The Foxy Film Fan

The Blair Witch Project (1999) Popularized by the film The Blair Witch Project  in 1999, the found footage genre is a sub-genre under the umbrella that is horror which is characterized by the fact that the film is meant to be regarded as though it is a documentation of true events, rather than a piece of art which can exist in its own universe. This small detail alone makes it clear that these found footage films are intended to survive based entirely on the novelty of this rather simple idea. Allow me to present my (not so) humble opinion: found footage films are horrible. For the most part, found footage is used as a lazy form of story telling. It allows a filmmaker to pay no attention to lighting, cinematography, or even sound design. Instead, for the most part, everything is excused based on the fact that the camera is being carried around by someone who probably isn't used to carrying one, leaving the footage so shaky it's sometimes hard to watch. This of course, ...

Moana (2016) With the usual string of terrible family films like Norm of the North , Trolls , another installment of the Ice Age franchise, and plenty of other quickly forgotten animated features, it's always a breath of fresh air when Disney released something new. Moana  is no exception. With fun and catchy musical numbers, an admirable protagonist, and even a few jokes at Disney's own expense ("If you wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, you are a princess."), it's difficult to not enjoy this charming family film. Admittedly, there are instances in the plot which reveal that this is not Disney at its most imaginative. Some elements in the story seem redundant and reminiscent of jokes and scenes from other Disney movies, but the film really makes up for these elements with its two charming protagonists, a sincerely comedic character, and its absolutely stunning animation. Even if you are not particularly interested in family films, if you have a pa...

Nocturnal Animals (2016) Despite Nocturnal Animals  only being fashion designer Tom Ford's second film, it shows a deep understanding of film language and depth that few experienced directors grasp. With great caution and a significant use of color, Ford builds a universe entirely unique to this film, layered and deep while still managing to avoid confusing the audience. The depth of the film is assisted by the simplicity of its plot. Susan Morrow (Amy Adams) leads a life of luxury and excess, surrounding herself in art, fine food, and beautiful clothes, all in an effort to avoid the guilt and deep depression which gnaws at her from within. Suddenly, without warning, she receives a novel from her ex husband in the mail, and it's devoted to her. From that point on, the film smoothly transitions from her former husband's book to the empty sadness in Susan's life. As the film unravels the novel of Susan's ex husband it is also unraveling the reasons why her ma...

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) I, like many other twenty-somethings who were raised on a steady diet of Harry Potter books and films, was absolutely ecstatic when the a new movie taking place within the Harry Potter universe was announced. Unfortunately, high hopes often lead to great disappointment, and while Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  is certainly a solid film, it failed to live up to the high expectations set by the Harry Potter franchise preceding it. Fantastic Beasts  opens with a promising premise, involving a mysterious and lovable new protagonist who's left racing through New York City to gather the magical creatures he accidentally set loose, but quickly falls apart when it struggles to offer anything else. Characters are rarely developed beyond the archetypical roles they must fulfill in order for the plot to move forward, and plot beats are hit like dominos aligned in a straight line. The film simply offers little to no unexpec...

Tony Hinchcliffe: One Shot (2016) Tony Hinchcliffe's new Netflix comedy special is simultaneously a strange sort of experimental art piece which examines the strange artificial nature of other comedy specials. Rather than being shot from an audience perspective with occasional close zooms and frequent cuts to other shots, it is filmed in one long take. However, unlike a video from a comedy club on YouTube, the camera is just as much a part of the show as Hinchcliffe himself. It breathes and acts as a living person, moving fluidly around him at a close and personal perspective, giving you the odd sensation that you're on stage with him, circling him and watching him closely as he performs his show. One can't help but wonder how the audience felt, watching the camera man on stage with Hinchcliffe, circling him at such a close proximity and occasionally stopping directly in front of him. The comedy club which One Shot  was filmed in already appeared to be rather dark...

Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) Parents often strive to protect their kids from frightening things. The MPAA works hard to create accurate ratings in order to help parents determine if a film is too intense for their child to handle, and many parents strive to follow this guidance as closely as possible, only to be shocked when they find these children's films filled with horrifying scenes which they worry might frighten their precious darlings. However, these scenes are nothing to be concerned about, after all, there's a reason that they're included in family films and it isn't due to the writers being cruel and callous bullies who love the idea of frightening strange children whom they have never met before. These scenes are included because children like them. Dating as far back as to The Wizard of Oz , family films have been frightening kids. Many people even grow to recall that movie as one of the scariest they have seen simply because of the massive imp...

