Tusk - Film Review

I have for many years been a huge fan of Kevin Smith. The director that brought us classics such as Clerks and Mallrats. I know many people have slated him over the years and claimed his films have depreciated over time and that Clerks and Mallrats were in fact as good as it gets. I disagree.

I think he has always worked hard at producing a piece of work that on some level hits the intended audience, and as he states very openly (just look him up on Youtube) the longer he kept working the further from his original voice he became. He was not always able to write about his situation as he was able to with his first few films. This can be said of any artist really though. Many bands first 2 albums are great as they struggled to write and record them, after that they lose the connection to the poor kids they used to be and are now richer, more affluent and don't connect as directly with their previous message.

Now this for me only happens to Kevin Smith with Cop Out. It's not as bad as some people claim, but it certainly is not the finest or funniest buddy cop movie that is out there, but you can see what he tried to do and from all accounts the star of the film did not make that any easier.

Many derid Jersey Girl but actually I think it is quite a touching film despite the timing of the Ben-iffer relationship that was in progress.

However this review of sorts is to look at his 2014 (so only 2 years old) film Tusk. The first time he really ventured into the horror genre. After hanging up his directing hat in 2011 (bar a few short Jay and Silent Bob TV Movies) he felt that he could produce his own art again through podcasts and different mediums outside of film making. It was only through the podcast that he comes to the idea of the film that is Tusk.

The film follows Justin Longs character, a podcaster, who with his friends run an outlandish show looking at the weirdest on the web. The original trip he takes is stopped after tragic events and while wallowing in a bar finds a notice that intrigues him.

Not wanting to delve too deeply into the well that is the rest of the film and spoil what is going to happen, the original premise came from Kevin's own podcast episode where the discuss an advert put on Gumtree in the UK (Brighton to be precise) where a man was looking for someone to come and live with him for free, but where they would have to contribute dressed as a walrus.

You can imagine how a horror film would take this, and it really is an almost traditional type horror film that is not built on cheap jumps or found footage but on the psychological fears of the main character. The fear of being captured and helplessness of a situation. It is disturbing in places and I think that the "villain" of the film is perfect. Michael Parks, who was the fabulous church leader in Red State (another Kevin Smith film I love!!) has an air of weird, powerful and creepy.

The story is played from both the side of the missing person and his friends who recruit a detective played by Johnny Depp to find him.

It really got me how quickly the story progressed and the tensions I was expecting to be in play were not the there, that is not to say the film isn't tense, it does just get there quickly and push you through the jarring concepts it throws at you.

For me this is a world away from what Kevin Smith has done before and this is no bad thing. He still has a very good cinematic voice, and while he may not ever be considered a traditional auteur or one of the great directors, I don't think he should be written off either. To me he never phones in a film, or deliberately does it for the paycheck. As a fan of film, you can tell he is trying to deliver a message within a system that wants the next big thing. This is why his smaller films are seen as such a success because he had creative control and it was about the passion he had, not the pay day at the end of it.

Tusk is a clever idea, that while it may not hit on every step, I applaud the ideas behind it and think it is a film that plays well with its own rules.

I think you should make your own opinion on it as it is nothing like what Kevin has done in the past (maybe for the best) but it is something that will challenge you and even if you hate it, I don't think you can say that it didn't try to get you to question something about the nature of the human condition.

Orange is the New Black - TV Series - Review

At the moment is there nothing Netflix can't do right? Although I haven't seen it yet, Stranger Things is getting great reviews. You then have all the Marvel TV series like DareDevil, Jessica Jones and the forthcoming Luke Cage series. The one that started it all, House of Cards is a political thriller that keeps impressing and is Kevin Spacey putting in a superb performance.

Then you have Orange is the New Black. I have just finished season 4 and this show (like all the others) keeps getting better and better.

Now I recently read an article about reviewers essentially just telling you what the show/film is and then spoiling it if they don't like it.

Well firstly, there is no chance of me trying to spoil anything for you as it is fantastic. Secondly, I'm hardly a traditional reviewer or critic. I am just trying to analyse stuff that might have made it through the cracks (not that would really be OITNB).

I however, don't want to give away the best parts of the show, although if you want to look them up they will be online somewhere.

If you know nothing of Orange is the new Black, then the basic premise is it's a show about a womans prison. Taking that a small step further it initially follows Piper Chapman (the character that is loosely based on the novel by Piper Kerman) and her reasons and existence in the prison system. This by season 4 is still a factor, but as Piper Kerman acknowledges is well off her own actual life history, and it now follows the entire prison population. It looks at all the groups that make up the very dysfunctional community, this includes the guards and their interactions with the inmates.

Each season has it's own tests and tribulations that hook you and by season 4 this is no exception. Each main character is fantastically portrayed and the creators of the show have made even those that would appear unlikeable, a human. By this I mean, you feel for their situation, why they behave the way they do. You empathise with them and although certain actions are, at times, reprehensible they are understood. With Piper for instance you see her journey and start to see why she has ended up in prison and how she tries to compensate for that, which at times is more destructive. With avoiding the need to spoil her storyline, she is a character that tries to be liked by everyone. She comes from the well brought up social background that would hate to be called racist. The prison however has communities and stereotypes that are a defence mechanism and a survival trait for many of the people within the groups. This is one of the points of conflict, and as we see develop through Piper trying to approach a situation with her rationality, that is taken and warped by others. It is this that helps expand stories and the natural conflicts of the situations that arise.

In one way, some characters have evolved out of what they were and are now something more (I guess as their popularity changed). Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren is a prime example of her slowly losing some of the crazy that defined her in season 1. That being said by season 4 there are few moments of her regressing back to her former self, but because you are now more invested in her (Uzo Aduba does a fantastic performance) that craziness that once kept her as a character you didn't care for so much, she is now one of the focal characters.

With this sort of ensemble work, it is hard to have focal characters as each episode will focus on either a flashback to one character and their now changed prison life, or it will look at a group as a whole and how that functions within the entire prison.

The great thing about prison as well is the fact that new characters are easily brought it and old characters that are "released" from prison can still be followed or end up back in prison. It looks at how people deal with the institution and their place in society because of it.

This show is fantastic and goes towards what makes Netflix worth its monthly fee. The fact the invest in shows like this that may not have been picked up traditionally, but have an outlet for the quirkier or more intriguing programs that have a slow burn. By releasing all the episodes at once, they can have a slower episodes that connect stories together and help make the explosive episodes more so. This does happen in "normal" TV I know. However I think they have been able to write and produce shows like this with more freedom and it has served them well.

If you have missed Orange Is The New Black, well this is your call to start it as soon as you can. If it is one you might have been going to get to, trust me, once you start it you won't be able to put it down. In my house we take it in turns to choose the series we are watching. I picked season 3 of this and as it was only 13 episodes long, my wife and I just kept going through season 4 as well. We had forgotten about it and were 2 seasons down, and in the space of 2 weeks we watched both series. It's addictive and good television. It has heart and characters that are worth investing in. It is well written and fantastically performed. This is one to watch if you have missed it. If you have missed it, what have you been doing.....?