The Breakdown of Everest, Black Mass, and The Intern

For some reason I always forget to post a link on my blog for a weekly podcast that I do with my good friend and partner in crime Chris Spicer.  It could be the same reason I would spend ten minutes looking for my cell phone while holding it in my hand.  Yep, I am that guy.

This week on The Movie Breakdown we reviewed five movies from this year, with three of them existing in the dark screening rooms of theatres right now.  We chat about the disaster flick Everest, the 'based on real life' crime opera Black Mass, and the fish out of water soft comedy The Intern starring Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro.  If you read my possibly overly harsh review of Song One, then The Intern is the type of film that can restore faith in the abilities of someone as talented as Hathaway.

Also on the slate were rentals The Cobbler, starring Adam Sandler, and Ex Machina.  One of these two movies may rock your world and attempt to bend your mind.  The other may insult your intelligence.  One may be Oscar worthy in many different categories.  The other may be worthy of a Golden Raspberry or two.  I can't tell you which is which... you will have to check out the podcast to hear the thoughts.

You can find the podcast hosted here.

Song One

Anne Hathaway is terrific, wonderful, and any other positive descriptives that you could dole at her.  She holds within her a great dexterity, charisma, and a charm that flows off the screen and infiltrates the hearts of the audience.  So, what the hell happened in Song One?

Hathaway is the protagonist in a movie that focuses on the intimacy of family and friends while being closely connected through the lifeblood of music.  She plays Franny, a young woman working towards her anthropology Ph.D., who has to return home when her idiot brother gets hit by a cab when he crosses the road before looking both ways while wearing headphones.  Digital Projection Darwin says, 'you have been selected!.'  The dullard is a busker who quit college to... well, to busk I guess.  He also has a creepy obsession with an indie musician named James Forester (Johnny Flynn). Dullard has posters of James Forester on his bedroom wall, and all sorts of doodles in his diary.  When I said it was creepy, I meant creepy.

Well, surprise, surprise.  Franny meets her brother's hero and a relationship ensues.  The relational chemestry between Hathaway and Flynn is about as dry as five saltines crammed into your mouth at once, with very little happening through either dialogue or action to create a dynamic of charm or ye old stomach butterflies.  This is one of the most frustrating aspects of Song One, as it would be quite a feat to get such a flat performance from Anne Hathaway.  It reminds me of what Zack Snyder accomplished in Man of Steel, when he took the vibrant Amy Adams and transformed her into a mere placeholder character.

This is the feature film directorial debut of Kate Barker-Froyland, who also penned the script.  The last thing I want to do is to write someone off immediately, so don't think that I am going to curse down brimstone and the like over this.  From the feel and tone of Song One, I get the sense that perhaps this was just not the story that she was meant to tell.

It comes from the aforementioned drab relationship, but also the lack of influence that the music actually has over the audience.  In the very first scene we are greeted with the dullard busking (moments before he fails to look both ways.  Always look both ways, kids!).  When he sings, there is a passion and drive that emanates from both his strumming and vocals.  And then he is in a hospital bed, and we are unfortunate enough to then hear the music of his obsession, the one and only James Forester.

Forester's music is without life.  It sounds generic.  It feels like it could have been written and performed by anyone, giving no sense of how it would turn him into an indie sensation.  There is nothing recognizable about his songs, other than the fact that he uses a loop pedal during the performance.

This is where I feel the script fails the film.  It appears that the loop pedal (used by many performers and buskers in much better ways) is what the audiences flip out over, one of the instances in the film where it appears that Barker-Froyland does not fully understand the moving components music.  Another example of the misunderstanding of music is when Hathaway's mother, played by the wonderful Mary Steenburgen, talks about how when she dated a famous rock star, he taught her one of the hardest songs ever to play on the guitar, Blackbird by the Beatles.  This is like me trying to sound smart about food and mentioning that spreadable (or sprayable) cheese is as good as the real thing.  Blackbird, be it a nice song, is actually extremely easy to play.

It may sound like I am taking the music aspect too seriously and that I am just being a curmudgeon because the songs are not my cup of tea.  I really am not being that.  There is just a major disconnect between what the director believes music to be and what it is to the audience.  If you watch the movie Begin Again, which I highly recommend you do, you will see a terrific example of how music is made to tell the tale and capture the emotions and journey of the main characters.

