Movie Reviews - Velvet Buzzsaw

Director: Dan Gilroy
Genre: Thriller
Runtime: 112 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Renee Russo, Toni Collette, John Malkovich, Zawe Ashton, Natalia Dyer, Billy Magnussen, Tom Sturridge

Description: After a series of paintings by an unknown artist are discovered, a supernatural force enacts revenge on those who have allowed their greed to get in the way of art.

Review: “Velvet Buzzsaw” is a horror satire focusing on the empty and cold art sector in Los Angeles. After it premiered at the Sundance Filmfestival, it can be seen on Netflix.
The story starts at the Miami Beach Basel Art Fair, where art advisors are looking for ‘the next best thing’. Here we meet the art critic Morf Vandewalt, his friend Josephina, art advisor Gretchen, gallery owner Rhodora and PR-machine Jon. All big names or rising stars in the art business.
One day Josephina finds the dead body of her upstairs neighbor, Vetril Dease. He has no family or friends and was a very quiet and to-him-self man. She finds a huge art collection in his house, all painted by him. All of his art is fascinating, yet morbid and disturbing. Dease wanted all of his art to be destroyed, but Josephina decides to show it to the world. When they explore the paintings, it turns out Dease painted with his own blood. When the paintings are exposed, strange deaths start to occur.
Possessed paintings is not very original, it’s a horror cliché. But director Dan Gilroy gave it a modern touch and made it less cliché. The deaths that occur are very original, but “Velvet Buzzsaw” never really gets scary.
Gilroy also directed “Nightcrawler” and reunites with Jake Gyllenhaal and Renee Russo. That was an intense, disturbing and on-point film. “Velvet Buzzsaw” sadly isn’t. Gilroy isn’t out to scare the audience, but it’s also missing suspense. Yet, it’s an entertaining movie, even though I expected more.
Taking a unoriginal cliché horror element and turning it into something more original. That’s been done. But it’s not as exciting as I thought it would be.

Rating: 3/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 99: Far From the Madding Crowd

Director: Thomas Vinterberg

Genre: Drama/ Romance

Runtime: 119 minutes

Year: 2015

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge, Juno Temple, Jessica Barden

Description: In Victorian England, the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak (Matthias Shoenaerts), a sheep farmer; Frank Troy (Tom Sturridge), a reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood (Michael Sheen), a prosperous and mature bachelor.

Review: Danish director Thomas Vinterberg has made some great movies, like “Festen” and especially “Jagten”. Three years after the lather, Vinterberg takes a trip beyond the borders with “Far From the Madding Crowd”. He manages to create a good balance between classic and contemporary storytelling.

The movie, based on a novel by Thomas Hardy, centers young Bathsheba Everdene who constantly has doubts about her different lovers and her independence. In the very beginning of the film she is asked to marry to charming sheep farmer Gabriel Oak. He offers her a comfortable life, but decides to decline. Bathsheba doesn’t want to be anyone’s wife. Gabriel eventually loses his sheep and Bathsheba inherits a farm herself. When Gabriel helps Bathsheba to save her famr from a fire, she hires him. In the meantime Bathsheba gets the attention from the aristocratic widower Boldwood and the young soldier Francis Troy.

Although the plot sounds like your average soap opera, director Vinterberg and script writer David Nicholls do manage to make a good book to move adaptation. You see the differences between classes and the feministic character of Bathsheba. It’s great to see such a strong woman again in a costume drama, who chooses independence over the security of having a husband.

Vinterberg did make some big changes though. In Hardy’s book, he often lets certain situations be decided by faith. Like a wrongly send letter or missing a wedding. In the movie that’s not as present. And the crucial role of character Fanny Robin is also underused.

Even the small criticism make this a very good movie. The cinematography is good and also the acting by Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts and especially Michael Sheen are worth watching “Far From the Madding Crowd”.

Rating: 4/ 5