Smile (2022)

★★★
The bottomless well of inspiration that is 2002's The Ring (itself a remake of the Japanese original Ringu) strikes again with Smile, an effective and scary horror movie that has several really good moments of terror. The story is interesting enough. It's a mystery featuring a main character racing against the clock and searching for clues to end the terrifying events going on around her, but the urgency with which writer and director Parker Finn tell this tale slowly gnaws at our natural desire for a positive outcome. As the story progresses, that sort of resolution becomes more and more difficult to attain, as the movie heavily stacks the deck against the heroine. The revelations and temporary respites provide moments of hope, though. The premise, once we understand it, is intriguing, and it logically opens the door to additional obstacles and dangers while staying true to the internal mythology.

Top Secret! (1984)

★★★★
I've seen the ZAZ Team's Cold War comedy Top Secret! too many times to laugh as hard as I did when I saw it years ago. I've seen it over a dozen times now, yet I can still get a good chuckle out of it. Even when I know what the next gag is going to be, I chuckle in anticipation. This kind of reaction speaks to how strong the comedy is. This movie has among the highest of joke densities that I've ever seen. At a short 90 minutes, Top Secret! is multilayered and stuffed to the edges with puns, sight gags, absurd dialogue and double entendres. The title sequence sets the tone for the rest of the show, and it's the funniest title sequence I've ever seen (vastly superior to the title sequence for Monty Python and the Holy Grail). It's a music video-style presentation of a Beach Boys-inspired song sung by the movie's hero, and it features surfers shooting clay pigeons (skeet surfin') while all manner of silliness plays out on the beach (the sunbather who leaves two impressions in the sand is a highlight). At one point, a crowd of surfers runs toward the ocean. Look closely, and you'll spot the elderly couple and two children among the adults.

Hardcore Henry (2016)

★★★
Hardcore Henry plays like a relentless video game. It's Doom gone off the rails. The entire movie is shot from the first-person perspective, and the hero runs, punches, kicks and shoots his way to the end. This is not a found-footage movie, which is also shot from in the first person and features dizzying camera movement. Instead, director Ilya Naishuller gives us a movie seen through the eyes of the hero as he navigates numerous obstacles in and around Moscow. He gives us plenty of original visuals and a few hilarious set pieces. Playing this material straight would have been a mistake. Doing so would have just taken a standard sci-fi/action movie and added a gimmick in a transparent attempt to shake things up. Instead, Naishuller is smart enough to see the possibilities that this kind of perspective can offer. He has an interesting story to tell, but he enhances its presentation by taking full advantage of the camera positioning (it was strapped to the performer's head) to give us shots that are unique, exciting and imaginative.

Any Given Sunday (1999)

★★★
When I first heard that Oliver Stone was making a football movie, I assumed he'd make it in some straightforward fashion. As I read the reviews and saw the footage, I realized that Any Given Sunday would be shot with Stone's usual style. He likes to use quick cuts, fast panning and dollying, layered scenes, slow motion, stock footage and odd sound effects. Stone's work is among my favorites. His brand of storytelling is something not seen in other mainstream films and offers viewers a new way of watching a movie without having the camera sit still or following characters in some typical way.

Drive (2011)

★★★★
Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive is a gorgeous and thoughtful film. When I say that, I'm not talking about animation or computer generated effects, of which this movie has none. It is gorgeous because of its camera angles, its slow pace, its soundtrack, its sparse dialogue. The characters think about their actions. Tension builds slowly and lingers. This is truly poetry in motion. It's an action movie to the extent that the action is intense, sudden and heart-pounding, though these scenes are few in number and spaced far enough apart that an angry viewer sued the production company for false advertisement due to a misleading trailer that teased more. The hero is a loner who has few lines, like Mad Max, though this guy has no name. The plot is simple, and we get just enough information to know what's happening. There is mob money involved, but the movie isn't that interested in who gets it. The need for this money and the need to get rid of it serve only to disrupt the life of a getaway driver and his newfound chance for a normal life.