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) Movies centering around Halloween and Christmas are commonplace; movies centered around Thanksgiving, on the other hand, are a rarity. Planes, Trains and Automobiles  is a comedy by beloved director John Hughes who's always had a penchant for delicately combining sincerely sentimental with outrageously funny, and this film is no exception. Steve Martin plays the role of the uptight office worker who's just trying to make it home on time for Thanksgiving, and John Candy is the unlikely friend who joins him along for the ride. John Candy masters the role of the obnoxious sweetheart, who's blissfully unaware of just how painfully annoying he can be, while Steve Martin is the perfect opposing irritable travel companion. Their chemistry is undeniable, and the comedic timing in this film is hysterical. Planes, Trains and Automobiles  also succeeds in a way which many comedies fall flat. It is genuine in its emotional scenes, albeit a...

As you probably know, the holiday season means family is coming to visit, and oftentimes family means small children. It can be very difficult to find films which will appeal to everyone in the room, with movies such as Ice Age: The Meltdown  being unbearable for adults, but a great deal of films being too boring or too intense for children to follow. This list is intended to help you during this holiday season, it will provide you with five family films which are appealing to children and adults alike, and which will hopefully help change your perspective on family films. Many family films are terrible, but there are exceptions to the rule. For the sake of my own sanity, I will not be including any animated movies in this list, because then that would be all that this list consisted of. 1. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) Gene Wilder's incredible portrayal of the titular Willy Wonka is so believable that one can'...

The Handmaiden (2016) As you may already know, Park Chan-wook has been a long-time favorite director of mine, and when I heard he was directing a new film called The Handmaiden  I had high hopes for what I was about to see. So, a friend and I attended a screening in an art gallery, and found ourselves surrounded by elderly people while watching some of the most explicit and graphic sexual scenes either of us had ever seen in a movie. Bearing that in mind, I highly recommend that you watch this one at home, or in the company of people who are very comfortable with extremely graphic scenes of that nature, otherwise you'll find it hard to enjoy this beautiful and sweeping film. The Handmaiden  is based on a novel titled Fingersmith , with the setting shifted from the Victorian era to Korea under Japanese rule - the setting alone is captivating and provides added depth to an already intriguing plot. Its plot, without giving too much away, tells the story of a pickpocket n...

The Edge of Seventeen (2016) For years, audiences have suffered through the dreaded coming of age story, in which we watch some angsty blank slate of a teenage boy or a preppy bubbly girl (whose only flaw is her clumsiness and uncanny knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time) struggle through an awkward crush before finally getting a date with the object of their affection. While each movie set in high school tries to offer something new and edgy, they rarely ever follow through and join the sea of low-budget films about awkward kids (who aren't really that awkward, and are usually good looking enough to be the popular kid in school) trying to find their place in a high school full of twenty year olds. Then The Edge of Seventeen  came along. The Edge of Seventeen offers a simple plot, which would have been easy to ruin were it placed in the hands of a less competent director. Nadine is a high school junior who has only one friend, but when that one friend falls in...

The Take (2016) The Take  is an action movie which was nearly titled Bastille Day , but I'm glad it wasn't because that would have been a very difficult title to turn into a pun about how terrible this film was. While I wish I could say it started with promise, that was hardly the case. This film opens with the classic white text in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen describing the current location of the film; in this case, it's Paris (which raises the question: why not simply show a shot of the Eiffel tower and allow your audience to connect the dots?). The plot is confusing, I'll admit, but I will try to explain it to you as simply as possible. Idris Elba plays a rude and sarcastic cop who seems to be stuck in the whole "good cop, bad cop" routine, but is yet to find a good cop in order to round him out a bit more. He's completely unlikable throughout the majority of the movie, and the film makes no effort at providing any depth or backg...

Left Behind (2014) For years, the Christian film genre has been the center of jokes and abuse from film critics, and it has left fans sitting back and scratching their head in disbelief. Allow me to take the opportunity to step in, and to explain why these films are typically despised. Bear in mind that I am addressing this issue from the perspective of a film critic and not from any sort of religious point of view. Christian films are, for lack of a better word, sloppy. For the most part, they tend to serve as little more than a pat on the back and a moment of celebration for Christians who are excited to see their point of view presented on the big screen, but as movies they often fall flat. Putting aside any agreement (or lack thereof) with the messages taught in films such as God's Not Dead  and Left Behind , movies in this genre have the tendency to use the message they preach as an excuse to completely disregard all other important aspects of filmmaking. They are film...

