David Tatlow

Thanks Beth. I think that it’s a matter of preference. I see Aniston and Sudeikis as they appear in most of their other films, so it’s strange to see them playing much seedier characters. It was just something that I couldn’t quite get past. Steve Buscemi was a name originally discussed for the lead, and I think that he would have been a better fit for the drug-dealer side of the personality, but the comedy in the finished film was probably too broad for Buscemi. Comedically, Aniston and Sudeikis were good choices, but character-wise, there could have been better people for it. It doesn’t destroy the film, but it takes a greater leap for me to meet it halfway.

Thanks Meagan! I didn’t dislike the film, it was just that there were too many little things that bugged me and ultimately cost the film a star.

The young ladies (and I think you mean Emma Roberts) equipped themselves well, and the kissing scene really had me laughing. Thanks again for reading.

Do you mean critical or commercial bombs? Commercially, Jen’s films have made over two billion at the box office in the last decade (plus whatever We’re the Millers brings in). Critically, the reviews haven’t been raves, but the kind of film she excels in generally struggles to win acclaim with noted critics due to the fact that they aren’t life-changers or much beyond light entertainment. If you ask me, she’s done fine.

I don’t think it’s a massive stoop. She does well with what she gets here, but I think she’s been better.

I’m a big fan of what Joe Swanberg has done before, and I was going to see this film regardless of what any review said, but your review has increased anticipation hugely. Thanks for relating the film to yourself too – I don’t think that more popular review sites would allow such an invested take on a film in their reviews, so it’s great that this site let’s this happen. Great work!

Thanks for the comment. Note that I use the word “almost” to qualify my statement, as I didn’t think this was a horror film. Horror can be psychological, and the use of darkness in Julian’s gym was pretty terrifying for me. It’s the kind of horror that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to the tropes of the genre. Jump-scares are just an element of horror, just as serial killers, zombies and ghosts are. You don’t necessarily need all or even any of those things to make a horror. This is a horror movie in the way that Lost Highway acts as horror, or even something like Audition. They are psychologically scary.
Your definition of “horror” seems to be focussed mainly on more obvious and popular aspects of the genre, rather than the aspects of it that can often creep into films of this type. von Trier’s Antichrist is another good example. No zombies, no ghosts – just a foreboding and oppressive atmosphere coupled with Willem Dafoe’s creepy-as-hell face (and he’s supposed to be the sane one in the movie!).
As much as I often disagree with Peter Bradshaw, his review also alludes to the scariness of Only God Forgives: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/may/22/cannes-only-good-forgives-ryan-gosling-review

…and I’m not saying that myself and Peter Bradshaw have the correct handle on things, but I think this film has the potential to frighten in a slow-burn kind of way.

The last two lines of what you said bug me a little. I think that there isn’t necessarily a case to call any perception of a film (within reason) “phantasmagoric”. There is enough evidence in Only God Forgives to suggest to me that there are elements of horror there, just not necessarily the ones to which you allude. I’m as desensitised as the next guy, but there is horror in a neon-soaked noirscape, brimming with violence and suggested rape/paedophilia.

The Exorcist one and “Mr Banks Has A Mental Breakdown” almost made me pass out from laughing. Thanks for this – some really funny stuff here!

I think I’ve been fortunate in that my girlfriend shields me from the bad anime…she won’t show me any anime that is out-and-out terrible, unless it’s so bad that it’s funny. Wynter, you continue to impressively examine the things that matter to any discerning anime fan, as well as having fun with it. Thanks for writing this, I really enjoyed it.