(upbeat music) Hey folks and welcome to the Daily Ratings Podcast. It's a show where each week, we're gonna be sitting down the Vincent daily to get his thoughts on the latest movies he's been watching. Both older films and new releases. And don't worry, there's no spoilers. Vince will give a brief review of the movie, share some thoughts and of course then write the film. The Daily Ratings are always fair, honest, and most importantly, they're consistent. On today's show, Vince will be rating and reviewing. We have 1994's The Crow, directed by Alex Proes. We have 2024's The Crow by Rupert Sanders. Blink Twice by Zoe Kravitz. And finally, Strange Darling, directed by J.T. Mulmer. So it's a pretty newly released week here, folks. And we got the old Crow, so let's see what Vince got to say about it, stay tuned and enjoy the show. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - This is Vincent daily, how we doing, buddy? - Oh, man, how's it going? - It's going okay on this side of the table you had? - A moody week. - You did have a moody week and you added one last minute. - Yes, I did. - And you're like, I think I'm going to add a fourth. - Yeah, I honestly didn't recognize Strange Darling as a name, but I actually wrote it down on trailers to look out for. So was able to catch it? There's a lot of hype around this film, and I'm here to say, believe the hype. This is easily the best of the week. - Well, we're going to say that for the very end then. - Yeah, yeah, absolutely. - Yeah, Strange Darling came out last year at Fantastic Fest, which is just another film festival in Austin. - Yeah, yeah, I think now it's picked up by Miramax for distribution and deserves every slot it has. - I think it has almost, I think it has like 1300 theaters. So there should be one theater by most people. - Sure, sure. - And then if you're in a more populous area than probably two theaters. - Yeah. - Which is pretty good. - Absolutely. - I will say, I mean, I was looking on it for box office mojo, because I forget what it was, because I was trying to see the theater count, and it didn't even register on the box office. - Yeah. - I was in the office mojo, then I'm like, "What?" But then I used a secondary site called The Numbers, and they had some info about it. - Yeah. - Because I think it ended up doing like 9th at box office or something like that. - Yeah, yeah. - And I'll mention in the review, I mean, this original trailer was great, wrote it down immediately, but only had it coming soon. And I feel like so much we've seen in shifting dates for releases and whatnot, and just shifting around almost strategically for like what's going to be a juggernaut that week. I think that's a good thing, so things don't get squashed. - Yeah. - By like Deadpool and whatnot. But I just, I had a soft commitment. I had like no idea when it was going to be showing up, so I was like, "All right, we're going to do it." - Good, and it was no problem seeing it, right? - Yeah, no, it's a breezy movie, and like I said, not to over hype it, but Strange Darling is like one of the best of the year. - Okay. - This is like a seriously great movie. - And I watched some clips of course on it online, and we'll get into it. - Sure. Did you look at like the crew? Did you see who the cinematographer was? - Uh, I did? (laughing) A weird oddball? Is it, what is it? - Rebusy. - Yeah, yeah. - Rebusy. - Yeah. - From famous, of course. I mean, really claimed to fame the last 15 seconds of Horizon Part 1 at American Saga, Chapter 1, or whatever. - So true. So true. (laughing) - Yeah, other than that, it's a pretty brookie affair. - Yes. - Which, again, why I was interested in covering it from the first place, and why I was so pleasantly surprised with how much quality it was. - I can't wait to talk about it. - I would love to share some of the praise for the other new films this week. (laughing) - But with us. - Well, don't ruin anything. Don't be excited. - Right, right. (laughing) - We're doing the crow this week. We're doing the OG. Do you have any opening notes? - Not really. Not really. I mean, I have, I have meaty reviews because the crow is something that-- - Thought to talk about for that first one. - Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's kind of, you know, has so many topics held within it. But yeah, other than that, it is the four reviews. I'm rare to go. - Okay, so basically, I think for the most part, well, we're gonna jump back 30 years, exactly, 'cause the crow came out in 1994. It's rated R, it's an hour and 42 minutes. The director is Alex Proyas, and I don't think, no one thinks back, I think much, and says, well, the crow, I mean, the crow is great nineties filming, right? I think it has a good cult following, but I don't think it's in the mindset of most people, like, we gotta do this again on the 30th anniversary. (laughing) - So true, yeah, there's definitely like, almost like Borderlands, like we covered a few weeks ago, it's like, why now is the question right here from, you know, why people would be ever interested in the new crow? So, we won't get into it, yeah. - Yeah, so basically, take us back to 1994. You know, it does have kind of a cool story, so set it up for us, and then let's get into it. - Yeah, absolutely. Well, this is a complicated movie, and straight up probably could fit a whole episode with how much I have to say about it. It is a movie I personally love. I really love the crow 1994, only discovering it within the last 10 years or so. That was as a product of diving into our director's work, which I'll save some of my thoughts on that, when eventually we cover "Uniesta", "Dark City", "Dark City's Coming", (laughing) I don't even know what it's coming, I don't even know, and we have a very busy couple weeks. - No one even knows about it. (laughing) Everybody just darks at it, and everybody would have said it. - Yeah, yeah, no one's even hyped for me. (laughing) - But like I said, I mean, it is complicated. It is a complicated nest of factors with this film from a scramble production, heartbreaking controversy, even more heartbreaking origins, placement as a proto comic book movie, spig contender of the year. I mean, this is really so bad, is good incarnate. This movie is fascinating, and folks, you should totally give it a watch if you haven't, especially if you have any passing interest in how comic book movies feel today, and how they came about, certainly in the liquid time of the '90s post-Batman '89. For many years, I put this film side by side with movies like "Devilition Man", "The Mask", by normal standards really aren't great at all. - Okay, gotcha, okay. - "The Devilition Man" with "Stalone and Wesley Snipes". - Yes, I thought the movie content itself you were comparing to. - No, no, no, no. Definitely just the vibe they give off in that. They're not really great, you know? They're not really good at all, but in themselves are extremely campy experiences, and lean into that camp, which is a road to hell that could really go bad, but sprinkled throughout them is more than a handful of so bad, it's good elements that make an enjoyable watch. For "The Crow", I always love the Joker energy that that radiates off of Brandon Lee's performance. It's ridiculous '90s goth aesthetic, and placement as a foundational comic book movie, and what comic book movies will become, makes it legitimately worth still checking out today. And while the new film seems to want to distance itself from its comic book origins, this has a certain purity to it, where they just didn't know the rules yet. I think, folks, if you enjoy the first blade, if you enjoy the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy, just because they feel so, you know, in their own element, "The Crow" absolutely hits on that same level, especially added to that in the wake of Tim Burton's "Batman" in '89, I mean, everyone was trying their go at the edgiest comic books they could get their hands on, as far as like IPs go. And "The Crow" is definitely very edgy. Like I said, this is like '90s goth incarnate, and very enjoyable for that reason. Let's, before we get into some of the fun of this, this does have a lot to it as far as the origins for the film, and it'll also cover some work for both of our new films this week. To quote the original author, James O'Barr, the goth starter pack came with a pair of Doc Martens, an album of the Cure, and a copy of "The Crow." And I've always loved that quote in kind of setting the tone for how kind of edgelord these movies are. You know what these movies are? Not bashful in the slightest of their edgy and gothness. And in the same breath of that are so genuine and almost bulletproof in what style they're trying to achieve. Like many artists in this space, O'Barr only has really one main work that defines his career. He does do other work, he has like a Western graphic novel that he goes into, that is "The Crow," and that is because "The Crow" was much more than a simple comic book just for him to make or to flip a buck or anything. For O'Barr, "The Crow" was a way of dealing with the trauma of losing his first love to a drunk driver. Both sudden and tragic, the comic itself pulls from real life moments with his fiancee while also fueling its themes of survivor's guilt and living on in death through the powers of "The Crow." O'Barr has a tragic story to him, and I don't want to go too into the weeds on it because it's really only one part of it, but I feel like there is something special to "The Original Crow" and something that I've always been empathetic for knowing that it's tied and moments in the film, in the comment, comic are pulled from his real life experiences with his wife gone too soon. That same tragic shadow haunted this film jumping forward as due to a critical failure in gun prop safety, lead star Brandon Lee was killed on the set of this film. A sudden death cut down way before his prime, it eerily follows in the path of his father, Bruce Lee, both leaving behind a long life and promise of a great career. Brandon Lee was 28, and while this case echoes the negligence similar to what we see in Alec Baldwin going through in present day, "The Crow" stands as an artifact, and once again, a haunting reflection of its creators, and that's where I feel like there's so much to this movie. Is this movie good? Not really. - Right. - You know, it's definitely so bad it's good in its territory, but I feel like there is, it's the type of movie that its story kind of lives larger than the movie itself. - Oh, it absolutely does. - Yeah. - And I think that, that's almost timely that it's coming out, just with all the Alec Baldwin stuff in the news, but the fact that it's based on the emotion behind it is real, just even in the comic, and then that trying to transform onto film, the fact that there's actually a depth there is nice, it's weird to say nice, but it's got, I don't know, it's-- - It's got those substance. