I really loved certain bits of this movie. The fact that this movie is drawing very explicitly from an era and set of influences marked by cheese and schlock makes this a very fun movie, but does make MaXXXine feel less elevated than X or Pearl (whose influence from the grit of the 70s/the pageantry of the 40s maybe lend themselves more to an air of "higher" cinema). It also has much more humor than the previous entries, and the humor that appears feels less sinister, which adds to the fun but again eats away at the elevation. I would say there are issues with pacing that add to the structural problems this film faces, especially in the lead-up to the ending,
with little reintroduction of the father and not much build-up in tension, which is exacerbated by the movie playing in to the "3rd act shootout" trope from the 80s
. I liked that it played with the Night Stalker in terms of the feelings of dread experienced during the time period,
while keeping the plot entirely separate and not bringing him in as a character, outside of his looming presence in the social miasma
. Mia Goth was fantastic, as was Elizabeth Debicki. Most other characters did not really get enough screen time for us to get to know them, also leading to a feeling of some unfinished threads. Overall, however, this was a very enjoyable movie, though I am unsure if it will age as well as Pearl and X have
There is also one scene whose visuals made me feel queasier than anything from any horror I've seen before (and I've seen plenty)
The last in Ti West's and Mia Goth's trilogy, Maxxxine is the least of the films. I generally had a good time with it, mostly because Goth's performance is fearless and engaging - Maxine as Death Wish vigilante is a lot of fun - and the fun West usually has with pastiching the era any given film is set in (in this case, 1985, using the actual Night Stalker history to fuel copy-cat killings). But it unfortunately comes off as rather piecemeal, and the whole thread about Maxine finally getting a proper movie role isn't as well integrated into the larger plot as I would like. It intersects with it, but is it really saying anything about the industry despite Elizabeth Debicki's horror director making speeches about it? It almost connects but doesn't. Similarly, the Satanic Panic climax, which goes even more 80s than that by including buddy cops and a shootout, is kind of just okay. At once predictable and coming out of nowhere, with a great fantasy moment in the middle of it, which is better than the actual ending we then get. There's a lack of focus as the film tries to hit too many beats (whether in service of its lead or its pastiche) and the verdict rests on "that's it?", which is a shame
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schneid67
I really loved certain bits of this movie. The fact that this movie is drawing very explicitly from an era and set of influences marked by cheese and schlock makes this a very fun movie, but does make MaXXXine feel less elevated than X or Pearl (whose influence from the grit of the 70s/the pageantry of the 40s maybe lend themselves more to an air of "higher" cinema). It also has much more humor than the previous entries, and the humor that appears feels less sinister, which adds to the fun but again eats away at the elevation. I would say there are issues with pacing that add to the structural problems this film faces, especially in the lead-up to the ending,There is also one scene whose visuals made me feel queasier than anything from any horror I've seen before (and I've seen plenty)
Siskoid
The last in Ti West's and Mia Goth's trilogy, Maxxxine is the least of the films. I generally had a good time with it, mostly because Goth's performance is fearless and engaging - Maxine as Death Wish vigilante is a lot of fun - and the fun West usually has with pastiching the era any given film is set in (in this case, 1985, using the actual Night Stalker history to fuel copy-cat killings). But it unfortunately comes off as rather piecemeal, and the whole thread about Maxine finally getting a proper movie role isn't as well integrated into the larger plot as I would like. It intersects with it, but is it really saying anything about the industry despite Elizabeth Debicki's horror director making speeches about it? It almost connects but doesn't. Similarly, the Satanic Panic climax, which goes even more 80s than that by including buddy cops and a shootout, is kind of just okay. At once predictable and coming out of nowhere, with a great fantasy moment in the middle of it, which is better than the actual ending we then get. There's a lack of focus as the film tries to hit too many beats (whether in service of its lead or its pastiche) and the verdict rests on "that's it?", which is a shame