Film Review : "Cocaine Bear"

 The viral title of the film is so silly it drew in the meme driven masses with the movie poster alone. The trailer sealed the deal. I went into the movie with my expectations set to the level of "Snakes on a Plane", so something so terrible it comes full circle to being good due to its camp. To my surprise, the budget was bigger and the acting better than "Snakes on a Plane". Not the only movie to come out this month that worked off a viral hype hurricane, "Winnie the Pooh, Blood and Honey" being the other film, hopefully it is not a trend this year, but they are quick to promote "Meth Gator" on the heels of this film's success, in its first weekend it clobbered the new Ant-man movie. It is certainly a lot more fun than Ant-man and funnier as well. Comedy is not normally my thing, but I will laugh at zany bear mauling and park rangers who shoot people in trying to stop them.

Based on true events, it's a fictional re-telling that director Elizabeth Banks calls the bear's revenge story. They are convincing in capturing their feel of Georgia in the 80's despite being shot in Ireland. There is more star power in this movie than what you expect from b-grade camp, it reunites "the Americans " actors Matthew Rhys with Keri Russell. However, the CGI bear is what is putting butts in seat, and it looks mostly convincing. My only complaint is in how the movie is shoot, it's too bright, the vivid colors work against blending the CGI beast. I get that 80s films were often shot in a similar fashion, but they were also not working with CGI characters and more practical effects, which could have played better for the gore, as the bodies often hit the ground like a fatality from Mortal Kombat.

I am not a fan of comedy, but unlike the movie itself the comedy here is dark enough to win me over. The child actors help keep the feel of 80s films without going Stranger Things. They did not go total hillbilly with the North Georgia setting, in fact the weird meth gang seemed like an odd depiction and more likely to have existed in California. This movie could have been darker and leaned more onto the horror side od the fence, but it was highly entertaining in the manner presented.  One way I gauge how good a movie is these days, especially when seeing a showing that is after 8 PM in a theater is did it keep me awake? "Infinity Pool" certainly did. Ant-man had some snooze moments, which can also be said about this movie, when we get diverted by the drug smuggling sub plot. Despite this I was fine with paying my 13 dollars to see this movie, and might watch it again. 

Film Review : "Winnie the Pooh -Blood & Honey"

I am not sure what you are expecting here, and to be honest I am not sure what I expected. In some ways it exceeded my expectations and in others it let me down, namely the acting and dialogue . Though it was not a deal breaker in that regard. The premise makes this a fantasy version of the Hills Have Eyes, but very British. Christopher Robbins works best in flash back sequences , as the adult version who finds his past is back to haunt him, is pretty annoying. He is a tiresome bitch. I hope the actor was just ad libbing , because if he was going straight from the script, then the writing is about as bad as it can get and still make the movie watchable. 

Where this movie gets it right is by having no interest in adhering to the code of horror movies for Millennials. Instead we get an old school slasher feel, where girls are on the run from Pooh and Piglet. In many ways this movie comes close to the original Terrifier , but does not try to gross you out with pussies being sawed in half. I think some of the kills could have been more inventive. The mythos of  Pooh in this telling of  his story gives you just enough background, but is vague on how human is he. He can clearly drive a car and Piglet likes sledgehammers. Pooh is on the Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees power level in terms of strength and durability.  

There are some cool shots, and tense moments. The motives of their murders is not clear and vary too wildly stylistically . I would have taken a different direction with some of the kills and made them more personas to the characters as I feel there were a great deal of missed opportunities in that regard. The acting is the worst element of this movie but when it comes to b -grade horror movies this falls in the middle of the road. The made the most of the budget they had to work with. I normally judge movies these days by how long it takes me to watch it , this one only got two viewings so that is not bad it keep my interest, things like the animated intro that lays down the back story work well and it starts off much better than you think it will though goes down hill with a rushed and sudden ending. It has been a good year for horror so far, this ranks at the bottom, but is better than most movies of this budget.