This Weekend - Movie Reviews (Renfield, The Pope's Exorcist, Suzume, A Good Person)

Hello there, movie lovers! Welcome to your One Stop for four reviews of major film releases in any given week. As always, I want to remind you that these are my personal opinions, and feel free to explore any of the films that pique your interest. Let's dive right in, shall we?

Renfield: A Twisted Tale of Dracula's Familiar

Renfield tells the tale of Renfield, Dracula's familiar who tends to his every need. After a chance encounter where he becomes the hero, Renfield decides to break free from Dracula's abuse of control. However, this journey may prove to be harder than he initially thought. This movie is an absolute blast, a delightful mix of horror and humor that leaves you laughing at the sheer absurdity of what you're witnessing.

Nicholas Cage's performance as Dracula is nothing short of spectacular. He eats up the screen with his aura and presence, delivering a performance that is exactly what you want it to be and more. The movie also features an excessive amount of gore, with a real twisted sense of humor about itself. It's a movie where a bad guy gets impaled through the chest with another bad guy's severed arm.

Nicholas Holt, as the lead character, is quite likable. Even Aquafina, who plays a character that is given the last name of Quincy, is passable in this. The film does play fast and loose with the Dracula Mythos, but there are some really nice touches that show that they do have some level of respect for the original work. The film even has a modicum of pathos to it as it blatantly uses Renfield's relationship with Dracula as a metaphor to explore the inner mechanisms of a toxic or abusive relationship.

However, the film's presentation is a bit problematic. It moves so quickly that it leaves no time for moments to really sink in. The editing can get pretty choppy in places, like the movie or at least sections of it were cut to ribbons for no discernible reason. But to be honest, having a movie where it feels like it's going by too quickly is probably one of the best problems that a movie can have. Renfield overall is a ton of fun, and the moments in this movie that work are not only good but fire and easily make its uneven moments more than worth it.

The Pope's Exorcist: A True Story of Real-life Exorcists

The Pope's Exorcist tells the kind of true story of real-life Exorcist father Gabriella Morph who was sent by the Vatican to investigate a possession that may reveal some dark secrets that the church has kept hidden for centuries. This movie is far better than it has any right to be. It uses a Da Vinci Code style plot twist that is actually original and injects some fresh life into what is largely a tired setup.

There's a real way to everything that happens you genuinely feel the ancientness and the power of the demon that the characters are fighting against. But this would all be for naught if the performances weren't up to snuff. They are, most especially Russell Crowe's performance as father Gabriella Morph. He not only puts in effort in trying to make his character feel like a real person, they actually wrote him really well too. He has a personality cracking jokes in a way that doesn't feel forced or inauthentic and there's a real tragedy to the character as well given his backstory and how it continues to haunt him at its core.

However, the film does have its flaws. It uses theology as a plaything that most religious folks can poke holes through. Some of the CGI in this is awful. The family is not as developed or fleshed out as I would have liked, particularly I thought their story just ended too abruptly. As to be expected it does sometimes fall back on Exorcist style tropes but if a formula is done well it's done well. I honestly didn't expect to like this film but it really surprised me.

Suzumi: A Gorgeous Anime with a Twist

Suzumi is the new Makoto Shinkai anime that tells the story of Suzumi, a teenage girl who discovers a door that acts as some kind of portal to a realm where all of time