up a sort of hierarchy in which the girls compete to be the most popular, often doing crazier and crazier things to get attention from their patrons. Those who don't tend to rank lower on the "charts," and according to this movie, some don't even strip, but just do it to chat with others or flirt or whatever. One can also request a "private" chat, which is a more intimate experience than a group one, for obvious reasons.
So, basically, it's just a variation of a strip club, only the girls aren't actually present, and therefore, can do pretty much anything they want from the privacy of their own homes or at a "cam club," which is a central location attached to a given website where girls gather that offers a bit more protection from those who might try and seek out their location via hacking and the like.
It's against the back-drop of this world that the movie Cam takes place. The film revolves around Alice Ackerman (Madeline Brewer, Orange is the New Black, The Handmaid's Tale), a cam girl that is seeking to improve her ranking by doing increasingly outlandish stuff that leans towards the violent and extreme.
Recruiting an ardent fan, Tinker (Patch Darragh, The Path, Everything Sucks!), to help set up the fakery, she succeeds in her goal, but then wakes up one day to find a look-a-like impostor has taken over her account and is doing thing under her account name "Lola" that even she wouldn't do- and is enjoying even more success than she did previously, and reaping the according financial benefits, to add insult to injury.
Alice attempts to combat the girl by changing her password, but the girl has already done just that, locking her out of her own account, which makes it that much tougher to plead her case with the company she works for. Eventually, she seeks out the site's owner, who thinks she is the scammer after "Lola" posts live while they are having dinner.
She does glean one important bit of information- where another girl, who goes by the username "Baby" (Imani Hakim, Everybody Hates Chris, The Gabby Douglas Story) and is scheduled to do a live show with "Lola," is located.
However, when she goes to track her down to warn her about working with the impostor, she finds out some shocking information that upends what she- and by extension, we- previously thought was going on.
I won't spoil anymore moving forward, except to say that things get increasingly weirder and possibly more supernatural as they go along. The ending is a bit confusing, TBH, but I think I got the gist of what was going on. Let's just say, as sci-fi as it seems, it actually isn't that far out of the realm of possibility, given what people get up to with technology these days.
So, basically, what we have here is a sort of Black Mirror-esque cautionary tale about the perils of putting yourself online, and how others can take advantage of that for their own gain, as well as how dangerous and hurtful doing something like this can be to one's well-being.
For instance, as the faux "Lola" becomes more bold in what she does, it gains her more attention, which in turn leads to members of Alice's own family being affected by it, once her identity becomes that much more public.
In one instance that I am aware of as being grounded in the truth, the fake her does a show on the down-low from a local library that causes quite a stir. I distinctly remember this happening IRL with a girl named Kendra Sutherland, who became an overnight sensation, as she was publicly identified as a college student by people who recognized the library as being one at a local university in Oregon.
The event all but upended her life, as she was not only fined for "public indecency," but her parents found out about it, as well as her having to explain it to the rest of her family. (You can read more about her here.)
She's since "leaned in" to it, and has gone into full-blown porn, so lest you think that someone who gets into a crazy situation like we see in this movie might not double-down on it, know that it's not that far-fetched.
Although having her mother be completely on-board with it was perhaps a bit much. (Incidentally, that's former Boogie Nights faux porn star Melora Walters playing mom, in a clever bit of casting.)
All in all, Cam is reasonably entertaining, even if it strains credibility at times- but then again, it is a movie, so it's hardly the first time a movie (much less a horror film, which this more or less is when all is said and done), has done precisely that, so it seems unfair to call it out for being hard to swallow.
Star Brewer, who looks a bit like a combination of Pretty Little Liar Lucy Hale and Katie McGrath (of Supergirl and Jurassic World fame), is pretty much game for anything, and really goes for broke in the role, which, in addition to the expected nudity, also requires her to do some pretty out-there stuff, at one point suggestively touching herself while covered in blood!
But beyond the obvious, Brewer is actually quite effective in the role beyond the more prurient level. You really care about her and her fate, and I liked the way the film wasn't afraid of showing the real-world implications of doing something this for a living, and how it has both an upside (Alice apparently made enough from her work to buy a house and some expensive furniture) and an enormous downside (online stalkers and overzealous and just plain mean fan-boys and trolls; your friends and family finding out, if you do it on the down-low).
The movie marks the feature film directorial debut of Daniel Goldhaber, who does a nice job of going in-between a found footage-adjacent online-based film and the "real-life" action beyond the screen.
I get the sense that he toyed with the idea of making the whole film on-line, but wisely opted to go back-and-forth instead, allowing for some heightened dramatic action, as Alice's situation becomes more public and more dangerous.
As aforementioned, the film was Isa Mazzei, a former cam girl herself. She initially planned to do a documentary about the whole camming scene, but after she found some people were confused by it, she opted to turn it into a narrative horror film instead.
I can relate- when a friend of mine told me he was into it, I was like "Why?- It's just a new way to bilk people of their cash!" At least in a strip club the girls are actually there in front of you, not separated by an entire virtual world. But, after having seen this film, I kind of get it, even if it doesn't appeal to me personally.
To be fair, neither do I really get the appeal of a strip club, either. As Chris Rock says: "No matter what they tell you, there is NO sex in the Champagne Room," lol. I haven't actually been to one since my brother-in-law's bachelor's party ages ago.
In my mind, why spend my hard-earned money on virtual sex or whatever, when I can just cut to the chase and watch porn for free? Or better yet, have actual sex with a woman, lol. But to each their own, I guess.
Anyway, Mazzei based the movie on her own experiences, taking inspiration from the fact that people would record her sessions and re-post them on porn sites without her permission.
When she tried to do something about it, she was frustrated by how little sympathy she received, including from police, one of which even went so far as to hit on her, which is in the movie.
She also took inspiration from her issues trying to sell the project around Hollywood, noting that she kept getting asked: "What's the weirdest thing you've ever been asked to do?"- something she also incorporated into the film, such as when an online user tells Alice to stab or kill herself.
Also of note is the fact that Mazzei and director Goldhaber are long-time friends and he even directed some of her videos, including ones of the porn variety. For this reason, the film has a somewhat unique opening credit of being "A Film by Isa Mazzei & Daniel Goldhaber," rather than the usual director-only credit.
In other words, it's more of a collaboration between the writer and the director than the more traditional approach of giving the director all of the credit for a film, which is pretty cool, given how writers are often slighted in the process.
Note all the films which start out with "A Film by" so-and-so director, making it seem like they are the only ones responsible for the outcome, when, in reality, it's a much more collaborative process. This film bucks that trend, so that's pretty cool.
Cam isn't a perfect film, but the premise is a neat one, and it's never less than compelling, even if the end results might leave some wanting, given that it has a sort of open-ended finale and doesn't quite spell things out for the viewer as much as they might like. But I think I got the overall point of things, and I get why the filmmakers ended things the way they did.
Star Brewer is excellent, and the supporting cast (which also includes Samantha Robinson, of The Love Witch, and Jessica Parker Kennedy, of The Flash) is pretty solid as well, helping the film rise above its more exploitative elements.
It may not have made me want to rush to my computer to check out the whole cam scene, but it did give me a lot to think about- and write about, apparently, given the length of this review!
Cam is available on Netflix and is well-worth checking out, especially if the premise grabs you. Just remember the next time some of you do the cam thing: that person on the other end may not be the person you think they are!
👸😍😈😲😱