With the two major components of what we are supposed to connect to and become passionate about, the relationship and the music, existing without life, there is little more to say about this movie.  I could mention the sound editing, which cuts with every camera cut, leaving a jilting feeling to the audio with very little continuity, something that may be helpful in a film where sound is so important.  What was needed was a flow, was a beat to Song One, for it to feel like it was music being made before our eyes.  What it was in actuality was a poorly edited and curated mix-tape that misses out on the over abundance of talent that the actors possess.

Rating - 1 out of 4 stars

Black Mass

I am always open to checking out a good gangster film.  The key word here is 'good.'  I have learned in the past that if the movie's title has to specifically tell you and sell you on the fact that it is gangster, such as Gangster Squad, it is most likely subpar to bad.  Or Awful.  It could end up being downright awful.

Having an organized crime film that is based on real events or characters can add an impressive depth to the film, unless it is called Gangster Squad.  In 2006 Martin Scorsese directed The Departed, a gripping tale that was based loosely on James 'Whitey' Bulger, the notorious, and legally untouchable, leader of the Winter Hill Gang.  To watch the world of The Departed play out with no knowledge of the source material that birthed it, the viewer may think that this tale is so bizarre that it could only exist in the realm of fiction.

Black Mass, directed by Scott Cooper (Out of the Furnace), aims to tell the story from more of a fact centric stance, basing the film on actual events and using the real names of those involved.  The centre of the film, Whitey Bulger (played by Johnny Depp), tells the story of the rise of the Winter Hill Gang in south Boston in the seventies and eighties.  More specifically, it looks to shine light on the notoriety of Whitey and how he was able to be as brutal as he was without having to worry about law enforcement.

Cooper's film focuses on bringing the audience into the experience by incorporating south Boston as a true character of the story, taking us from main streets to tiny alleys, surrounding us with distinct architecture of the historic town.  While the story unfolds, the city remains living and breathing, even though some who cross paths with Bulger don't.  Adding another meticulous layer to the visual and atmospheric experience is the attention to detail that is payed with the wardrobe, hair, and make up.  Truly, Kasia Walicka-Maimone (Moneyball, Foxcatcher) nailed the outfits and costumes out of the park, and sadly I don't have enough room here to mention the entire makeup department, but they deserve loads of credit.


Most impressively transformed through the process were Depp and Bulger's childhood friend turned FBI agent John Connelly, played by Joel Edgerton.  It is difficult to see the actors true faces on display here, and while part of that is due to the cosmetic and physical alterations (I swear Edgerton must have packed on a good few pounds for this role) it is mostly because these two actors are standouts in completely embodying the characters they play.  The sad part is that a lot of the general movie going public may not even know Edgerton's name, and it will probably stay that way as I am predicting he will unjustly be left out of Oscar talk.  We all know what Depp is capable of, but the fact that Joel Edgerton was able to keep pace with him throughout was the main takeaway for me.

The movie is shot brilliantly, with great cinematography and soundtrack steering us through the scenes.  The problem, however, is the fact that the scenes stood out to me as just that... scenes, and seldom part of a flowing story.  The biggest problem with the film was the disjointed narrative, which switched from being told from the 'perspectives' (I use that loosely, because segments told from the view points of different characters felt no different from what we had seen prior) of those involved to third person.

The film takes place over a number of years, which could be difficult to tell seamlessly, but it is doable.  A great number of films do this, but Cooper seemed to struggle with how to pull it off and left me feeling like I just witnessed a scattering of moments and not a full story.  This is unfortunate, because there is a lot of gold here.  I have praised many aspects already, and within Black Mass are some truly memorable and unsettling scenes.  I will be quoting this film for years to come, and there is a good chance that I will be owning it as well.

The finished product, comprising of such wonderful technical displays of talent and lush acting performances, was a bit of a let-down.  The fractured narrative took what could have been a film that is held in the same regard as Goodfellas and bumped it down a notch.  It will be interesting to see what the shelf life of this film is, because I could see it sustaining in pop culture for a while.  There are just too many intriguing moments that take place for it to be totally forgotten, but not enough to guarantee its place in cinematic history.

Rating - 3 out of 4 stars

Johnny Depp - The Mimic of Hollywood

It is getting close to game time, and I am pumped.  Johnny Depp is playing Whitey Bulger in Black Mass, and my excitement for this has perpetually increased from the moment I heard of this project's conception.  The source material is incredible, allowing for many possible angles, tones, and emotions for the story to take.  When the teaser trailer dropped, I viewed it multiple times, drawn in by the captivating and driving force behind what could make this movie truly stand out, and that is Mr. Depp.