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then with this Brandon Lee thing, I mean, it keeps this, as you said, it kind of keeps it as an artifact because that Quentin Tarantino was just on Bill Maher's podcast. - Okay. - And this came up 'cause we talked about Alec Baldwin stuff and Tarantino made the comment of, look how many thousands of films that have been made that guns are being used, and we only have two examples of something like this happening. - Very true. - It's a pretty good track record, and it is, but it's crazy to think that, you know, these are the two, and then it happened here, and with Brandon Lee. - Yeah. - Because how Bruce Lee was 29? - No, no, 32 when he died, Brandon Lee was 28. - Yeah, now Bruce Lee didn't die on set, but-- - No, no, a heart failure, but definitely in the theme of Gone Too Soon, and walking in the footsteps of his father, I mean, I'll get to it in a second, but you watch this movie, and just like, from even some fight moves and how action sequences are shot for him, he's really like the spittin' image of his father, yeah. - It would have been incredible to see him go what he would do for the next two decades when he's like physical peak. - I think, honestly, my hot take is that with Bruce Lee, I'm sorry, Bruce Lee, with Brandon Lee in the landscape of '90s cinema, I think it's very possible we could have seen Brandon Lee replacing Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, I feel like we could have seen his Kung Fu abilities fit into a lot of-- - Mission possible too. - Sure, that would be a dream, that would be a dream. If he was just the Crow and Mission possible too as well. (laughing) But yeah, I feel like not that it does anything to improve the movie, and believe me, this movie's got plenty of bad. - Sure, sure. - But I feel like this is one where the production story is so fascinating, and maybe even a little off-putting because of the shadow that hangs over it, but interesting to talk about for that reason. - Definitely, and I think we should know too, when he died, this was for filming, almost all the filming was done. This was like end of shooting basically where they don't have to do body doubles much or anything like that, correct? - Yeah, specifically if I remember correctly, it's the flashback scenes that play out throughout the movie, so all of the makeup scenes, all of when he's the Crow, it was already done. So they really only had to kind of stitch together footage of what is the kind of the origin of the Crow in the movie itself, and that's flashback to already kind of sporadic and loops with his memory. - Which is nice because you're really watching him. Like, if you're watching this for the first time, it's not just like, is that the real guy, is that the stand in, is that the real guy, it's pretty much all him. - Absolutely, absolutely, and it stands as, I mean, Brandon Lee doesn't really have a super accomplished career by '94, but without a doubt, like a mark on his career because he's such a personality on screen. - Yeah, yeah. - For the Crow, 1994, like I said, this is one of the first in a wave of proto comic book movies being one of the foundational works that nails the formula before it was ever a thing, before they knew the rules, and I feel like that's an important thing to say, like, if there's any skin in the game to watching this, I feel like for Cinephiles or for comic book aficionados, this has an interesting placement to watch it and see, like, oh, wow, the ghost writer rips it off for one, you know, any kind of revenge comic book story rips it off, so they really hit on something special here that will be done in definitely the 2000s and kind of slowly goes away as the MCU comes into its own. The story begins on Devil's Night, October 30th in Detroit, also like a, like a dilapidated Detroit, I mean this is rough Detroit. - It's a good city for this film. - Yeah, absolutely, also O'Barr comes from Detroit. He wrote the Crow in Detroit. The unofficial holiday is bringing out the worst in people, though, specifically a gang of anarchistic psychos take out their anger on a newlywed couple, Eric Draven and Shelley Webster. One year later, we see Eric emerge out of the ground seeking revenge on those that took his life and took love away from him, followed by a silky black bird lending its dark mystical powers to him. The Crow's primary powers are being unkillable because he's already undead. But throughout the story, he discovers his place between life and death comes with an unclear purpose in why he walks among the living at all. He might not intend to make a better city, but hunting down his enemies will clean up the trash and show him that his humanity may not be gone just yet. Folks, there is plenty of bad about this film. Believe me, believe me, you know, by a lot of standards, this is not great and we'll get to those bad elements, but it's also got a lot to love. Top of the list is just how pure the movie style is. It is so genuine in trying to be black eyeliner goth that much of the snark I would throw at it as being a bad movie just kind of bounces off of this. I mean, seriously, the movie is this is a movie where usual superhero rooftop brooding sessions are paired with the Crow playing electric guitar in the rain. (laughing) Like playing a full electric guitar in the rain, like I-- - Like knows what it is. - Absolutely. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - And that's where it's genuine. Like I can call that out, but I think this movie just genuinely doesn't care if I call it out. Our main bad guy is played by Michael Wincott. It's like they stylized this man's hairline around every metal band singer in the '90s. (laughing) He is like Pantera distilled down into one man. It's like they saw Dave Mustaine from Megadeth and they said, "Yeah, that's our dog, that's our--" (laughing) And I'm just so sorry. Who did this man's hairline? This man's hairline is so far back. He's just so goth and so evil. And over the top, I mean, it is unbelievable. His name is top dollar, fuck yeah. - Yeah, the names are pretty fantastic in this film. - Yeah, it's great. The Crow's band is named Hangman's joke. Fuck yeah, that's so good. (laughing) Oh, the final shootout is in a church. Congratulations, you just discovered my kink. This is my favorite thing in any movie ever. You put your final shootout in a church. Guess what, I just like your movie now that's just a fault. I'm sorry, I don't make up the rules. There's just so much to love in the camp of this and in how genuine it feels. We will definitely get into it in the new Crow, but the new Crow has to jump through hoops in just how much it has to try and try hard to be edgy and feel dark and fails, almost at every attempt it does this. This, yes, it could be funny, yes, it could be campy and you can't really take it seriously, but in that achieve such a genuine goth aesthetic that I don't know, there's something special to it. - I think the fact that it's made in the 90s can be this raw, because also it's so new, because comic book movies, few and far between. - Yes. - So I think it's just-- - Even by like '89 with Batman. - There's not much going on. - There's not much. - Yeah, you gotta have to get past '95. - When is the first blade? - '99, I believe. - Oh, okay, there you go. I mean, so the fact that this can live there in the early 90s really helps along. I was excited for this new Crow. I was actually excited and I was gonna go and then you made a comment about it. I looked up one video about it and then I was like, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna wait to see what Vin has to say about it. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, probably the best call. - Because it's an uphill battle to try to match the emo grungy darkness when you have this new Polish film. And I don't know if that makes sense, but there's something about the raw 90s Detroit that works. - Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Even this fictional comic book Detroit, it captures something and you're so right with using the word polish because this new film is too polished. It has to kind of bend over backwards to achieve that grunge and fails at it at that. - Even the look at it, I would want, we'll get in, I've got questions for the new one, so we'll get it, I'll save them for then. - Yeah, but what I wanna drive home as far as this bullet proof aesthetic, I think the best example of this in a very good way, nowhere close to so bad, it's good, is the first Matrix. You have leather everywhere, sunglasses, people dodging bullets and whatnot. You look at that movie, especially the early moments where they go to the rave and he has the people coming and he's selling software on flash drives or whatever it is, and he can say, what is this? But the style is substance, the style is storytelling in the world and just in the same way, the goth aesthetic here is it's silly, absolutely, is it can't be absolutely, but it still sells the world as a comic book movie. - Yeah, yeah. - That's kind of the hill I'm dying on on this one, but we'll talk more in the review of the new film, but the style here does not have to be earned because it is the style and it must be said, it is still so clearly, so bad it's good, it's definitely a bad movie. Countless aspects in this are just laughably bad and there are a few that are just plain bad. Mainly I point to the acting here, which has the cardinal sin of the daily ratings, bad kid acting. Supporting performances really aren't much better with Ernie Hudson filling out our wannabe lethal weapon slot. You know, I wish Ernie Hudson was a little better in this, he's really not. Fortunately for spake's sake, countless scenes will just force you to say out loud why, followed by a laugh. This makes for a perfectly enjoyable bad experience and just countless scenes. There's a scene where the pawn trot over owner is at gunpoint and he's just yelling like eight times. Shit on me, shit on me, he's like it's, I don't know, it's maybe more than eight times. He's