Tag: Dylan O’Brien

Send Help (2026) Review

On By troubledproductionsIn ReviewLeave a comment

Quick Synopsis: A dickhead boss is trapped on an island with a co-worker who hates him and is an expert survivalist.

Oh this is painful. This is a very good movie, it’s entertaining, bloody, violent, and has an important message. The issue is, it’s a specific genre that I’m not a fan of. Not horror, not even wilderness horror, a genre/style even more specific. Evil Vs. Evil. Where someone who is clearly an abusive dick comes across someone who they think is innocent but turns out to be sociopathic. What can I say? I like likeable characters, even if they are flawed.

This could have worked, it could have shown her descent into darkness. But to do so, it would have needed Bradley (Dylan O’Briens character) to be more of a dick. Yes, he’s condescending and annoying to Linda (Rachel McAdams), but it could have gone further. Nobody will argue he’s a good person, but if his character was more of a scumbag, the events of the film would have been more entertaining. Firstly, he’s a newly appointed CEO who only got that position because his dad ran the company. He’s clearly a finance bro, yet he’s not that misogynistic. He’s not a feminist, but I feel he’d be more entitled and ruder to women, especially ones who work for him. The closest he gets to that is being kind of creepy to a woman he’s interviewing for a job, but we only find out about that because Linda barges in, which kind of makes her seem unprofessional. Also, that moment is referenced later on, in one of a few situations where it seems like Linda is into him. That’s weird, and kind of devalues her as a character. He can mistreat her, deny her promotion, leave her for dead, and yet she’s still sexually attracted to him.

It’s a shame, as if you took those moments of her lusting over him out, added a few scenes of him calling her the c-word etc, it would be one hell of a film. It’s visually interesting, mostly taking place in daylight, which I always love for a horror movie. The plane crash itself feels horrifying, and you won’t mourn most of the deaths in it. Weirdly, the plane crash isn’t the most violent part of it. That comes from a wild boar. I feel wild boars are like hippos; we don’t really appreciate how scary they can be. Send Help does a great job of showing what they’re like; a massive danger and it takes a lot to kill them. That scene may be among my favourite of the year so far: it’s violent, and indicates just how far she can go when pushed.

Good time to say this: Rachel McAdams is great in this. She tiptoes the line between “I’m just a happy hippy” and “I will cut your f*cking nuts off” as finely as anybody else could. She’s definitely playing against type, but does it so well that you’d assume this was her type. She’d make a great serial killer. In a movie, I mean. Well, maybe in real life too, who knows? #GirlBoss

When I sat down to watch this, I was uncertain as to how it could stretch the premise to nearly two hours. The answer? It can’t. It constantly resets the characters and their motivations. You could edit and reorganise 60% of this films events and it wouldn’t matter. It reminds me of when a TV series gets given 5 more episodes in its final season so the writers have to pull back on character development to fill the unnaturally extended runtime.

Personally, I would have had more of the plane crash victims survive. That way, the film could demonstrate how dangerous the island is by killing them. It would also give Bradley a reason to still be a dick. He could think that a group of alpha males could easily outsurvive a woman, and then he gets more and more panicked when they start to weaken. Or maybe he’s the most injured but still bosses everyone around, and they abandon him because of it, which is when she saves him.

I have been overly harsh on this. It’s a solid 7/10 (which depressingly makes it one of the best films I’ve seen this year). I have no need to watch it again, but if its on netflix and I need something to watch? I’ll give it a go.

Saturday Night (2024) Review

On By troubledproductionsIn ReviewLeave a comment

Quick Synopsis: The world is not ready for the debut episode of Saturday Night Live, but then again, neither are the cast.

I need to start with what will be the core premise of this review: Saturday Night Live is a huge deal, despite fluctuations in quality over the years (and people who say the modern series are the worst have obviously never watched season 6), it’s still a big deal culturally and commercially.

In America. Outside? It only really gets mentioned when a guest is particularly noteworthy or controversial, and even then it never breaks through the cultural barrier past “people who are already aware of American pop culture”. The only time I have seen it mentioned lately my main thoughts aren’t “That’s funny”, it’s “FFS can someone tell these performers to keep a straight face for five minutes?” Americans reading this may feel a bit smug, thinking “knowledge of culture isn’t needed to see a film, just go see it”, and then refuse to watch the Robbie Williams monkey film because they don’t know who he is.

I have seen the first season of SNL, so I’m aware of who most of the characters in this are. That’s a good thing, as Saturday Night assumes you know them, and makes almost no effort to let you know who everybody is. Saturday Night is made for people who already know about the making of the show, and want to see it onscreen. There’s nothing to bring in the casuals. It never escapes the shadow of reality or does much to escape the incredibly specific fan service. The fan service is an issue because it creates a weirdness. We see things happen, like wondering what can happen when you mix Jim Belushi and a bee costume. That only works if you’re aware of what happened in the show, but if you’re aware of what happened, then you already know the first episode of SNL worked, so there’s no drama. At times it needs you to be unaware of reality, and at others, it depends on it for the jokes to work.

The performances are f*cking fantastic though. Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase is funnier than anything the real Chevy Chase has done in years (with the exception of the time that bitter old fuck fell over). Dylan O’Brien is surprisingly unrecognisable as Dan Aykroyd, disappearing completely into the role. I wish Emily Fairn (Laraine Newman) and Ella Hunt (Gilda Radnor) were given more to do as they seem pretty good in those roles (and I hella miss Gilda Radnor and love to see more of her, even if it is just a representation of her). In terms of “most like the performer they’re portraying”, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris is probably the best.

Saturday Night does contain some very funny moments. I particularly liked it when the writers clashed with Joan Carbunkle, who demanded they censor some of their more risque moments. The profane reaction to her demands are damn hilarious, and I want more of that. It’s one of the few times the movie stands still and lets you observe what’s happening, rather than quickly whipping around to the next historical moment.

I’d have absolutely loved it if this was a TV show instead, where we were given more time to know the characters, where the three-act structure of each episode was based around things we didn’t know, rather than the only thing we did.

Reitman has pulled off a FANTASTIC job of recreating NBC in the mid 70’s, but what he’s not done is given a reason to care about it. We’re not an audience, we’re voyeurs being taken for a ride through a world we’re not given a grounding in. It did make me watch SNL again, so yay that I guess?