Hot Picks
|
|
|
To Your Last Death
USA 2019
produced by Cindi Rice, Jason Axinn, Paige Barnett, Tanya C. Klein (executive), Jim Cirile (executive), John Frank Rosenblum (executive) for Coverage, Ink
directed by Jason Axinn
starring the voices of Ray Wise, Dani Lennon, Morena Baccarin, Florence Hartigan, Benjamin Siemon, Damien C. Haas, William Shatner, Bill Moseley, Mark Whitten, Steve Geiger, Tom Lommel, Ruairí Douglas, Bill Millsap, Jim Cirile, Tanya C. Klein, Paige Barnett, Charles Wyman, Brian Confer
written by Tanya C. Klein, Jim Cirile, music by Rene G. Boscio, art director & lead character artist: Carl Frank, animation supervised by Vicente Saldivar
animation
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Miriam (voiced by Dani Lennon) and her siblings, trophy wife Kelsy
(Florence Hartigan), closet gay Collin (Benjain Siemon) and death metal
rocker Ethan (Damien C. Haas), hate their father Cyrus (Ray Wise), as he
has abused them since childhood, and in turn they pretty much torpedoed
his bid to run for vice president. Now Cyrus, pretty much on his death
bed, has invited them all to his office though for a farewell, which none
of them is too excited about - but an anticipated inheritence might be a
big enough lure. However, Cyrus has called them all to his office to have
them executed by his henchmen. Of the four only Miriam manages to escape.
She goes to the police, but nobody believes her, and given she has a
history of psychotic episodes, she ends up in the psych ward of a hospital
... where she meets the Gamemaster (Morena Baccarin), a woman who tells
her this whole episode is part of a game, and she can go back in time to
save her siblings. And then the Gamemaster sends her back in time to the
point where she meets her siblings at her father's office. She tries to
convince them of the true intentions of Cyrus, but they're reluctant to
listen, and ultimately Cyrus decides to have her killed first to not spoil
all the fun. Miriam can only just overcome her would-be killer (Bill
Mosely), but can only listen to her sister's screams as she dies in a
perverted contraption - which is when the Gamemaster interferes again and
turns back the time so Miriam can save Kelsy, as she has found some fans
among the audience. This time around, Miriam manages to save all of her
siblings, overcome Cyrus's henchmen, and finally, she and family face off
against Cyrus - which is when the Gamemaster interferes again, as this
ending doesn't sit too well with the audience, and she creates a new
situation - which might force Miriam to make some tough decisions and do
thing's she wouldn't want to do, just to save her own life ... William
Shatner kind of narrates the movie, doesn't interfere in the action
though.
Now of course, the premise as well as the storyline as a whole
of this movie are very far-fetched to the point where things don't always
ring true even factoring in the suspension of disbelief - but while this
might be the case, the film's also constructed and told in a way that the
"what happens next?" factor outweighs all other concerns, and
the film's also nicely enough paced to not give one enough time to
second-guess, and by that I don't mean that things are dumbed down - quite
the contrary, many ideas in the film are pretty inspired - but that it has
set out first and foremostly to entertain. Now in regards to technical
aspects, while the character designs and backdrops are very accomplished
and detailed, the animation is not top notch - but the film is well enough
edited and uses interesting angles and effects to still keep things lively
throughout and draw its viewer into what turns out to be a bizarre yet
enjoyable piece of mindfuck.
|
|
|