just yelling shit on me. It's like, could we just get a different take on that? I don't know if shit on me is the word, you know, is the phrase we want. You know, all the gang members have at least one line that feels like it should be cut out of the script. Most of all, top dollar, you know, some of his takes are just horrible. Some of his takes feel clumsy in the way that our Black's Poitation special covered on, where he's just like, no, no, they went with this. They actually went with this. I already talked about the Crow himself playing electric guitar in the roof, in the rain at night, you know. This is a trio of things, but let me tell you, this dude brings his electric guitar at the worst times. Like he is breaking and entering with a full guitar on him and it's like, how is he not caught yet? It's so bad, man. I really do love this movie. It's just such a mess. It's such, such a mess. In effort to make a compliment sandwich out of this, I want to end on some of what I started with on this because there's really not too much to talk about this other than kind of the outside factors of the movie. - Right, right. - I think this film does show how branded Lee was positioned to be a great movie star and while like I said, is it really your career? - It's not really great. So many shots he looks like just like his father. I feel like there's definitely an attention to detail to give him like kung fu adjacent type of moves, shoot him in scenes as like full body, full action type of shots that really highlight that. Again, I feel like in the 90s, they were looking for this type of slim, if anything, Keanu Reeves type of aesthetic and putting them in action projects. Like I said, I think the movie exists as an interesting reflection of its creators. Branded Lee has a haunting portrayal in this, playing a dead guy come back to life, which honestly creates a weird layer over the film that I think it's perfectly acceptable to be a little off put, knowing that this led to his real death. I would have no problem with someone saying, oh actually, I don't like this movie for those reasons. I think that's perfectly acceptable because the fact that they went through with it towards the end or not kind of draws a line or rides a line of a little tastelessness. - I don't think so. - No? - No, almost the entire project was done. And so I think it would be tasteless if you film this entire thing. It's now his last film and then he'd do nothing with it. - Yeah. - No, true. - What's tasteless is the set of rust going back to Alec Baldwin's film. - Oh, right, right, right. - Months after the incident going back and still trying to finish it. - Yeah, because that wasn't like close to being done, I don't think. And a documentary to go along with it as well. - About the controversy. - Yeah, like following Alec Baldwin, it's like the documentary is gonna be about like how they finished the film, I believe. The whole thing is weird. - That's a little money hungry. - This, it's like, it's his last Brandon Lee's last project. He made it through the entire film. Don't just leave it on the floor. - Sure, sure. - Like make it. - I think that's a fine line, yeah. I just feel like the echoes, and as you're watching the movie as well, the themes of living on in death and survivor guilt and what the crow stands for as a superhero. - Yeah. - You know, granted a, you know, not really like an A-lister superhero, but there's something there to the sadness conjured in the film. And again, the movie also reflects James O'Barr, exactly like the comic book, moments showing the relationship in this pulled from his own happy moments, that is the reason the whole thing was created for. The unfortunate elephant in the room, folks, is that there are three other very bad direct-to-video sequels made after this, diluting of a little bit of what we talked about here. (laughing) But I wasn't going to put you all through a crow five spot episode. - No, nobody needs that. - Yes, certainly. - Nobody needs that. - Certainly when I've never even seen-- - That is tasteless. (laughing) - Yeah, that's a bit too much. And I've never even seen those other movies, so I guess right in if you're with me on the crow and then maybe need to defend these direct-to-video sequels. But folks, all of this mess makes for a fascinating watch. I think fascinating in its entertainment, fascinating in its production story, and fascinating in the haunting legacy that it leaves. And one that I am confident is saying, it's both so bad, it's good, and partially straight up good on its own. We're going to go ahead and give the crow 1994, a 66 and a loving spig. - Okay, a 66 is so bad, it's good. I like that. And you know what, I think, considering that 66 is actually not a bad score, when it comes to daily ratings, I think you've defended it well. - Oh my God! - When people look at it and wonder, what is he doing with this? - Yeah. - And also maybe the conflict of like, this is a good score, and why does it have the spig? - Right, exactly. - Exactly. - It is conflicting, the entire film is conflicting. - I think a third ranking on this, and maybe this can go into the compilation, is this is also a perfect voice watch. I mean, just like, it's so- - So I was going to say, would this be good to perform a drinking game too? - Oh yeah, absolutely. - Every time guitars get played. - Every time a good electric guitar is on screen. - Every time a crow is on screen? - Ooh, I mean, you get trashed pretty quickly. - Okay, well that's what you're pointing there. - Maybe the drinking game is just getting to the scene with the pawn shop owner, and you take a swig every time he says shit on me. - Do we add it to the voice watch? Is it a voice voice watch? We add it to the compilation. - I think it is a voice watch, because I mean, what is a voice watch than a moody experience? - This is going to be everywhere on this side. - Yeah, I'm defending this in a way that I'm just going to populate it everywhere on this side. (laughing) - All right, then with that, our next three films are now in theaters newly released, so I'm not even going to play the music, because we do have a producer for this week, which is awesome, we have someone to donate it in, but no note. And this is Linda Schiller coming in again. - Oh wow. - New producer, but third time producer now, because this is, and I didn't say this last time, she's donating monthly, she said the monthly plan. - Oh, of course. - First producer ever to do that, so every single month, she is donating a movie ticket to you, and she's covering the transferring fees, which is nice. But basically, so first of all, huge thanks to Linda Schiller, thank you so much, and with, if you do do a monthly thing, or even a yearly thing, I just responded back to her and say, hey, anytime you feel the need to ask a question, anytime you want to spark a conversation, or add to the conversation, just right in, and we'll just treat it like any other donation note. So executive producer of episode 149, Linda, thank you so much. I mean, she donated, it's like I said, third time, which is fantastic. - And any that are interested in a monthly type of subscription like that, we're more than happy to read consecutive notes that you're sending. - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And that's why I told her, hey, anytime we feel the need to say something, ask something, whatever, spark a conversation, right in. It's totally fine. - Yeah, absolutely. - So big thanks to you, Linda, executive producer of 149. And we just want to remind people that we are producers supported. We're going off the value for value model. We don't have advertising here, we don't have Patreon, we don't have like payment tiers or paywalls. You know, it's not paid to gain our access. Vin and I put all the information out there. We have the site there. Basically, are you finding valuable? So are you using it? Are you enjoying the podcast, using the site? We look at it as that's value in your pocket. So can you give us value back in our pocket? So when you go to the daily ratings.com and you go to the donations tab through your monetary support, you become an actual legitimate producer of the daily ratings. Just like in Hollywood, when you financially support a project, you're a producer of that project. So just like Linda, she donated in a movie ticket for Vin, so she can write in a producer note as well. And that's kind of what we were talking about. When you donate, you can write us a note and just email us at tom.vin at the daily ratings.com. Write in a note and say whatever you want. It could be questions, comments, critiques. It could be suggestions. Doesn't even have to be film related. The point is we want to say thanks to you for donating and then also give you, you know, the opportunity to say something. You're a producer that means something special for us. And we appreciate it so much, basically. So like I said, it's the daily ratings.com and go to the donations tab, whether you donate through PayPal, Venmo, if you're using a podcast in 2.0 apps like Podverse, you can go ahead and directly send Satoshi's our way or you can just head to the site and our link is there, our QR code is there. You could send it to our GitAlbi account. A lot of different ways to donate. So whatever way you want to, it's all there on this site. We do have some set donations. So for instance, Linda sends a movie ticket. You'll be your godfather, which we had last week. Be part of the gum club, set donations or just hit the big value for value button there and it's whatever you want. So let's say you want to donate five bucks a month. You can make what other number you want and then you have the option. You could do it a one time a monthly or even yearly. I was kind of communicating back and forth with Linda and she was like, oh, I skip around. I kind of find a film here. I was just listening to this old episode and I found a film there. And I think our podcast is very usable like that because we do, between three and five films every week, some people listen to the entire episode and every single episode and some people skip around. Yeah. And the whole point is it's like, okay, even if you only listen to us six times a year, did we save you a movie ticket or did we persuade you to go see a movie and then really enjoy it? Sure, sure. Did we enrich a movie-watching experience? I mean, is that worth five bucks? Right. Is that worth five bucks? That is five bucks. And if you send us five