That's right folks. I'm challenging myself and review two recently released movies at once. Why? Well truth be told I wanted to see them both and I thought of making two separate reviews for but by the time I did one of them wouldn't have been recent. So I decided to do this instead. Now let's get started with The Dog Stars.
The Dog Stars is a sci-fi action thriller based on Peter Heller's 2012 novel of the same name that's produced by 20th Century Studios and Scott Free Productions with the former also being the distributor. Mark L. Smith wrote the screenplay while Ridley Scott directed.
The story is, in 2035 it's been many years since a devastating pandemic almost wiped out humanity. Two who survived the pandemic are Hig and Bangley who share a pragmatic alliance. One night after a tragedy Hig hears a faint, hopeful voice on the airplane radio and is now driven by the possibility that a safe haven exist. During this journey he'll encounter many new faces and dangerous scavengers all of which he will make him decide if human connection is worth the risk.
Initial Reaction
I've got a very simple reason as to why I wanted to see this, I'm a Ridley Scott fan. The guy's made numerous hits and films that can be best described as decent. But no matter where the quality pendulum swings Ridley Scott makes sure everyone of his films look amazing.
Cons
I've got nothing.
Middle Ground
It all comes from the story. Now I did enjoy the themes of grief, connection, and how it told a tale of choosing to be something more human than just purely being a survivalist. However while those themes added a needed lair the story doesn't really offer anything new to the post-apocalyptic genre. You get familiar tropes like the isolated home, marauders, and so on and so forth. Which I didn't hate, it's just the execution was just decent.
Pros
First thing I'll touch on is Jacob Elordi's performance. Last time I saw this guy act was in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein movie from last year. He killed it in that and here's it's no different. Now of course he's playing a different character that being Hig, but Elordi's performance was great. He brought both grieving and a quiet soul to the role. So after watching him in this and the previously mentioned del Toro film, can we please get him in more stuff? Seriously Hollywood, you always looking for new stars so here's one right now right in front of your face. Now I want to give cinematographer Erik Messerschmidt credit for his work. I don't recall ever seeing his previous work but if it's as great as this then I need to check out more of his stuff. Because despite the environment in this movie's world not looking the best because, you know, humanity going near extinction, Messerschmidt delivers strong aerial work during flight scenes, a good sense of empty landscapes, and a lot of times beautiful imagery. The last thing I'll praise is Ridley Scott's directing. Scott's veteran experience gave the movie a polished yet old fashioned moody weight that I imagine will capture audience members attention.
So that was The Dog Stars and it's not too bad. There's plenty to enjoy but don't expect it to be something that sets the post-apocalyptic genre on fire.
My final rating is, a low Good.
Now let's move on to the next movie.
Buddy is a black comedy supernatural horror movie. Low Spark Films & BoulderLight Pictures produced while Roadside Attractions & Saban Films distributed. Casper Kelly directed and wrote the story with Jamie King.
The story is, on the surface the kids' show It's Buddy is gentle and educational program where children play and learn along with a giant talking unicorn named Buddy. But the kids will soon need to find a way to escape this world when Buddy turns into a brutal nightmare.
Initial Reaction
The reason for wanting to see this one is because since reviewing The Banana Splits Movie reviewing horror movies where something is child friendly is turned into a nightmare is pretty much my blogs tradition 😆. So I couldn't skip out on this one.
Cons
I've got nothing.
Middle Ground
It's the structure. For a while you jump between the It's Buddy world and the real world. So because of this back and forth you get this almost stop and start momentum. It didn't damage the movie too much for me so I think this can be forgiven.
Pros
Let's start off with how committed the crew was to this project. Now yes, we've seen the whole wholesome children's show is actually a nightmarish hell many times. However I gotta praise Kelly and co. for going all out. When watching this I couldn't help but get a Barney vibe from the setting. Well, if Barney was actually a murderous control freak who could snap at any moment but I think you get the idea. I also wanna praise the tone. Like I said before this is a black comedy movie and there are plenty of laughs to be had. But then the movie can effortlessly get pretty intense. So intense I actually wanted a talking backpack to survive 😆. The last thing I'll credit is performances especially to the voice cast. Patton Oswalt actually makes you care about Strappy (the talking backpack I mentioned earlier) but more importantly Keegan-Michael Key was great as Buddy. I had no idea that was him. He just gets into this character and does amazing. Which also makes me think I should also give praise to Buddy's suit actor Sergey Zhuravsky. While Key gives Buddy a voice, Zhuravsky gives Buddy a body language that one point can be charming but then within a snap of a finger can also alert you that Buddy's gonna go crazy.
Buddy is actually a pretty good time. Sure the structure could've used more of a polish but it's still an entertaining movie.
My final rating is, Good.
Now I don't plan to make this a recurring thing, but if there's two movies that I truly want to see back-to-back then I'll think about reviewing them both. But that's gonna do it for me. Come back on Thursday, Sept 3rd, for my A Look Back at review of The Social Network. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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