There is some lingering sadness in me over the fact that many people think of quirky and insane characters when they hear the name Johnny Depp.  I will admit that he was the best part of Pirates of the Caribbean (conjuring a performance that stole every single scene he was present for), but the past ten plus years have allowed audiences to forget exactly who we are dealing with when we sit in front of a screen projecting his image.

This is a man who came on the scene as the sweater-vest wearing jock Glen (even though he was undersized physically for the roll) in A Nightmare on Elm Street, a performance that assisted in bringing a sense of real teenage emotion and presence in the midst of a torrid nightmare.  He portrayed innocence, timidity, and morality in Platoon.  And then he was a heartthrob on 21 Jump Street.

From that point onwards, his rolls were all over the board.  From a freak with snipping little scissor fingers to playing the king of B-movies, Ed Wood, he threw everything possible into each role.  There is always an absolute conquering of mannerisms in his performances, completely embodying all physical characteristics for his role.  Facial ticks?  Yep, they exist differently in each performance.  Posture?  Yep, that changes too.  

For those who have no seen Depp playing real life drug dealer George Jung in Blow, I highly recommend it.  And, if you are able to, watch the audio commentary that has Jung talk about the movie via a phone call from prison.  Hearing him speak you can understand just masterfully Depp captured the exact sound of his voice.

Jung was astounded by what Depp did in Blow, and referred to him as a mimic.  This is exactly why I am looking forward to Black Mass so much.  It is a chance to see the talents of one of the best (if not the best) mimic actors in Hollywood history playing one of the most notoriously known gangsters in history.  He won't be wearing funny hats or acting for laughs, which is what most think of when they hear his name.  He will be returning to the craft that he owns a monopoly on, and he will be doing it with cold, psychopathic, cruelty.

Diversity Trumps Super Powers

What says 'Summer Blockbusters' better than super hero movies?  Apparently, according to the summer of 2015, the answer is Universal Studios.

Ever since Marvel and Disney launched The Avengers, the movie industry has had an unhealthy attraction to the development of what was then being called the 'shared universe.'  This was when you could have multiple franchises existing in the same story line which could culminate in a major cinematic event, much like The Avengers.

It's a golden goose, really.  It worked for Marvel, so why would it not work for everyone else?  It became the catalyst for studios to shift the long term focus and roll out schedules of franchises and properties that would nail what Marvel and Disney did in 2012.  The problem with this strategy is 'the year 2012.'  The earth survived death via ancient calendar, and was also the landmark year for super hero movie success in The Avengers.

Three full years have passed since then, and the 2012 movie has yet to have another super hero conquer it.  The world wide gross for The Avengers is $1.5 billion, and the only other super hero flicks that have gotten within half a billion dollars of it are The Dark Knight Rises (2012, $1.084 billion), Iron Man 3 (2013, $1.215 billion), and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015, $1.402 billion).

What is the point of me writing all of this?  Well, the point is that the driving strategy for major studios right now is to strive towards something that is already showing diminishing returns.  Domestically, the second Avengers movie grossed 26.5% less than the first film.  That drop is incredibly substantial for a film that had intentions of beating the mark of the first film.  What really assisted the second Avengers was the overseas reception.  The international markets, especially China, have been gobbling up these big budget films at a furious rate.  However, just as a pinnacle can be reached domestically, so can it be reached over seas.

And this is the high stakes gamble that studios are taking with their push for the shared universe experience that Marvel Studios has.  Any major payoff, such as what The Avengers was, will be coming years down the line as the setup and hype needs to be established along the way.  A lot can change in the cinematic landscape over the course of just one year and viewer trends can change.

Now, let's at a look at the present.  There were three super hero films released this year, compared to a glut of seven on slate for next year.  Each and every one of the three in 2015 fell short of studio hopes, and, in one case, was a financial disaster.  I have already mentioned that Avengers: Age of Ultron failed to replicate the success of the first film, so I won't dwell on that.  Marvel Studios also released Ant-Man this year, and this became a very telling tale for the industry.