bucks a year, I mean, that means a huge amount to us. And you can also say something bad to us again. It's a through line to you when you donate. You can write in a producer note. So that's kind of how we do it. It's any amount that you want. It's however often you want and we appreciate it so much. Also, when you do send in a note, I think some people don't like to give their names or anything like that. Sure, yeah. Like they want to write in, but they don't want kind of just their name being on a podcast. Absolutely. Just say, hey, just keep me anonymous and we will or just sign your note. You know, sincerely anonymous. Yeah, yeah. That's what we want to say our name, but you can still get your message out there. Like I said, dailyratings.com, head to the donations tab at Linda Shiller. Thank you so much, executive producer of 149. And if you want to be a producer of episode 150, go to the dailyratings.com. All right, Ben, we're going to keep things going and we're just going to go ahead and go into the new Crow right away. I think that's good keeping them back to the track. Since we're all on the same track, we're ready to go. It's a 30 year anniversary. And part of the reason why we're rehashing all this old IP is because things are getting gobbled up and then people have the IP or through transitions, you're going to lose it. So then a film has to get made. Yes, yes. Very astute. That's really how these, a lot of these comic book licenses play. The perfect example is Sony with Spider-Man that they just keep on having to make Spider-Man spin off movies to keep their license rights. That's kind of what we're dealing with here. It's like the 30th anniversary. I guess I didn't want to go do the IP when it's a four year anniversary. So we're doing the Crow once again in 2024. It's still rated R, it's just under two hours. And it has, I don't really know the director too much, but it does have Bill Skarsgard as the Crow. Yes, yes. Who's pretty fit. And I feel like, might be, I also was excited because I feel like he's a good fit for this character. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, that's been talking here. Just why don't I pass it off to you, Vin, and you can just get into the new Crow. Well, I really try to go in with an open mind on this one because clearly the original holds a spot in my heart, clearly. (laughs) I also think that it's an uphill battle that this has because any fan of the Crow will be kind of a diverse to changes in style that is so clearly defined and so of its time period specifically, you know? So like in the moment of that time. Sadly, the more news that came out about this, the worse it looked. Almost like Borderlands a few weeks ago and like I commented on in the beginning of the episode, semi-tone deaf and being attempted to be made at all. Like this one feels like it missed the boat on the hey days of 2000s goth trends. Like if Evanescence was distilled down into a movie. (laughs) And side note, I wrote that joke literally when I first saw the trailer and boy was I right. Like holy shit was I right. The internet then proceeded to tear Bill Skarsgar to shreds on first glance of his tattooed look in this. The glaring comparison to Suicide Squad Joker doesn't pay this film any favors with an already confusing why now demographic. The Crow 2024 is a moody romance action thriller that tries its best to separate itself from a comic book feel, but ultimately needing to pay off as one by the end. Eric's love interest Shelly is introduced on the run from a shadowy group that she has incriminating evidence on. The villain here is probably the most odd direction. Danny Houston plays an evil elite that conjures like blood magic to stay alive. I don't know if they're saying something in there, but a little odd. The whole story is much slower though, which gives room for the new focus on romance to breathe. We start from scratch with Eric and Shelly having a full on me cute in some sort of juvie correctional facility. Quick side note with that is like actually throughout the entire story, I was really confused on what age they were supposed to be. Both an actor, both in character. - Like you don't know if they're what? Like you thinking they're supposed to be 21 is 22-ish? - Yeah, sure, I think that's fine. But this juvie correctional facility would be like under 18. - Right, right. - So I'm really just not sure what they were going for with that. Regardless, they break out and proceed to fault madly in love only for their past to catch up with them. Reborn once again as the crow, Eric comes back to hunt down those that took his love away from him. But with some guidance from the afterlife, he might just be able to save Shelly one last time. Oh boy, what's there to say about this? (laughing) - This is the doozy, the doozy. - The film is extremely moody, sad, unfortunately not impactful enough to keep it out from being very, very boring. You know, I don't like slinging that term around. Boring is super subjective. Christ's sakes, I like 2001, a space odyssey. That's a pretty boring, boring movie, so. - Yeah, most people like that. - Yeah, well, I'm just saying like, you know, boring is not a good metric for reading movies. By this story layering the first half as like a romance origin, and then the second half as a revenge thriller, it comes out more generic than I could ever imagine. - The shame. - Yeah, it really is. I think the elevator pitch here is that it's the crow meets like an A24 film, but it doesn't commit enough to the artistic side of that, and stumbles when it has to shift gears into being about superpowers, 'cause it's a superhero movie. - Right, right. - It's a dark superhero movie. I wouldn't even call the crow an anti-hero because he wants to achieve good, even if he's doing so by killing, but that's what feels generic. Say what you want about the crow 1994, but we discover the mystery side by side with his new powers, and results as a pretty snappy movie. Each new revenge that he takes on in the original film is finding something new about his powers and unpacking the mystery. It's all happening at once. Here we're siloed two months. - It should be fast too. It should be fast paced as kind of movie. - Exactly, here we're siloed into, this is the romance section, and then halfway point we switch into a revenge thriller, and it feels like every other superhero origin story for that reason, with that heavy origin. I fully understand this is not trying to be a comic book movie, but the pacing feels totally off. It takes a long-ass time to get any sort of powers, and once again, by having such a heavy origin plot structure, this felt indistinct from countless superhero stories despite its best efforts not to be. Stylistically though, I had big issues with this. The writing, the romance, and most of all the edginess feels way too tame. All this boils down to feeling like this was trying so hard to be edgy and cool, but feeling distinctly like it comes from people that are clearly not edgy and cool. You know, a lot of one-liners in the romance, especially coming from Shelley, feel just so try-hard that it is the opposite of this genuine goth of the original that we talked about. And like I mentioned in the last review, hitting on this concept of, or this element of bulletproof style, I think the best example is OG Matrix where the style is storytelling. The style tells the story of a world, it's visual storytelling. The romance itself shows the best examples of this feeling lame as shit though. We are in swanky penthouses in Manhattan, lakeside picnics. You know, it doesn't exactly sell us on a scrappy world and a scrappy world that is going to chew our character in each part. - You wanna be in Gotham basically. - Yeah, exactly, or Detroit, you know, maybe even worse than Gotham. You know, yes, it may make for a cute romance scene, but if you ask me, this needed a chaotic dose of sit and Nancy. I mean, show 'em like shooting up or something. You know what I mean? I needed some edge here. And this was just like a cutesy romance with some people with some tattoos. I'll boil it down to this and, you know, I say this in that I am not. I am not punk, but to be punk, you must be punk. And this is just not. You know what I mean? - Yeah, this is tame punk. - I don't even know what he would call it. - This is just tame, this is wannabe, this is a poser. The soundtrack feels like it's dancing around license rights it doesn't have. Tom actually thought of you just in like the process of editing this movie, there is a suspicious amount of six second song bursts in the soundtrack that I just couldn't help but noticed. And it's also another missed opportunity around this moody music. This goes for a lot more hipster choices. Like I love all the choices themselves, Joy Division, Gary Newman, all very on point for the style and kind of the legacy of the crow. But I think once again, it comes off like a poser and regardless of this feeling, the music has such little impact on screen because it never is given a moment to breathe. I would have just loved for this to embrace modern moody music, maybe have the license rights to actually have it play more than six seconds and do something with it. Instead, it feels once again like a poser. - I think that might be a good word for this film. - Yeah, we should start bringing up that word up more actually, we'll see what that new film will be. Yeah, we'll see who about that Mufasa movie coming out. - Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. - I think the best angle this takes is how the crow's powers are done. Eric discovers his powers, or rather I should say, as Eric discovers his powers, they aren't portrayed as the power drunk madness it is in the original. And that loss of energy on screen isn't terrible. This is going for a much more serious, gritty, almost a Nolan Batman style that it's trying to reel it up a little bit. - Right, it doesn't want to be a comic book movie. - Yes, exactly. - Which probably it's losing, that that's what's taking its edge away. Because if you really want a good comic book movie, there's something-- - There has to be a suspension a little bit, there has to be some disbelief. - Yeah, I would say borderline campiness, in whichever way you want to be campy, but there needs to be something that has that tinge of comic book film. - Absolutely, absolutely. Here, it's not a terrible change losing what I love probably the most about the original crow, so I have to kind of separate that. But I think it's an interesting direction they go. The biggest change here is that the crow, he feels every wound, and almost comes off as a slight body horror as his healing is in an extremely painful way, like bone snapping into place, and having to shove guts back into his stomach. I think overall the film tries to be realistic and gritty, which can totally work with the story. I think the story has the capacity to become gritty and dark, because it is dark at least. I just wish there was a switch up in how much time we get with the powers, and him exploring those powers. It's just, once again, just shoved in so clearly at the halfway point, and comes out a lot more, like, impossibly generic because of this separation of like a hardcore origin, and then, okay, now it's superhero time. Once again, in not wanting to be a comic book movie, eventually when the comic book elements come, the film hasn't built a good foundation for that. And piggybacking off of our conversation from the Alien Prequels last week, I'm finding personally that I just don't like it when a story changes and the genre does not evolve with it. We're gonna go ahead and give the crow 2024 and get ready to whopping 33. - Ooh, 33%. - Yeah, the old Thor-loving thunder. - Wow. - Call 33 the old Thor-loving thunder. - I mean, it's such a shame. 