We watch several movies a week. Every Friday, we'll talk a little about some of the movies we watched that we felt were Worth Mentioning.
Diablo Cody horror comedy, Charlie Sheen thrills, and Zac Efron drama.
LISA FRANKENSTEIN (2024)
The Diablo Cody-scripted horror comedy Jennifer’s Body was a box office failure when it was released back in 2009, but it has gathered a cult following in the years since – and I was ahead of the curve on that one, because I loved that movie from the moment I saw it on its opening weekend. Since I’ve been a fan of Jennifer’s Body for almost fifteen years now, I was hyped when I heard that Cody had written a new horror comedy called Lisa Frankenstein. Directed by Zelda Williams (daughter of Robin Williams), Lisa Frankenstein reached theatres just in time for Valentine’s Day this year... and what do you know, it was a box office failure, just like Jennifer’s Body. But I’m already starting to see this one gather a cult following, and while I didn’t enjoy it as much I enjoyed Jennifer’s Body, I would count myself as a member of the Lisa Frankenstein cult.
Kathryn Newton of the fun horror comedy slasher Freaky stars in this one as Lisa Swallows, a teenager in 1989 who has been, understandably, deeply impacted by the fact that her mother was murdered by an axe-wielding home invader a couple years earlier. I thought the axe murderer would have something to do with the story, but no, that’s just a piece of back story that has nothing to do with the events that play out over the film’s 102 minutes. Lisa’s dad Dale (Joe Chrest) has already moved on and married a very unlikeable woman named Janet (Carla Gugino), but Janet does have a teenage daughter named Taffy (Liza Soberano) who is doing her best to embrace Lisa as a sister and improve her social status. Taffy is such a likeable character, and written so much against the “popular girl in a teen movie” stereotype, with Soberano turning in such a good performance, that Taffy nearly steals the movie out from under Lisa and the zombie that she starts hanging out with.
Lisa likes to spend her free time in an old cemetery out in the woods, and her favorite grave there belongs to an unmarried young man who died from being struck by lightning in 1837. After she has a traumatic experience at a party, Lisa goes out to the graveyard and tells this dead man, “I wish I was with you.” Meaning, she wishes she was dead. But the corpse takes it the wrong way – and one night, when Lisa is home alone watching George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead, the dead, rotting, worm-infested fellow comes walking into her house. Thankfully, she’s able to clean him up a bit, and while the guy (played by Cole Sprouse) isn’t able to talk, he and Lisa are able to strike up a good friendship.
Then people get murdered. When I heard that Lisa Frankenstein was going to involve Lisa and the corpse killing people so they can get him some fresh body parts (which adhere to him when he gets zapped by electricity in Taffy’s faulty tanning bed), I got a bit concerned about the movie, because I didn’t want to see something that attempted to have me rooting for a teenage serial killer. But the murders were presented in a way that didn’t bother me too much, since they’re committed by an overzealous zombie and/or take out characters who deserved some comeuppance. So that worked for me just fine. And it leads to the appropriate ending.
Lisa Frankenstein gets better as it goes along. On first watch, I found the early stretch of the film to be a little rough because it didn’t feel like the comedic aspects were being handled in the most effective way. I would see a scene that was clearly meant to be funny, but would be left feeling that it could have been funnier if it were shot or edited in a different way. If the moments had more energy to them. But by the second half of the film, I was into the Lisa Frankenstein groove and everything was going smoothly.
Lisa Frankenstein is a good movie, like Jennifer’s Body was. It’s a shame not very many people show up when Diablo Cody writes a horror comedy, because I want to see more of them from her.
BAD DAY ON THE BLOCK (a.k.a. UNDER PRESSURE) (1997)
At the end of the ‘80s / start of the ‘90s, stuntman-turned-director Craig R. Baxley brought us a few films that I feel rank among the coolest action movies ever made: Action Jackson, I Come in Peace (a.k.a. Dark Angel), and Stone Cold. A few years after that, he made the thriller Bad Day on the Block, which is also known as Under Pressure, a film that I hadn’t even heard of until a couple weeks ago. When I’m hanging out with blog contributor Priscilla, we like to spend our Saturdays watching themed movie marathons. I had a few Charlie Sheen movies I was wanting to revisit, so I decided to put together a Sheen marathon, and to fill out the day I dropped Under Pressure – which was the title on the copy I watched – into the mix. And I found it to be a solid little movie. Nothing close to Action Jackson, I Come in Peace, or Stone Cold, but a decent way to spend 88 minutes.
