🎬 #161 Things Gone Awry.

‘Best laid plans’ and all that rarely work out. It’s usually from things not working out that film plots are woven into compellingly fun, dark and twisted escapades. This week’s films both have that middle of the night energy, that anarchy feel - were bad decisions are made out of desperation, and once one bad decision is made, it has this nasty habit of snowballing into more carnage. There’s also a lot of turn of the millennium nostalgia this week - please soak up the mayhem.

Happy choosing, happy viewing

Bry

---

FILM ONE: VERY BAD THINGS

1998 Dir Peter Berg
1 hr 40 mins

Very Bad Things was generally hated by critics when it came out. But watching it with my brother, when it was released, I really appreciated just how pitch black of a comedy it was. It was pure chaos. And it really got into that dream-like feeling of something going terribly wrong and having to keep a terribly secret but feeling like you’ll be found out. It has that energy to it. It’s also a kind of peel the curtain back on the Vegas bachelor party cliché, except here, what stays in Vegas really has to stay there or else everyone’s going to prison.

It’s also a commentary on ‘lifestyle’ and the perfect image of a couple in the lead up to their wedding. The desperate lengths they’ll go to-to maintain the idea of status and perfection couple-ism, for anyone watching. And even after all the brutality and violence, the bride still wants her picture perfect wedding. It’s hilarious, dark and devious.

TL;DR: Peter Berg’s insanely dark comedy is a wild ride into the desperate need to keep up appearances.

*Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US and the UK.

Fact: This is Peter Berg’s feature directorial debut.
Bonus: also stars porn star Kobe Tai in her first feature film role.

---

FILM TWO: GO

1999 Dir Doug Liman
1 hr 42 mins

I watched this film a lot when I was younger, a kind of Roshomon but with a drug deal gone wrong. This was Doug Liman’s follow-up to his cult hit Swingers and again, like this week’s first film, it has that late night buzz about it. It was probably, mostly, watched a lot by young people in the early hours of the morning on DVD. It plays like a late night R Rated, alternative universe version of Dawson’s Creek - which was huge at the time.

The cast is great but it’s Timothy Olyphant’s drug dealer that steals the show for me. Menacing, unpredictable - you can’t really pin him down. He’s just lurking around in his apartment alone, almost waiting for shit to go haywire. Just so he’ll have an excuse. Liman’s talent for well told, tight-knit thrillers was cemented in this film. Dive back into turn of the century cinema and get a hit of nostalgia.

TL;DR: Strap in for a heady dose of free-flowing, wild ride energy - as things inevitably accelerate into chaos.

*Available for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US and the UK.

Fact: Doug Liman served as his own cinematographer on the film.