33's a really bad movie. - Yeah. - In fact, this year we have not been too, too bad. - Yeah. - Especially with the theatrical releases, like it's not like an atlas or something like that, or Rebel Moon. - Sure, and to be fair, I've dodged a couple bullets, like Madam Webb and whatnot. - That could be in those loads. - But it's just the fact that this is coming from a kind of relatively cool IP and you could do something really cool with this. And this is right around there with like Venom. - Yes. - No, not Venom. - Well. - What is that? No Morbius, I was gonna say. - Yeah. - Gotta be a dark comic before we go on. - Oh, for sure, for sure. - Do you think this was hurt a couple points or a couple rating points for you? Because it was shot on film and maybe the coloring looks too, and that's another reason why it was also used polish. Like what if it was shot on film and naturally was a grittier looking film? - I think that could potentially be the case. I find Mor and Mor and we'll actually bring this up in our new release Strange Darling, which is shot on 35. - Yeah. - And puts it in front of you. It starts with like an opening line about it. I don't know. I find Mor and Mor, I'm not really attached at the hip to filming decisions like that. I certainly don't have a bone to pick with like digital, but the proof's in the pudding. This was a very muddy film. There are many moments that the water aesthetic of him like diving into the after life is like completely unreadable visibly. Like the visuals are extremely just like what's going on. - And I'm assuming it's on digital. I'm just looking at stills and some of the... - It looks muddy, it looks dark. - Yeah. Well, digital doesn't necessarily mean muddy. It's just the effects, the CG blended with the digital. - Sure. - And I'm sure they're trying to make things muddy to make things look better, really. And hide stuff. I'm almost welling, can almost guarantee this was shot on digital. - Yeah, yeah. - They're just looking at it. So, you're saying muddy, was it aesthetically dark? What were the colors being used in the film? Did it feel? 'Cause you want to feel horror-ish, dark. You want to feel gross, you know? - Sure. - Like that original one. - Well, I don't know if the original is gross, but I feel like this doesn't change that. - It feels dirty. - Yeah, sure. Like Detroit is a thing, you know? - Oh, Detroit is-- - Apologies to Detroit. We know you come back around. Really, really some shots fired here. - So shots, oh, I'm sorry. Now I have to defend Glen Powell, I have to defend Detroit. (laughing) I feel like I'm on tape. (laughing) But yeah, no, it's really, it's want to be in the worst way. - Yeah. - And I feel like as much as I wanted to root for Scarsgard, I also rooted for him in Boys Kill's World. - Yeah, that really wasn't like amazing, but you know, I kind of wanted to like it. Unfortunately, here dips a lot worse that it's shown right in that first gut reaction to his tattoos that it's try hard, it's want to be. - And that's 33% is what that is. For the new Crow, well, it's really, really did bad at the box office. - Yeah. - I think Twister's almost beat it. - Wow, really, that's deep in the weeks. Wow. All right, so let's keep things going now. Cheating Tannem is back in theaters. He was just in for that horrible movie that we covered. (laughing) - "Fly Me To The Moon." But he's back with Zoey Kravitz at the helm directing this project. - Yep. - This film is called "Blink Twice." And I think let's just set it up for it. - Sure. - And is this Zoey Kravitz first time as far as a feature? - Like very, very first time. - Okay. - Not even like a short under her belt. - Really? - Yeah. - All right, so why don't you get into the story a little bit, set it up for us, and then kind of just tell us how it went. Tell us how you liked it. - Yeah, yeah. Well, "Blink Twice" is a psychological thriller, not too far from something, like, get out. I feel like that is well-deserved praise for like 90% of the film. And then, unfortunately, it really just, it does not stick to landing. If anything kind of shits the bed. If I'm being honest, because I'll get into a second what my comparison becomes from a positive comparison to get out and what that means for a first-time horror director, the implications of pairing it side by side. But it really just becomes something else. Pretty much out of nowhere, this is the directorial debut for actress Zoey Kravitz. She is still set to star in three projects in 2025. So this must have been right after she wrapped the Batman and Kimmy in 2022. Both we reviewed if you want to check that out, folks. I like Kravitz, especially after seeing some interviews with her soon-to-be hubby Channing Tatum. - Oh, they're a thing. - Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, Fiancé's. - I wouldn't expect that one. - Yeah, yeah. I'll be honest, you know, I think it's a charming couple. I think their criteria on interview was super, super charming and kind of sold me on it. I have to say, the pull this film has from casting to pre-release hype, to getting Taylor Swift to plug it has a distinct nepo stench on it. And if I was incorrectly sing-slinging that at Glen Powell, you know, in the coming months, especially for a first-time director of anything, I have to kind of sling it here. This is like a crazy cast for a first-time, but hey, I guess it's about who you know, right? And it's, you know, it's not about what you know. Like I said, Blink twice, a psychological thriller, 90% of it, really good, strong, strong visually, strong in editing, in the mood, the atmosphere of it. But unfortunately, my comparison for that last 10%, oh, I hate to say it. It feels exactly like Saltburn from last year with an ending that is just wildly unearned and kind of ruins the entire experience going backwards. - Well, it's 10%, that last 10%. - Yeah, and I didn't go back and listen to my Saltburn review because I definitely still feel the same way about it. - Right, right. - But in the same way that the ending is so unearned, it almost is irrelevant what goes on in the story. It could be anything, the ending is prescribed, they want this like last scene, the scene visuals, the feel of the scene, and it's almost like it doesn't matter how we got there at all. And that is unfortunately how this feels. Channing Tatum plays Slater King, a billionaire playboy and social media master. We are introduced to him by a Logan Paul type fake apology, which I thought was kind of, I don't know, apropos for the times. And quickly we find out there are many personas he juggles. And the story works best when we are drawn into the interesting posse he travels around with, which we'll talk about casting in a second. Unraveling why he would have such an odd crew around him of different ages and not really like of his, like, you know, type, whether that be like handsomeness or charming or anything like that. That is the interesting layer that draws you into this. Our two outside perspectives are Frida, played by Naomi Akke and Jess, played by Alia Shakat. They sneak into one of his elite after parties and next thing you know, they find themselves whisked away to his new private island. Almost endless days are filled with drinking, smoking, tripping, and about everything you can think of, but slowly certain habits or rituals start to appear in the day to day. Time flies by when you're having fun, but maybe this remote island is a little bit too much fun. I would say the writing is an area where I'm a bit torn on if I like this or not. She was writing as well, the co-writing at least. - Yeah, absolutely. I think she takes the primary credit, you know, and again, it was something we always say, love writer directors, you know, wanted to give her a shot. She is alongside one other writer that she seemed to link up through that high fidelity TV spin-off that she started. Mainly I enjoyed some of the unexpected angles that this took, which added to the draw of the story, but I'm just not sure if they pay off, like at all. Like I said, we're introduced to "King" through an internet apology video, which felt like an interesting feeling around social media and being seen. There's also similar undertones to therapy and a type of kind of like therapeutic babble that is used to cover up certain clues in the story and also where we get this title from, which is a little bit of a spoiler in itself. To me, this felt like a mix of satire, but also embracing it, and I think the better example, and frankly, a great example of this is, of course, bodies, bodies, bodies. That film was able to walk such a fine line between satire and being genuine in its approach to Zoomer speak, and here there is a similar line that this dance is on, in that it's able to critique these elements like over therapy and social media, but also embrace it. But frustratingly, none of this pays off in the slightest. The ending moments of this film leave a lot on the table. When we finally get our answers to the mystery, some of this comes into play, but priority is on shock and shock first, and seriously doesn't even add up if you think about it more than two seconds. I mean, you