Until this point, there was unparalleled success for Marvel Studios.  Last year saw the risk they took in releasing the relatively unknown property Guardians of the Galaxy pay off in big ways.  However, Ant-Man proved that just because something was released as a Marvel Studios film, it was not a guaranteed success.  Ant-Man was a different type of film than the typical fare, and it suffered for it.  Whether the happily modest reception was based on the style of the film, the marketing, or just the lack of care for a hero the size of an ant, I will never know.  What I do know, and what Marvel now knows, is that not just anything will do.

The third, and final, super hero film of 2015 was Fantastic Four.  Fox already has the revitalized X-Men franchise, but to create a shared universe they would need more.  Unfortunately for them, they don't have a lot of rights, so Fantastic Four it was.  Neither of the two earlier films in franchise had been remarkable hits, but when you are trying to play catch up, you use what you have.  The problem is that good movie ideas need to come about organically, and not for a need to merely exist so it can create future films.  There was not much kind to be said about the film when it was released, from critics, viewers, cast, or crew.

Next year will be the big tell of exactly how everything is heading in the world of super hero movie dollars.  The ever so bloated Superman V Batman: Dawn of Justice is coming out in March.  Warner Bros and DC Comics have a lot riding on this film.  If anyone is to challenge the supremacy of The Avengers (and remember, that supremacy is one that is getting financially weaker), it is DC.  What laid the backbone for this was Zack Snyder's Man of Steel in 2013.

While the film took home a hearty $668 million world wide, it is not the monstrous success it appears to be if we take a closer look at the financials.  BoxOffice.com reports that its final budget after production and marketing expenses was $300 million.  That means, because the studios share profits with the exhibitors, a likely estimate on actual profit is close to $70 million.  That's correct, the film did not even make $100 million in profit and is now part of one of the costliest, long term gambles in cinema history.  If Dawn of Justice is a flop, all of the work they have done in creating their vision of the shred universe is dead instantly.

To me, this is simply the yellow highlighter that has been used to mark up the page.  This strategy, and the ones pouring from other studios, is designed around something that appears to have possibly already peaked.  It is based around a success that happened three years ago.  People may already be tiring of super hero main event films, and coming in second, third, or fourth place in this race means you missed out and possibly lost a lot of money.

The alternative would be to go your own way to use a diverse slate of films that engages different audiences, different genders, different ages, and different races.  That concept seems counter-intuitive to the Hollywood system.  Look for the young male demographic, and keep swinging as you mine their money.

Universal is already the uncontested winner of 2015, and there are still four months left.  What they did, for lack of super hero franchises, was embrace diversity.  They released successes from Fifty Shades of Grey to Straight Outta Compton.  They had global smashes in Furious 7 and Jurassic World, but they also owned smaller wins with Pitch Perfect 2 and Trainwreck.  This past week saw the micro budget horror The Visit nail a $20 million opening weekend.  While everyone else has a singular focus, the biggest lesson to be learned is that movies aimed at different audiences and different genres is indeed the way to go.  It is inarguable.  Just look at Universal's numbers and tell me I am wrong.

Hair Cuts and a Mid Life Crisis

So, I had mentioned that my cat had recently gotten himself a haircut.  The feline is a complete slob who lets himself go and worries not about appearance.  I'm fine with that, other than the fact that his laziness creates mats in his fur that I know bother him a great deal.  So, after a final verbal warning for him to get his shit together, off the little feller went to be sheared like a sheep.

(Here he is about to shoot lightning out of his eyes)

He was not the only one who saw the business end of snippers and shears.  I as well had some follicular issues to tend to.  I am never a fan of getting my hair cut.  When I see a barber I am a prisoner of a chair most comfortable, but instead of being able to allow my mind to just dissolve into contemplative thought, I am forced to partake in neighbourly chit-chat with the wielder of scissors.  For that reason, I am fine with just letting my hair grow to the point where it was of similar condition to my cat... mats.  A few new ones each day.  

I guess ordinary folk would call these messy balls of hindered hair 'knots' or 'tangles', but that seemed too refined for a recluse such as myself.  I was jealous of my cat's prowess, so, out of desire to imitate and impress him, I call them mats.  Each morning the brush held court with my hair, and each morning the battle would yield a mini handful of fallen strands, separated for eternity from their comrades.

Wednesday of last week was the day I took the plunge, which was one day after my cat.  I should not complain too much about the experience, because my destroyer of hair is a very skilled and friendly lady who doesn't spend all of her time annoying me with stupid and trivial facts about her nephew that I care not for.  She rocks, and so did the cut that she left me with.

