The Foxy Film Fan

Amy Adams in Arrival (2016) Denis Velleneuve has proven himself to be a competent and phenomenal director with films like Prisoners , Sicario , and Enemy  under his belt, and one can't help but feel as if they were all building up toward Arrival . Velleneuve is one of my favorite directors and you can expect reviews on his other work in the near future, especially after Arrival  left me longing to revisit his older films. That being said, his past filmography pales in comparison to the depth and power behind his newest release. On the surface, Arrival is little more than another story about humanity making first contact with aliens, but it is so much more. Arrival  examines, with a realistic scope and worldwide perspective, exactly how humanity would truly respond to contact being made with other life forms. It also displays in a far more accurate and realistic way, the fumbling awkward conversations which would take place as they attempt communication (bear in mind...

Creep (2014) Being the horror fan that I am, it wasn't long before I noticed constant recommendations on various film blogs and horror sites for a horror film called Creep. I was told that it was frightening, shocking, and in some cases even disturbing (which is a word I don't take lightly when applied to movies, if someone calls a film disturbing I expect to walk away disturbed and unable to sleep that night). Unfortunately, none of those words apply. Perhaps, somewhat interesting, or sort of unnerving in two scenes, might work better. Creep  is a found footage film (because horror doesn't have enough of those) in which a videographer named Aaron meets Josef, a man who posted a Craigslist ad explaining that he wanted someone to film him for a day so he might leave something for his unborn son, who will most likely never get to meet his father because of the brain tumor which is killing him. Then, Josef does creep y things throughout the course of the film, and jum...

MacLeod Andrews in They Look Like People (2015) Presented with crisp and vibrant colors, They Look Like People  is, first and foremost, a breathtakingly beautiful film. The clever and unconventional camera angles present a clear and recognizable style which could only be related to this film. The movie also is a strong example of telling a story through images and specific visual cues. Things are shown rather than told. There is little to no expositional dialogue, and instead the audience is left to use their intelligence and pay close attention to certain objects, notes, or lingering shots in order to understand the plot and history of our characters. It is rare, particularly in the drama genre, for films to manage to do this so expertly, particularly when that film is an independent release done on an extremely low budget. The plot is simple. Wyatt, a troubled young man, goes to live with a best friend who he hasn't seen in years, Christian. From there, the story builds, s...

Much like horror, comedy is a particularly difficult genre to effectively present and simultaneously make memorable. Just like fear, what makes a person laugh is entirely subjective, and may make another person roll their eyes in annoyance. Bearing this in mind, here is a list of my ten favorite comedies. While they may not be your favorite comedies, I hope it helps you see them in a new light. 10. Young Frankenstein Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein (1974) Before the likes of Epic Movie , Date Movie , Superhero Movie , and Disaster Movie  single-handedly destroyed the once successful parody genre, Mel Brooks was the reigning king of parody. Responsible for classics such as Blazing Saddles , Spaceballs , and  Robin Hood: Men in Tights , Mel Brooks made the parody genre into something witty. My personal favorite of his is Young Frankenstein , shot purposefully in black and white, with Gene Wilder in one of his best roles as the unhappy g...

Barbara Crampton in Ted Geoghegan's We Are Still Here  (2015) Ted Geoghegan's newest film, We Are Still Here  is easily comparable to a rollercoaster, while simultaneously serving as a heartfelt love letter to a wide variety of horror movies from the sixties and seventies (albeit, not as tongue-in-cheek or blatantly obvious as Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon's fantastic Cabin in the Woods , but a love letter nonetheless). At first, it's tedious. The film opens with slow lingering shots of snowfall and trees. Throughout the film there is an abundance of random cuts to shots of trees, and even though they're not enough to even compare to the  The Revenant , it does become a bit redundant. The premise of the film is simple, two grieving parents move to an isolated home in rural New England to try and find closure after the death of their son. Of course, because this is a horror film the home they move into may not be the wisest real estate investment for miserable An...

Shrek (2001) Back in 2001, Shrek was an absolutely groundbreaking animated movie, with equally groundbreaking animation, stars like Mike Meyers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy portraying its three lead characters while in the prime of their careers, an extremely popular and catchy soundtrack, and a completely original concept. At the time, it was unlike any other animated movie, and seemed knowingly compete with the reigning champions of animated film at the time - Pixar. Despite telling a story in a fairy tale setting it was filled with modern pop culture references, adult humor, and subtle jabs at Disney scattered throughout (which is hardly surprising considering producer Jeffrey Katzenberg left his job at Walt Disney Studios on bad terms). Shrek was original, hilarious, charming, and completely unique. Then the Shrek effect took hold. After the release of Shrek and its clever usage of modern music and referential humor in a fairytale animated world was shared with the...

Mia Farrow in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby Oftentimes I find that the horror genre is greatly misunderstood by those who know little about it outside of its gorier and less meaningful films (of which there are many, unfortunately). So often is the genre deemed disgusting and trashy, dismissed as snuff or even referred to with such vulgar phrases as torture porn , a phrase which is offensive in the fact that it connotes a sort of sick and sadistic pleasure the viewer must receive from watching a film such as Saw . Horror is a genre which I hold near and dear to my heart in all its forms, and it is because of this fact that I humbly offer a defense of the genre. Horror is a poignant and moving medium of film in the way that it communicates one of humanity's most primal emotions: fear. Not only that, but many horror films are layered in the way that they demonstrate the true deepest fears of the audience as being something tangible, typically a monster or enemy of so...