put an ounce of thought into this walking out of the theater, and it's like, wait, what? This doesn't make sense at all, and not only that left so much on the table as far as these themes that are not really acted upon in any sort of-- - So this wouldn't, so you don't think that if you give this like a second watch, oh, I'm finding more. Oh, now I see this, it's just like-- - I think I'm gonna get angry. - It's just not there. - Yeah, I think we're getting more frustrated if I watch this because all these elements, all these threads, more red herrings than anything that meant to be miscorrect. - Right, gotcha, yeah, yeah. And this is what I mean comparing it to salt burn, where, again, it's almost irrelevant of what happens in the story. This ending is a desire to pull off a certain feeling, a certain style to the last moments, a certain shock. It's irrelevant of what the building blocks are leading up to that because the endings are gonna happen. The ending is gonna happen this way one way or another, so. On a positive visually, I think, this is really a strong showing for Zoey Kravitz. I thought this had great style to it. And like I said, a good 90% of the film, I don't know, I was about it. I was really about this. At first, I was ready to pigeonhole this, thinking it looked no different than kind of a growing wave of resort focus settings. I'm talking about like the glass onion type of book that's been coming about, a type of in-your-face opulence. I don't know, maybe we can come up with a turtle-- - I had this stuck in my head as well, that film for whatever reason. - But it's a whole thing going into an island. You had this rich billionaire. You've got all the characters. - Yeah, yeah. I think Triangle of Sadness hit on a similar thing. I think Infinity Pool, it's like a, I don't know, resort chic, I don't know. I don't know, we gotta come up with something like Cool Catholic for the beaming of it. But this really does have its own thing going on. I thought the editing in this was pretty awesome, especially on the focus of this drug haze blurring days together. As much as the movie is about fun partying on screen, the psychological thriller has to creep in at some point. And this unease is communicated wonderfully between changes in the editing. Whether that be stream of conscious breaking, days slipping by like we just pop into another setting and literally you're wondering, well what happened that night? I feel like in the editing it had a great visual language to selling this days or flying by and I have no idea what's happening because of drugs or whatever. Or just of the fun I'm having. I feel like there was an excellent match in that style. And I really, I hope for the next endeavor that Zoe Kravicks goes into directing, maybe just taking a backseat from writing and focusing on this visual storytelling that she really locked in for this. - Okay. - Like I said, there are some really interesting and odd casting decisions here. It's not like this is pulling from A-list actors or anything, but there's just a lot of recognizable faces. I liked both our main actresses. The best friend is from Arrested Development and is like always just super naturally funny. Just like effortlessly funny. Channing is, - Hey, you know, he's Channing. - I watched a little slice of Logan Lucky. The Lucky Logan or whatever over the weekend. And it's just like, I don't know. I thought he was such a good actor when I saw this. I was like, he's got chops. Then we watched "Fly Me to the Moon" and there's something else. And it's like, maybe he's just chading tandem. - Yeah. - It's every film. - And that's what I think is here. I was excited to see him almost given a, I don't know, like a James McAvoy type of opportunity to be really unhinged. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Really like, you know, in a good thriller way. But he's just his usual like soft B-boy type of like, yeah, you having a good time, baby? Like, yeah, it's just like, all right. I'm just watching "Magic Mike Again." "Magic Mike Now" has a private island. This is "Magic Mike 5" or whatever. But seriously, folks, what the hell are these casting decisions? Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Haley Joel Osmond, you know, all super, super out of left field. And if anything-- - I dig it, by the way. - You like it? - I mean, it's just like, go ahead, throw him in. You know who else is in here. - You're right. - Luke Hawk, who, wait, who's "Leave on Hawk?" - "Leave on Hawk" is our boy, Ethan Hawk son. - Oh, I didn't even make that connection. - Up a gutter. (laughs) - That poor baby. (laughs) - But at this point, it's like, throw them all in there. - It really is. It's the kitchen sink. I think legitimately in the story, like they could definitely fit in a little bit more with Channing's aesthetic. - Yeah. - I feel like even when we get our twist, it's kind of like, and why was he hanging in with you? (laughs) - Christian Slater, like for a film like this, and if I hear Christian Slater's in it, I'm just like, does he play the weird gardener that's always trimming the hedges, you're kind of in the background? That's kind of how I see him being utilized. - Interesting. Yeah. (laughs) - Yeah, I just feel like there legitimately could have been something like, I'm not trying to cut these guys, you know, short or anything like that, but they could have been something that even matches the handsomeness of Channing Tatum, you know, like wires, you know, when you think about like a posse, a rich posse, a crew, I don't know. I feel like everyone kind of makes the cut in a different way that these people don't want. - Gina Davis and Kyle McLachan as well. (laughs) - That's right. - What the hell are they doing here? Microscopic, Tom. - Gina Davis. - Microscopic roles. - Which more importantly, they don't even have time on screen to do anything, even if they're work characters. - They were probably, they're probably very close friends for some reason of the father of Mr. Kravitz. - Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's unreal. Gina Davis especially, I mean, you know, I had flashbacks to the longest good night and you know, when we did the Christmas action movie special, but (laughs) - Her character is literally just dropping gift bags. That's it. - She's not even given room to try to act. It's unreal, unreal. - It all doesn't make much of a difference though, folks, because this wants its twist ending and it's gonna get its twist ending. This is where everything starts going downhill, honestly. I didn't hate the twist. Whether it be themes left on the table or performances, just kind of getting weaker as the film goes on. It just does not stick the landing at all. And I feel like at a certain point, claws back at making me saying, wow, I don't know if it was worth it at all for where this wants to go. Worst of all, the closing moments focusing on the feeling of a scene, the style of a scene without doing an ounce of a work to earn it as the ending is where I come from with this feeling of, I feel like this was 90%, like really strong in a way. And then just 10%, just not it and kind of ruining the whole thing. With that said, we're gonna go ahead and give Blink twice a 58. - Well, okay, 58%, it kind of makes sense total sense to me. I just just, you know, this wasn't on my radar at all. And I just started seeing the trailers pop up. - Yep. - You know, in the past few weeks. - I'm surprised it's on your radar. There's a huge press campaign about this. - Yeah, I guess it's just not in that circle. I'm just in, you know, the Ethan Hawkes circle. I don't know, I just, you know, I get with some of it here or there, but I mean, it does make sense, especially if T Swift is going on it. This is meant for teenagers, this film. That's what this is meant for, I think. - Is it rated R? - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's rated R, yeah. - You know, it's so true. This is like a date night thriller. - It's kind of summer, kids who can still go to it. - Yeah, yeah. - By the way, Hotel Resort thing too, wait, Lotus. - Oh, it's so true. We really need to come up with a term for that. - Yeah, we will, we will. - 'Cause I don't think that's going away anytime soon. - Maybe it's the Sandler effect because that was Adam Sandler's-- - I'm just going to vacation. - Yeah, yeah. - With some of my comedian friends. (laughing) So basically, I mean, Blink twice, I think that's just who it's for. I think it's for teens and people who are in their young 20s. Sure, you know, and just go have a good-- - And maybe more accepting of that, you know, stylish ending. - Oh, watch the twist. Can you, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah, like the jaw drop. - Yeah, if you can kind of turn your brain off and just be like, whoa, that kind of shit. - Yeah, I think so. But okay, all right, you know, and 58%, it's treading water there. It's doing something there with that. - I think so. In that regard, and if anything, comparing it to Salt Burn, which I really hated, it's an equal score to that. I believe I gave Salt Burn a 58. - Oh, that's funny. - In that there, it's a conflicted score because there are moments leading up that I thought were visually fun, stylish, and new and fresh. And I feel like similarly here, when it comes to the psychological elements of the thriller, that editing was really dialed in. There were some inspired choices there. Even as confusing as it could be, I really did enjoy how that unease was communicated to us by literally being kind of uneasy about, wait, what did I miss? Did I miss something, you know? And that's really the story. - I mean, that's impressive that it was able to do something that raised your eyebrow, at least, I guess. Salt Burn got a 59%, by the way. - 59. - Yeah, so it tick above. It tick above. - All right, all right. - Oh my god, the chop's up and down low. - Also, Twisters did beat the crow. I just wanna make that clear. I just wanna set the record straight on that one, so go Twisters. - Go Twisters. - Even though we didn't like the film. Okay, let's finish up here. Like I said, this next film came out in 2023, technically at Fantastic Fest. It took quite a long time for it to actually hit theaters. And like I said, it does have a bit of a, it has a wide release. It has like 1,200 films, or 1,100 theaters. That's a decent amount, if you're interested in this film, to still go and catch it. - Yes. - Then said it's catching a lot of buzz. So it's called Strange