The problem that arose from all of this was something that I had long suspected and thought about, but was never brought completely to the forefront.  My forehead is grandiose.  Consider it ultra nationalistic, wanting to share my head with none other than itself.  My hair, on the other hand, is passive to a fault (except on humid days where it decides that it will do its own thing, no matter how hard you try to dissuade it).  Faced with any confrontation, it will backdown for the sake of peace.

I really do admire its gentle nature, but after getting my hair cut I am able to see just how much its pacifism has cost me.  My forehead is getting huge, conquering lands that were once lush with hair, clear-cutting indiscriminately and felling all that gets in its way.  Perhaps I should be happy that I made it this far into life before I became betrayed by my hair.  Maybe I should just begin shaving my head so that nobody notices that there is an uneven distribution of hair across my dome (the way it's going, I could see myself pulling off a sweet comb-over within ten years).

I believe that the best option to embrace is to allow my departing hair be the starter's pistol for a mid-life crisis.  I know that technically I am not halfway towards the estimated end of my life.  In Canada, apparently men are expected to fall dead just shy of their 80th birthday.  However, I have some privileged information that Health Canada, or whoever comes up with those numbers, does not.  I know exactly what I eat as well as my physical condition.  Based on a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey approach to calculations, I figured I am on borrowed time.  The good news?  This means that my mid life crisis is long over-due.

A big option staring me in the face right now is to get myself a motorcycle and ride it like nothing else.  This is a possible outlet that could work well, as my wife's family is a biker family.  I would finally no longer be the outcast who prefers four wheels and crumple zones surrounding me as I travel.  However, I am shit on bikes.  If there is an opportunity for me to fall off one, I never miss it.  This has been something that I was skilled at from a young age and have refined more and more as life has gone by.  So, bikes are out of the question.

Another option that I have seen people do is to get frosted tips in their hair and have it spiky.  Do you remember frosted tips?  I sure do, and I think that one of the things that goes along with the mid-life crisis is to grab onto something that you, at one point in time or another, thought cool.  Or, you could go the route of adapting to what you see in current music videos, which is why I have witnessed a number of middle aged men over the past few years sporting a faux hawk.  Because of the war of attrition being fought by my forehead, expressions of youth through hair alone is out of the question.

I guess there are other options that float around for the middle aged to explore when hitting their crisis.  I could get a jet boat, perhaps.  I have heard that trying to find a younger mate is a hobby as well, but I am happiest when I am with the one I already have.  Technically she is younger than me, anyways.  Nine months, to be exact.  Recreational drugs are a common outlet, but I know I would just end up making more of a fool of myself than normal if I went that route.

The only safe and reasonable option for me would be to emulate what was 'cool' when I was in grade eight.  I was not able to pull it off then, but I know that with the wealth of worldly knowledge I have gained since, I have a better than average chance of success.  This means I need to track down some hyper-colour shirts, some button-fly jeans, and style my hair like I am Brandon from 90210.  I know that I have already mentioned that I will fail in hair styling attempts, but this is an 'all in' sort of maneuver.  I think having a fanny pack with neon yellow and pink will go well to enhance the style.  Bring out the C & C Music Factory soundtrack, it is time to get on with my mid-life crisis!

The Visit

REVIEW: The Visit

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan.

Rating - 3 out of 4 stars

Well, it’s been a while since I have sat at the keyboard and logged into the blog.  The absence has been partially due to life circumstances, as well as having an inbred ability to get instantly distracted by my cat, John McClane.  He’s badass, which he should be.  He drinks his coffee black and takes no prisoners.  He recently had to get a hair cut due to the mighty amount of mats that took root in his powerful coat.  As great as he is, McClane has an aversion to grooming himself, hence the mats.  I wanted to ask the groomer if she was up for giving him a stylized shaving to make it look like he was wearing a tank top, but I figured such a request would get me in trouble from my wife.

Enough about my cat for now.  Let’s chat about someone who has been away from the movie scene and considered knocked down from former heights.  M. Night Shyamalan caught the eyes of movie goers in 1999 with The Sixth Sense, which elevated his name quickly.  In 2002, Signs was another major hit for the director, and he was firmly established as a director whose name alone could be used as a marketing tool.

And then he fell.  The warning signs were visible in The Village, where it had by then become obvious that he was determined to have a twist ending in his films.  The Lady in the Water, released in 2006, was the first major release of his that lost money.  This was also his first major release that was not under Buena Vista, whom he had worked with for four films.  

