The Infamous Haunted House Gets Its Own Movie, A Teenager Experiences Life, and A Figure Skater Tells Her Story

 
    So, before I get into my review of the new horror film Winchester, which opens this weekend, I feel the need to illustrate my experience with the viewing of this film. I arrived at the theater approximately thirty minutes before the show started, which was at 7pm. There was a Live Streamed Event option for the showing, which I thought would be cool to see. Sometimes movies do that, and the filmmakers will come out and yak about the movie before you actually see the thing. Anyway, I procured my popcorn, snacks and drink and was in my seat fifteen minutes before show time. As I sat down, an older couple came in and plopped down in the row in front of me, a few seats down to the left. No biggie, or so I thought. For the remaining fifteen minutes before the lights when down and the event started, this couple thought it pertinent to get into a heated debate about which exit of the theater was closest to their car. I kid you not, it lasted fifteen minutes. There was some yelling, and some cursing, and at one point the wife decided to get up and find out for herself what the answer would be. She returned gleaming from ear to ear because in the end, she was right. Then the Live Event started, the directors where there and they blabbed for about a minute. Stars Jason Clarke and Helen Mirren were there and they both took a whopping two minutes to discuss the film and what not. Then they left...and a spiritual medium came out...and for the next thirty-five minutes he held a session where he connected with spirits who were apparently connected somehow with audience members in the theater they were streaming from. I get why this happened, it was a way to get everyone in the mood for what would be an interesting film that dealt with connecting with spirits. However, despite how you may feel about the practice, the whole thing felt like a circus act. The session and the stream eventually ended and the movie didn't start until a half hour later. Why am I telling you this, you might ask? Because as strange and weird as this experience was, it ended up being the perfect metaphor for the movie itself.

   Winchester is an odd film, let me just start with that. I remember visiting the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, and walking through that strange edifice was like sitting in the twilight zone that was my experience watching this movie. There's no rhyme or reason for the way that house is constructed, just like there was no rhyme or reason for the random moments of my night. Hallways lead to mazes, doors open up to walls, rooms have hidden passageways, and there are areas of the house that lead to absolutely nowhere at all. If you've never experienced the Winchester Mystery House, it's an awesome piece of history worth the visit. When I heard they were making a movie about it, I was pretty stoked. The movie is a period piece, set in the early 1900s. Eccentric firearm heiress Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren) believes she is haunted by the souls of people killed by the Winchester repeating rifle. Dr. Eric Price (Jason Clarke) is summoned by the board of her company to assess her mental state, questioning her ability to run the company. Price shows up, and the craziness ensues. On the surface, the movie is a straight-forward haunted house flick chalked full of jump scares and creepy imagery. I'd say that if you are a fan of horror movies, Winchester is entertaining enough.

   The movie's got all the things you need to cook up a spooky story. The acting is good, the music is fine, the setting is creepy, and the story is decent. Winchester, in the way of horror movies, doesn't necessarily offer anything new, and it isn't the greatest horror movie ever made. That being said, there's a charm to this movie that I didn't expect. Even if you've never visited the real house, if you're only familiar with the history, you'll know that this isn't your average haunted house. The Winchester Mystery House, for what it's worth and according to the end credits of the film, is still one of the most famous haunted houses in America. The story about the house, and how they decide to portray it in the film, really lifts this movie above just being a mediocre horror film. Maybe it was the ultra weird experience leading up to my viewing, but I couldn't help but shake the fact that the story itself is just odd and weird, so to expound on it would also be odd and weird. As I write this, I feel like this review is about as confusing as the many floors of the actual Winchester house. Despite the old couple's pissing match, or the strange medium that spoke about as fast as an auctioneer, the movie itself was a fun, creepy, completely entertaining horror movie.

 
 Stepping aside from the craziness a bit, I've continued my journey this week in my Oscar Run 2018. Best Picture Nominee Lady Bird was a heartfelt slice-of-life that completely took me by surprise. I'd heard nothing but good about this movie, and to be nominated has to say something (despite what you may think about the bias within the Academy). By way of synopsis, Lady Bird is about an artistically inclined seventeen-year-old girl (Saoirse Ronan), who calls herself Lady Bird, as she comes of age in Sacramento, California in 2002. That's it. The movie is a narrative of life moments: high school friends, young love, financial instability, preparing for college, dysfunctional families trying to be normal. Yet, throughout all of these moments, writer/director Greta Gerwig was able to weave together a cohesive thread of narrative bliss that meshed these life moments together in a beautiful and touching way. Saoirse Ronan is amazing in this movie, and from the things I've seen her in it's no surprise. She's one of the more talented young actors working today, and she delivers a performance that is real and heartfelt. However, the stand out for me would have to be Laurie Metcalf, who plays Lady Bird's mother, Marion. Marion is a hard-working woman determined to love her kids and raise them right even though they think she's evil and uptight at times. Sound's like just about every teenager/parent relationship right? Metcalf is absolutely amazing in this movie, and both she and Ronan are more than deserving of their respective Oscar nominations. This movie is one to check out for sure.

 
Keeping in line with the Oscar themed flicks, I had the chance to finally see I, Tonya and boy was that movie something! The movie isn't nominated for Best Picture, but actresses Margot Robbie and Allison Janney are nominated for their roles in the film. The movie is sort of a drama/mockumentary about competitive ice skater Tonya Harding (Robbie) as she rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Things get hairy as her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband (Sebastian Stan) intervenes. The story of Tonya Harding is one that is shrouded in controversy and confusion. The movie plays on these notions, offering hilarious interview segments from the principle characters between the dramatized events. Margot Robbie is fantastic in this movie as she brings this believability to her role, and a real raw and inspiring perspective. Equally amazing is Allison Janney, who plays Tonya's hard-hitting mother. There's a reason these women are nominated and it's because they absolutely lose themselves in their roles. As the movie treks along across the events that supposedly occurred, one cannot help but question the believability of the story on screen. It claims to be true, but who will ever know, right? The production of this movie is fantastic. I don't know if Robbie did her own skating or if there was some CGI involved, but I was hooked every time she took the ice. As the controversial events unfold concerning Nancy Kerrigan, the drama takes on this heightened level of insanity that is just bonkers. I loved every minute of it. This movie is raw, funny, inspiring, and insane all at the same time.