Darling. Low Budget Indeed's Hyped Film. What is this film, and why are you so hot on it? - Well, I'm definitely really hot on it. I just don't know how much I wanna give, like at all, for spoiler reasons. - Good, that's good, good for you. - It's one of those movies where not only will you benefit as going into this as blind as possible, but it really is the way to experience this for what the movie is actually about. - Okay. - Which is kind of expectations, audience expectations. Let me start out hot on this, because not only was Strange Darling one of the best films I've seen this year, it's probably going to get overlooked by the vast amount of audiences, whether they wanna see it or not. This was an indie movie I wrote down like I opened up the episode with the moment I saw the trailer, but it only had a coming soon tied to it. So, frankly, I almost missed it myself because of this kind of soft release schedule. And I understand why that's being done, but I feel like this one kind of got shot in the foot for not having a little bit more of a concrete schedule to it. - I'm sure it was a Lucy Guzy. I mean, we have some not crazy packed weeks coming in, and I think there's another fantastic fest around. I just think like this needed to get out, or something finally was able to get picked up by Miramax. - Sure, sure. - We're going through a bit of a week, week, week. With this week and next week being the only big one is Reagan, which probably is gonna do all that great. - Yep, yep. - Who knows, but it took a while to hit theaters. - Yeah, absolutely. - And like, I mean, I saw a few movies, especially this summer. Didn't see a single trailer for this thing. - Yeah, yeah. And it's a shame because I feel like the trailer is actually a pretty good hook without giving away too much about this. - Oh, that's good, that's good. - Folks, full honestly, if you find my summary a little bit lacking here and you're interested in the movie, which you should be, check out the trailer. I think this was absolutely worth it. By the first looks of that trailer, the story felt like a very Tarantino-like project, or maybe something close to a cult hit like Run Lola Run. From this brief glance at the film, you can sense the style it has to it right away from the use of color and hyper-violent action, all exactly up my alley for what I want. But Tom, let me tell you, we have had a lot of great movies this year, and regardless of this being more of an indie production or not, this deserves to be side by side with them. This was a tight movie, this was a focused movie, and this was almost like flawless in its execution of what it's going for. This was an excellent, excellent watch. - Is this high praise here for you? - Yeah, yeah. The struggle I have with reviewing this film is just that I really don't want to say too much at all. - That's okay, that's all right. - Even if I was to go into spoilers, I feel like the experience itself is what makes it so great. So, let that kind of stand on its own, that I feel like in any case that you are spoiled on this, it is not a reason to stay away, and I'll come back for the very end of this review for where I feel like this hits a sweet spot. This is written and directed by J.T. Moeller, only the third film into his career, so very much a new voice. Like I said, it is a super tight hour and 37 minutes and does not waste your time in the slightest. Every moment in this film is fine-tuned to telling its story and communicating this experience that the audience, as you're watching this, kind of has a role to play, believe it or not. Most importantly, it was such a surprising experience for what unfolds in the story, you really need to check it out for yourself. I'm gonna have to dance around spoilers quite a bit here, but at the same time, this gets a blanket recommendation to go check it out, and I would say even for the same, you know, for you, Tom, this is one to absolutely have for like a before the end of the year type of list. This is definitely up there. Strange Arling is self-described as a thriller in six chapters, but I would also add dark comedy to the mix. Oftentimes, when we see hyper-violence on screen in a very Tarantino way, it's usually followed up with a twisted comedic break to kind of break up the tension a little bit. But from the get-go, this chapter setup is intentionally told out of order, much like a pulp fiction or something like that. Folks, by far, this broken up story structure is the coolest part of this and plays heavily on our own expectations in a super creative way. Overall, we are following a guy and a girl hooking up after a night of drinking, but both are extremely hard to read in terms of their interest in spending the night together. Both of them start to reveal their sexual taboos and what they look to get out of the night when things twist wildly out of control that earns this being called a thriller. And I really mean that a thriller in a way that I have not seen in a film in a very long time, like this is an excellent thriller. - Okay. - And for that reason of like what we expect to get from a thriller and how things play out. - So not, and you would not put this in like horror film. - No. - This is straight, just- - Bloody. - Chasing. - Yeah. - Yeah, yeah. - But not necessarily like scary. I mean, scary in a way that a thriller is and that it achieves a realistic theater. - Yeah. - As if you see type of game. - You know, a type of fear that you can put yourself in the shoes of the characters and experience it. - Right, right. - You know, a true crime angle as well. Yeah, just truly, truly something else. Something that I picked up in the film's presentation is that out of the six chapters, odd chapters seems to be from his perspective and even chapters seem to be from hers. But once again, this is all given to us out of order intentionally. We started chapter three and only jump around further from there. But I cannot understate how intentional this is for the story toying with us and toying with our own expectations of what plays in the screen. Each one of those chapter switches kind of is a flip of the whole script and recontextualizes everything you just saw and everything you're going to about to see in the unfolding story. For a week that I saw a lot of relationship acting from, you know, b-boy Channing Tatum and moody, tumbler fan fictions of the crow. This is by far the best and goes to show you do not need much when performances are lasered in. Will if it's Gerald and Kyle Galner are two leads and despite being relative, no names, they absolutely killed it here. - Really? - Yeah, they kind of are no names. - Yeah. - I would say she has a bigger name than him, I would say. - Yeah, she was in a House of Usher show. I know that's connected to a good horror director. I forget his name right now, but yeah, really, really no names. I think as well, kind of where I feel like this is going to get brushed on the rug because people are going to see it and be like, "Oh, it's just an indie movie. I'll catch it on streaming." - For sure. - This is one to see. - Wow, wow. - One to definitely see. On top of feeling like their characters are given so much room to shift around and toy with the audience, there is a hot and cold game that is played out between them for the entire runtime. This is taken to extremes over the course of the film. No, I mean, like beyond extremes. This hot and that's maybe probably the best summary I can give that it is this hot and cold game taken to the furthest it could possibly go in what they are trying to read into each other, what the audience are trying to read into these performances. - I think on the side I wrote in the description, Cat and Mouse. - Yeah. I think that's great. - Yeah. - While it may hurt believability if it was presented in order, by telling this story broken up, each chapter gives us a hook to puzzle together how the hell this situation became this much of a claustrophic. Like this much of like, whoa, what is happening? Like is wild, truly wildly out of control. Stylistically, this film continues to knock it out of the park. There is a love of red throughout the film that is very deliberate in how it's used. Unlike the trend and we've seen in 2024 for every horror poster just being covered in red, I posted something on our insta. - Oh, that was very good. Yeah, that was fun. - Yeah, I mean, like, I love it. Yeah, I think these are all like great, really great posters that are just covered in red, but definitely a trend in 2024 specifically. Unlike that, those only specific pieces of clothing or lighting will spotlight red to our two characters, almost as a way to signify on who we should empathize with or who we should fear. And every ounce of the film is like that, used in some sort of purposeful way, always conscious of how we as the viewer are perceiving it and what that does to our perception of these characters. The music is another amazing example of this. In many intense chase scenes, the sting in the soundtrack will be, basically what I think is a guy just rubbing an electric guitar on an amp like this. It's very grindy, it's very loud. It's very cool, I enjoyed it a lot. But once again, used purposefully, as more pieces in the story fall into place, we find that same music sting switched up and paired with moments that look innocuous on the surface, clearly have a sinister twist to it. Yeah, overall, I think a good comparison here, maybe just to bookmark it a little bit, the intensity of this film, especially around the violence, reminded me a lot of the director, Jeremy Solnir, I think that's how Solnir, who directed films like "Green Room" in 2015, and most recently, yeah, "Blue Ruin," "Hold the Dark" for Netflix, it's that type of intensity, and it's that type of hyper-violence. That guy gets real. Yeah. If you're comparing it to that guy, I mean, who I really like, I would almost see like, I always want to give that guy a bigger budget, because what he can conjure with low budget and the darkness and the feelings he makes you feel through the screen, that's high praise if you're including him in this club. Absolutely, and maybe a double-edged sword in the sense that those are very like yucky movies, like you watch "Green Room." It doesn't make you feel good. It kind of feels gross. And have you seen "Blue Ruin?" "Blue Ruin," another one, where it's just like, does not make you feel good at all. Yeah, yeah, kind of a de-empowerment story. So maybe take that in mind with