The following years brought three more films from three different studios that were not really welcomed by either critics or the public.  It ended in 2013 with After Earth, which was considered by some as a vanity project from the Smith family to showcase the acting dexterity of young Jaden Smith.  Whatever the reason for the project, it left Sony with a huge financial loss, and Shyamalan appeared as though he had burned through studios willing to work for him.

Because of his lack of success, major backing for a film did not seem like an option for Shyamalan.  What ended up happening was working with micro-budget producer Jason Blum to get a found footage film from pen and paper to cinemas across the world.  Universal, who has been the powerhouse studio this year, laughing in the faces of everyone who says you need superhero movies to be successful, got behind the project.

Why am I talking about all of this and not simply reviewing his latest film, The Visit?  Well, for two reasons.  First off, I love an underdog story.  While I may not be a fan of Shyamalan or many of his works, I love rooting for the person his coming back with something to prove.  Secondly, I am not going to write a standard review for this movie, but instead examine one major talking point that I took away from it.

I’ll be completely honest about the film and not sugar coat a thing.  This is not a perfect movie at all.  Saying that it has a twist is not a spoiler.  An actual twist to this movie would be if it didn’t have one.  There are some ham-fisted moments of people over-coming their fears.  The antagonists are a sketch of different ideas of what ‘creepy old folk’ would act like.  The camera feels like it is held by a professional camera person and not the characters in the story.  This may seem nitpicky of me, but in a found footage film the camera is not an outside eye, it is actually a character.  

Speaking of characters, the protagonists instantly turned into idiots in the third act.  I was cheering and rooting for them to die.  I know that may leave you believing that I am a horrible person for feeling such things, but stupid people don’t deserve to stay alive in the movie world.  They are the people who look in the barn after all previous idiots have not returned from investigating.  They are the people who investigate things when their lives are in danger.  Digital Projection Darwin says they need to be thinned off to enhance the herd, and I agree with him on this one.

I say all of this, and yet I am recommending the movie.  The reason why is because M. Night Shyamalan returns to the most basic and yet oft neglected and forgotten foundations that make a successful horror or thriller - characters.  We need solid characters who we can feel like we know so we attach to the fear and worry that they experience.  I believe that for horrors, the story should be about the characters with tension added in.  What happens most of the time is stories of tension with characters forcefully inserted.

At the heart of The Visit are a young sister and brother, Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and Tyler (Ed Oxenbould).  They are heading off to visit their mother’s parents, whom they have never met before.  Right away I rolled my eyes at both of the children who I knew I would be forced to spend an hour and a half with.  They were tropish little ones.  Becca spoke like she had been born on the set of Gilmoure Girls, and was the standard teen intellectual.  Bring on another straight laced bookworm!  Tyler was a thirteen year old who goofed off and wore his pants low.  Way to break the mould, Shyamalan.

This is where M. Night wove his magic on me.  He took characters who I instantly wanted to discard and made me care for them and love them.  When they were done acting like idiots in the third act, I was quick to forgive them for being so dumb.  When they emerged from their ham-fisted scenes, I cheered.

This was all achieved because Shyamalan took time with Becca and Tyler.  He showed us their true characters, and turned them from cardboard cutouts into individuals who I felt like I actually knew.  Even with me feeling a disconnect from the steadiness of the camera (something that rips me out of found footage movies.  Seriously, the character should hold the camera.  There should be absolutely no camera credits in a found footage film.  That’s how it’s done.  Just look at Creep, which is also a production under Jason Blum.  It is much more organic.), I cared for the little third act dullards.  

I believe that if I counted, the issues I had with this film would out-weigh the positives.  While Shyamalan was able to set up visually uncomfortable and scary scenes, they felt tacked on afterwards.  And then there was the sound.  It was which was incredibly well done and intimate, but then was ruined by having a loud noise to coincide with a jump scare.  And, the film had a twist that made the characters act stupid.

Sigh, I guess it was a wonderful mess.  With all of the faults, it had a solid and heartfelt foundation.  The Visit is a solid comeback for M. Night Shyamalan, one where he shows that heart needs to come before scares in a horror.  The movie is carried by his attention to Becca and Tyler, as well as the performances of Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould.  And hey, Kathryn Hahn plays their mother, and she is always wonderful.  There are many laughs to be found in this film, a bit of eye rolling, and some chilling sequences.  When the credits were rolling I was smiling, which meant the ticket price was well worth it