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) The first in Park Chan-wook’s vengeance trilogy (followed by Oldboy which was reviewed here ), Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is particularly unique. While Oldboy demonstrated the unique style which Chan-wook is now known for (lush orchestrated music, dark visual humor, beautifully composed shots which are framed as though each still could be considered art, unique color schemes which make each scene interesting to look at), Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance shows fragmented glimpses of the style he was gradually beginning to form.  The plot is simple, but effective. Protagonist Ryu is a deaf and mute young man who is desperate for money in order to help his older sister have a life-saving kidney transplant. Encouraged by his radical political activist girlfriend, he kidnaps the daughter of his former boss for ransom, only for things to fall apart the moment he seems to be getting his way. Despite the simplicity of the plot, Sympathy for Mr. Ve...

Oldboy (2003) This Sunday I will be attending a screening of my favorite director's newest film, The Handmaiden . Bearing that in mind, I decided to revisit one of his earlier works. Oldboy is one of the three films in a trilogy which Park Chan-wook has referred to as the 'vengeance trilogy'; three unrelated tales of revenge which may be viewed in any order. It is the second in the series, bookended by Sympathy for Mr. Vengance  and Lady Vengeance , but because it is the first Park Chan-wook film I watched and also the strongest example of his stylized directing, I feel the need to review this as a sort of introduction to his unique style of filmmaking. The plot of Oldboy  is simple; Oh Dae-Su is a man who was imprisoned for fifteen years without explanation, then suddenly set free. Now, he's angry and looking for the men who imprisoned him, hoping for answers and to avenge the wife and daughter he lost while he was locked away. With a very western sounding so...

The Sixth Sense (1999) Do you remember the last time you had a twist or scene in a movie ruined for you? Did having that single moment spoiled ruin the entire movie? These are important questions to ask when analyzing a movie, the latter is particularly important when thinking about a film you have scene when you haven't  had the twist spoiled for you. Plot twists have always been a popular tool to use in story telling, since before the invention of film popular novels used the method of a clever twist in order to gain the approval and awe of readers. However, there are times when stories, particularly those in film, fall victim to relying entirely on the twist. Would classic films such as The Sixth Sense  still be as remarkable were they not to have their infamous twist at the end? In the case of Sixth Sense  I say yes, without its twist the film would still be compelling, still have wonderful acting, moving emotional dialogue, beautiful music, and a clever use o...

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) The action genre is perhaps the most popular genre of film. The addition of CGI to modern cinema brought along endless possibilities for fantastic stories, it brought unimaginable levels of creative freedom and provided directors and screenwriters the ability to take characters to far off lands and into other universes to face off against horrifying monsters beyond our wildest dreams. Unfortunately, none of this is what filmmakers have been giving us for the past several years. Instead, we have received an endless supply of remakes. Sit back and think of the last action movie you saw which wasn't based on something else. The last action movie which wasn't inspired by a novel, a reinterpretation of an older movie, based off of a toy, or some bizarre sequel which also serves as a prequel to a film which has long since been forgotten. It's practically impossible. Even fantastic recent releases in the action genre aren...

Harrison Feldman and  Bethany Whitmore in Girl Asleep (2015) Girl Asleep  is simultaneously two movies; one is fantastic, the other is absolutely terrible.  As the name implies, a large portion of the film is entirely comprised of one lengthy dream sequence (because short dream sequences aren't obnoxious enough, right?), and it simply doesn't work, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Girl Asleep  is, at first, a charming little independent film about fourteen year old Greta Driscoll, a shy girl who is dreading life at a new school after moving with her eccentric and often times overbearing parents. There, she meets Elliott, an odd but friendly and promising new friend, who seems ecstatic at the notion of befriending the new girl in school. Initially, Girl Asleep  comes across as something which may have been made by the likes of Wes Anderson. It has a clear and crisp visual style, with bright colors, odd and unique mapped out camera shots which are stationary...

Naomi Watts and Charlie Heaton in Shut In (2016) Shut In  is the story of a grieving widow who's caring for her catatonic son when she's not working as a clinical psychologist. Plagued with horrifying nightmares, she begins to suspect that something darker is happening in her home, and starts questioning the safety of her and her son. Fortunately, I went into Shut In with no expectations, because it's not a particularly frightening or thrilling film. Naomi Watts delivers a good performance, which is hardly surprising since she's always fantastic, but she still falls flat. There's a sense of a lack of investment in her character, as if she's simply going through the motions and hasn't given much thought to what sort of person her character truly is. Whether that's a purposeful attempt at showing how our protagonist has lost herself in the daily and mundane routine of caring for her ill son, or a lack of interest in the part, is up for debate. That...