both directions. If you know you don't really care for those type of films, that might be something to stay away from this one on. Now, that director is very quiet as far as it comes to music, and as far as just like, man, just like a slow, makes you just bleed out slowly watching a film, or watching a scene. Is this guy in with this music, what you're saying is, is it electric? Are you more so like ramped up? A certain thing's in the score, I think it was used like that. The music is actually purposeful in a way that there's a repeat song that's played over that more and more kind of gives context to what's unfolding. So violence on screen, though, is sudden, is what I'm trying to get across. It's sudden, it's intense, and it really earns being called hyper-violence, for that reason. But once again, none of it is for just style alone. All of it serves a purpose in telling a story of two individuals tangled in the expectations of each other, and then a layer on top of that of our expectations of what these characters are. This is gonna be high praise, folks. You know, circling back to this from the beginning of the review, this film strikes a very, very specific Goldilocks zone, specifically the same Goldilocks zone that the Sixth Sense has, where the movie can be enjoyed equally if you know the twist or don't. And I feel like definitely enriches a second watch for that reason. If anything, I absolutely think this deserves a second watch soon after, just so you can pick up all the little clues to what unfolds and maybe have a little bit of a respect of how the story should be playing out normally in this Sixth Chapter kind of jumping around feature. And while I could not see this twice this week, a watch later in the year may bump it up even higher. Folks, this is simply that good and worth the watch wherever and whenever you can. We're gonna go ahead and give Strange Darling an 83. - Woo, 83%. That is a hot, hot score. Folks, I mean, if you, I don't know if you're new to the daily ratings at all, 83 is a huge score. 83 is, I mean, 65, good movie, 75, great movie. 85 is a much, must watch film for any audience. - And a lot of guards, 80 itself is, you know, make time to see this, make time to check this out. - Wow, 83% and I'll tell you what, one of the producers, or a couple of producers on this film, also produced Late Night with the Devil, which gave a 74 and Barbarian, which gave 71. - Wow, interesting. - Which horror when you're in the 70s, that's good. - Yeah. - You get a lot of schlock out there. - Absolutely, absolutely. - So 83% to keep an eye out on this director, I think, now you made a comment before saying that he's done three movies. He's only done two and then a bunch of shorts. - Yes. - So the only other film he's done is a western called Outlaws and Angels. - Oh, really? - I think we should definitely check it out at this point. - Yeah, yeah, absolutely. - Did a western set in the 1880s or something like that? - Wow, wow. - Wow, this is one of the hottest new films of this year. - This was such a surprise. - By rating alone. - Yeah, if anything, I really wanted to see it twice, just to, a little bit of test of what I'm praising here of like the Sixth Sense quality to it with a twist. - Uh-huh. - But also, like, I wanted to watch this again. Like, I really just wanted to see it again. And it's so tight and it's so focused and it's so snappy and there's no fat on it and it's just like, man, this is like a dream come true, honestly. You know, this is a reason to check out indie productions. This is a reason to check out the Diamond and the Rough. - Yeah, well, you'll seek the Diamond and the Rough. - Four million dollar budget. - Right, nothing, nothing. - Which is so good to hear, that's like, you know, it's, I don't know, I love hearing that because you don't need all the tech, you don't need everything, you just need to have a vision, have a very clear vision, know how to generally use your cameras and lenses, and they don't even have to be all that expensive and you can make gold. - Yeah, absolutely. - And we're finding some really good kind of lower budget films, which I absolutely love. - Absolutely, absolutely. - 83% is a huge score, and I love that you decided to go see this in the film. What circles is this in right now? Like who, you know what I mean? Is this your gamer friends? Is this your horror people? - No, no, no. - What circle? - This was definitely getting praise on its own. - Okay. - And, you know, huge praise because of it being so low budget and so, like, out of nowhere in the blue. - Right, right. - I feel like, if anything, a cinephile circle, like a, you know, really moving on circle, is they're the type that are searching for these type of diamonds in the Rough, whether it be, you know, like an article that they can make and be like, "Oh, you gotta check out this movie," or something like that. I feel like that's the game in that space of trying to find the deepest cut possible so you can be the first to talk about it. - Interesting. - I feel like this movie hits on that, but don't let that niche type of approach turn you off from this, folks. - It's just flat out a good movie. - It is an excellent thriller. This is, again, more deserving of being called a thriller than so much that I've seen, so much that has come out, even in just the course of doing the podcast. - That excites me because getting a thriller, thriller, you know what I mean? That doesn't dip in too much into horror, right? I dig that and it would be, I mean, it sounds like I do. I mean, I gotta watch this. I'm doing my homework on this one. (laughing) Just for the end of the-- - You're not even gonna get me. - Well, you know what I mean. (laughing) Well, and like I said, it's around 1,200 film theaters, so it should be, you know, you should be able to find it no matter where you're at in the country. There should be a theater near you that's at least holding this. Not all of them, for sure, but, and depending on how it continues to do, it's not making the most money, but it could pop up in more as well. - It's getting a lot of hype across the board, or at least a critical praise, I should say. So maybe that, you know, in this next week, that's kind of an open slot, maybe it survives. - Oh, I think it will. I think it will survive. I think the only question is, does it add, you know what I mean, or do we keep it at this? So you do have another week to see it. I would bet a lot of money on that. - Yeah, but worth a check out, add it to your coming to streaming soon, type of lists, folks, and keep an eye out for us. - And for us names to keep in mind. So J.T. Moelner, who's directed it and wrote it, so we have to keep an eye on him, and then you, the actors that you quite liked. Willa Fitzgerald playing female, and then Kyle Galner. - Yeah, I mean, I, you know, Willa Fitzgerald specifically, I mean, I don't want to talk about the specifics, but, wow, I mean, just both of them. They killed it. They killed it in a classic example of, put two actors in a room, and really make sure that they're laser focused, and they're gonna knock it out of the park, you know? I don't feel like you put more A-list actors in this, and they could do any better of a job. The job was done as well as it could here. - Excellent, excellent. Well, I'm glad you, it was a cap off the week with this. That's huge. - Yeah, yeah. - I mean, looking at any of these, anything to touch on, anything to end on, anything for next week? Roll credits? - No, no, well, I mean, well, next week, like we said, folks, there's not really great releases. There was the Reagan picture that we were gonna maybe do a president episode for. There was also-- - Which is a great idea. That's still gold. - Oh, yeah. - That's still gold. - Still gold, absolutely. - And there's some that I want to see just on this site, but-- - Yeah. There was also potentially another baseball week in the work, which once again, will happen eventually. There's also, I mean, the biggest release, I know you said there's really not much, besides Reagan, but Afraid, the new Blumhouse one, where it's like Alexa turns evil. I mean, really, if you want to talk about the pinnacle, the very tippy-tippy top of Schlock, that movie-- - Yeah, that schlock, that schlock, that schaid, poof, boy. - Just acting on the fears of the masses in America. Yeah, that Afraid movie really is the worst, but instead of all three of those, we're going with a fourth, Afraid. And we're gonna do a special. Tom and I were reflecting, and we haven't done a special since, like, March. We have had a lot of time to brew on special ideas, and we're gonna be introducing, kind of, hopefully, what will be a new special series called "Directors First," and we'll talk about it plenty, you know, in next week's episode, so make sure to tune in. - Yeah, and I can't wait. I think it's a great special idea. I mean, it says it right in the title, "Directors First." We're gonna go through some famous directors that everybody knows, and let's check out their first feature film. So we got a pile of them next week. That'll be kind of part one. And it's gonna be a blast, so come on by, 'cause it's gonna be good. It's gonna be really good diving into those. So look forward to that for next week. As far as this week goes, Vin, thank you so much for watching these, thanks for stopping by. Folks at home, we're gonna run it down one more time. We have 1994's "The Crow" with a 66%. 2024's "The Crow" with a 33. Blink twice with a 58 and strange darling with a big old 83%. So do not sleep on it, folks. All right, folks, thank you so much for listening, and we will see you next week for that special on "The Daily Ratings" podcast. (upbeat music) And hey, if you enjoyed the podcast, if you would, give us a good rating or get the word out and tell a friend about us. And just a reminder that "The Daily Ratings" is completely producer supported. We wanna stay away from advertising, and we don't wanna have any paywalls or tier structures or subscriptions, it's all just value for value. So are you finding value in any of the things that we're doing here at "The Daily Ratings?" Then become a producer and donate whatever amount of value that is. Just go to the donations tab on thedailybraiding.com, and while you're there, be sure to check out the massive amount of films that Vince has rated. So thanks so much, everybody. We'll see you next time on "The Daily Ratings" podcast. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