Sheen stars as Lyle Wilder, a firefighter who has been called a hero in the press, but for his neighbors – particularly the Braverton family, played by Mare Winningham, David Andrews, Noah Fleiss, and Chelsea Russo – he turns out to be a real pain. His personal life has fallen apart, so when he’s not at work he spends his days sitting at home, his anger steadily rising as he takes note of everything he doesn’t like about his neighbors. Some of the things that set him off are totally understandable. The Bravertons definitely aren’t the perfect people to be living beside. But Lyle’s behavior becomes more and more inappropriate, and before long he’s killing people, holding hostages, and drawing the suspicions of a police officer played by John Ratzenberger from Cheers.
Both of this movie’s titles are fitting. What plays out in the script written by Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh certainly constitutes a “Bad Day on the Block”, while “Under Pressure” fits because Sheen’s performance is so intense, he really does make Lyle Wilder come off as a human pressure cooker. As soon as you see this guy, it’s clear that it’s only going to be a matter of time before he explodes into violence. When he does, Baxley brings it to the screen in an interesting way.
THE IRON CLAW (2023)
Some fans know members of the Von Erich family as wrestling icons. Others are mainly aware of them through stories of the Von Erich curse. Even though I was a wrestling fan for a while during my childhood in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, I had never heard of the Von Erichs until it was announced that writer/director Sean Durkin was going to be making a biopic about them: The Iron Claw, named after one of their popular wrestling moves... but while watching the movie’s 132 minutes play out, I felt like I learned a lot about the people who made up the Von Erich family. And definitely came to understand why people talk about a Von Erich curse.
Holt McCallany plays Jack "Fritz" Von Erich, a retired wrestler who never got a shot at the championship – and he’s aiming to make up for that by raising his many sons to be championship-chasing wrestlers. The oldest son, Jack Jr., died in a tragic accident at the age of 6 back in 1959 (he was electrocuted by a trailer tongue and collapsed face-first into a puddle of melting snow... and the curse began), but Fritz had more sons he could turn into wrestlers. At the heart of this story are those sons; Kevin (played by Zac Efron), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), David (Harris Dickinson), and Mike (Stanley Simons). It’s clear from the start that Fritz - as depicted in the film - only cares more about his family’s wrestling legacy, being indifferent to his sons on a personal level. Mike doesn’t even want to be a wrestler; he’s a musician. But eventually he has to wrestle, because Fritz needs somebody to win a championship.
The Iron Claw follows the Von Erichs from 1979 through the ‘80s, and it’s a story of building tragedy as we watch Fritz’s championship aspirations tear his family apart son by son. There are fun moments, some wrestling action, and some great classic rock tunes on the soundtrack, but for the most part, watching this movie is quite an upsetting experience. One brother dies from pushing himself too hard and not taking care of his health during his run for the championship. Another suffers a devastating injury in the ring. Another gets a major injury of his own in a motorcycle accident. Everything falls apart, and it’s infuriating because things didn’t need to go the way they did.
What’s especially shocking about all of this is the fact that the true story of the Von Erich family is even more tragic than what’s shown in this film. There was another son, Chris, who didn’t make it into the film. He was also wrestler, and his life was also destroyed by the championship ambitions. To fully bring the pain and tragedy the Von Erichs endured to the screen, Durkin would have had to make a limited series rather than a feature film. If there's one positive thing to say about it all, it's that, thankfully, Kevin Von Erich has said that his father was a much better person than the movie version of Fritz.
There’s a lot of intense drama on display in The Iron Claw, and it’s been surprising to see that the movie hasn’t gone up for any of the major awards. Work worthy of Oscar nominations went into this one. Just look at Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich. The guy turns himself into a living version of an ‘80s He-Man action figure while also handling the dramatic moments Durkin threw at him, and he doesn’t get major award recognition for it? That’s a shame.
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