Ben Wheatley is a prominent and potent voice in British cinema. His sophisticated use of practical limitations such as small casts and contained environments have created strong impressions such as the constant menace and discomfort of “Kill List” and the black humor of “Sightseers.” His distinctive use of space in “High-Rise” and “Free Fire” are…
Who doesn’t want a movie to start and end and basically be one big bang? More conflict (and guns) brings better drama, right? In the case of Free Fire, that axiom does not, regrettably, hold true. The film is about an arms deal that goes terribly wrong — and because it goes so very wrong,…
Jean-Paul Sartre famously wrote that hell is other people. Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump’s adaptation of J. G. Ballard’s 1975 novel takes this premise to its (il)logical conclusion, as, in an ironic twist on the title, High-Rise depicts a steady descent into class war-induced delirium, as social and financial divisions steadily turn the eponymous building…
By now those chosen few who’ve sought out Ben Wheatley’s latest, Sightseers (his next film, the English Civil War-set “A Field in England“, opens in UK cineplexes in July), have gotten their fill and hopefully developed an opinion. The film, unleashed upon U.S. audiences in limited release, is one of the darkest I’ve experienced and…
Farts, dogfights, and miscarriages. In part, the perfect additions to a horror flick. Right? Well, not really. But the 26 directors (and 12 producers, and 14 writers) of The ABCs of Death certainly believed so. Otherwise they wouldn’t have added those and a host of other topics involving bodily functions and strange dreamed up shit…
