http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjDbJQKDXCY

9.3/10


Next up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG7Oa-8frik

Just started but the sound seems a bit off and the pictures a bit too orange but that might just be the beginning.

It also looks a bit crap going off that trailer. Look forward to reading your thoughts on it

Happy New Year to you Trebor.

Decemberdike # 26
 

The Neon Demon (2016)

I have a love/hate relationship with Nicolas Winding Refn. His films are the cinematic equivalent of a profiterole, gorgeous to look at but once you take a bite you realize there's little substance to them.

The Neon Demon is no different. It's visually stunning but the story is only slight, about a 16 year old girl (Elle Fanning) who goes to LA to become a model. She soon becomes friends with a couple of models and a stylist who will stop at nothing to achieve fame.

In some respects Refn's film is quite fetishistic (I love the opening scenes) and ends up transforming itself from a character study into something resembling a horror film with scenes of cannibalism and necrophilia during it's final 20 minutes.

Where it stumbles somewhat is in the middle third where in truth not an awful lot happens and the film is carried by Refn's excellent visuals rather than any sort of cohesive storyline. It's clear the world of modeling is a superficial place and Refn represents this well with what is a basically a superficial film. Interestingly The Neon Demon constantly reminded me of a couple of films i'd seen previously - the excellent indie horror Starry Eyes (2014) which is almost the same film and David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars (2014), both of which were a more satisfying movie experience with similar themes.

Having said all that i did enjoy The Neon Demon even if it didn't quite scale the heights i was hoping for.

A bit too po-faced for me i'm afraid treb.

I can live with supers movies if they don't take themselves too seriously (like the Iron Man films or Guardians of the Galaxy) or are interesting to me visually (like the Thor films), but i don't get on with all the angsty stuff like most DC films and series and in this case, this film.

What do others think of The Neon Demon?

never seen it..Im limiting myself in 2017 to only watching films by directors called either Al or Ed.

I thought it was brilliant and have seen it twice, including with the commentary by Refn and Elle Fanning, and have bought it to watch again. That said, I really like Drive and Only God Forgives – properly more than you – so went into it with high expectations which I felt it more than met.

I've not seen it, I always think I want to watch it, and then decide that I don't when I go to put it on :lol: I'll see it one day I imagine.

Scarecrows. A gang of armed robbers end up landing their plane in a cornfield where the local scarecrows turn out to be rather more animated - and homicidal - than is usually the case in this fairly mediocre late 80s horror. Started well but got progressively duller and dumber the longer it went. Not the best to start to 2017! :xmastongue:

Interesting you should say that because about fifteen minutes in i considered watching something else instead.