[Locke]

Both The Frighteners and Alien are very disappointing bluray releases. Did check out the pretty decent Blue Ruin though:

Jeremy Saulnier clearly has a rich understanding of how to make a quality product, on an indie budget. This film feels like a labour of love, and is as much a neo-noir as it is exploitation film as it is an art house experiment. That might sound almost impossible to have so many conflicting thematics sharing the same space but Saulnier has the talent to make it work.

Dwight is a man of few words and so bringing in an actor like Macon Blair who can tell so much through the physicality in his performance is a treat. His eyes betray his dialogue, and his eyes give the truths the dialogue is missing. Looking truly like an every man, it's satisfying that his moments of cool are restrained and natural within the diegesis. I really loved how, even in the violent climax, Dwight is still the same small and scared looking middle aged man, fumbling his way around words and a gun. The way this film makes us care for him, puts back in the punch the strained budget may not be able to add in itself.

Sadly it's everything on paper that lets the film down, or rather the lack of it. It acts like it has something interesting to say, stringing you along with a dense mystery and although we get our answers, the answers just aren't particularly satisfying. Even with a few curve balls thrown here and there. The film keeps you in the dark for way too long, and snuffs out any real potential of its third act developments in the process. You end the film feeling more jerked about than anything else.

Overall though Blue Ruin is a legitimately gorgeous movie that makes up for being so underwritten thanks to the incredible filmmaking talent of Saulnier, his camera and some fake blood. It's certainly worth seeing once, even if you never come back again after.