Displaying items by tag: Georgina Campbell

COLD STORAGE

US, 2026, 99 minutes, Colour.

Joe Keery, Georgina Campbell, Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, Sosie Bacon, Gavin Spokes, Vanessa Redgrave, Ellora Torchia, Rob Collins, Richard Brake.

Directed by Jonny Campbell.

This film opens, surprisingly, in Western Australia. An indigenous man, Rob Collins, is placing a desperate phone call to a scientist in Rome. In his outback town, all the inhabitants have climbed desperately on to their roofs and their bodies have exploded. An explanation is suggested that when Skylab crashed into the ocean, bits of debris landed in the Australian desert. And, one of the pieces of debris was a container with a scientific experiment to be tested in outer space – and, now, it is beginning to wreak havoc in Western Australia.

This is very serious. And, in its way, it is. Liam Neeson and the scientist arrive in Australia with an associate, the mysterious fungus has escaped, destructive. Liam Neeson’s task is to collect the remnants, transport them to the US, bury them deep down below ground and there they will be contained forever. But, as science fiction and fantasy, not likely!

For those who enjoy a very serious science-fiction, mysterious and expanding, death-gripping fungi with the living dead, they will have to adjust their expectations. Liam Neeson, with so many action shows behind him, has moved into comedy with the reworking of The Naked Gun. Cold Storage is more in that vein, oddball characters, dangerous situations, farcical turn of events, some dialogue accordingly.

And, part of the surprise is to look at some of the supporting cast. Serious British actress, Lesley Manville, is in deadpan mode as Neeson’s assistant. And, suddenly, there is Vanessa Redgrave, a widow who is checking out the storage room containing her husband’s memories, getting caught up in the gunfire and all the strange action – because the US authorities thought the fungi threat was long closed, signed off the deep storage area for commercial purposes, not much really going on there and supervised by a former prisoner on nightshift.

The fungus is loose.

So, no spoilers except to say that the night guard, played by Stranger Things’  Joe Keery, a chatterbox klutz hero, is matched with a rather intrepid Georgina Campbell as a security guard – and they are caught up in all kinds of dangers, threats, escaping fungi on the loose, exploding bodies and a final solution to the crisis. Or is it?

1. Science-fiction? Space exploration, consequences? But, signs-fiction parody? Satire? The blend of the serious and the comic?
2. The title, the background with Skylab, experiments, the breakup, the desert town, Western Australia, the experiment, the fungus, the escape, the destruction, physical and human? The scientist – and her destruction? The officials, the capture of the sample, Kansas and the deep storage? Time passing, the visuals dying, authorities not taking notice? The sale of the plant, the storage centre?
3. The plausibility of the central themes, Skylab, the experiments, the debris and the dangers? Containing the experiment, its getting loose?
4. The opening, the indigenous man, the phone call, Western Australia, the scientist in Rome, his desperation, her arrival, with Robert and Trini?
5. 18 years later, the storage plant, in the desert? Teacake and his job, from prison, his personality, chatterbox, klutz? Griffin and his dominance? Naomi, her job, supervision, reaction to Griffin, her husband and daughter, security, reaction to Teacake and his chatter?
6. The signals, the decision to search, Teacake and his job, the reason for his nickname, Naomi and her daring, the picture, breaking the wall, going down, the discovery of the signals, the bridge?
7. The transition to the information base, and, the phone call, discussions with Robert, the scepticism of the supervising officer and his dismissal of the theories from the past? Robert, waking, assessing the situation, going to visit Trini, the continued contacts with Abigail, the plan, the travel, the plane, with Trini and her son and the domestic conversation, the car, arriving at the plant?
8. Play on zombie themes, the discussions, the humans exploding, the exploded courses? The clues and infection?
9. The information, the discussions with Naomi, irritation with Teacake, their decisions, hiking, her husband’s arrival, the contamination, his threats? Griffin coming back, the team, stealing the television sets, and the infected deer? The gradual infection, the husband exploding? Griffin and the gun, the confrontations with Teacake?
10. The plan, Robert, the bomb, setting the to do to install it, his disabling all the vehicles, Trini and her arrival, the confrontation with Griffin?
11. Teacake rising to the situation, Naomi sensible, the timing, coming up the steps, the vehicles, the timing of the explosion, in the car, driving to safety?
12. And, the horror at the end with the infected deer?

THE WATCHERS

US, 2024, 102 minutes, Colour.

Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouere, Oliver Finnegan, John Lynch.

Directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan.

We are in the west of Ireland, an isolated forest, a young man stumbling through, climbing and falling from a tree, disappearing. Seems a reasonable start for an eerie terror film, drawing on some of the old tales of fairies, halflings, ancient folk living beneath the surface and emerging to frighten – even in the 21^st-century.

Dakota Fanning plays an American, Mina, working in a shop in Galway, running away from her sister and the memory of the death of her mother, full of guilt (shown later in the film with startling detail). When she drives to the edge of the forest, audiences will be, rightly, apprehensive. We have seen the signs, Point of No Return. Mina is lost but is urged by a strange old woman, Madeline (Olwen Fouere) to seek refuge in a mysterious concrete bunker there in the middle of the forest.

The film is based on a novel by A. M. Shine, from Western Ireland himself, intrigued by the stories of the strange folk, an academic who has pursued serious studies in writing on his themes. In fact, listening to Madeline explain herself and her research, instantly echoing the career of Shine. And, it emerges that there has been an academic investigating these themes, responsible for the bunker, leaving a lot of records of his research. In the flashbacks and videos, he is played by veteran Irish actor, John Lynch.

Mina finds two others in the bunker, the young man, Daniel (Oliver Finnegan) is one saw struggling in the opening and a young woman, Ciara (Georgina Campbell), who has been separated from her husband who keeps pounding on the door of the locked bunker. The four are trapped in the forest, cannot escape, forage in the forest, but also watch television programs in the bunker.

And, The Watchers themselves, eerie characters, sometimes glimpsed, skeletal, but frequently heard, especially when huge flocks of black birds fly overhead and swoop. And the drama as the audience sharing the mystery, the quest, the hopes for escape, with Mina.

For movie buffs and fans of writer-director, M. Night Shyamalan (remembering The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village), he is the producer here and the writer-director is his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan, and she is certainly following her father’s lead, atmosphere, tone, mystery, suspense, and twists in final explanations.

1. Title and expectations? Eerie? The screenplay based on the novel by A.M.Shine? Themes and atmosphere?
2. The work of the director, in the footsteps of the career of her father?
3. Irish folklore, over the centuries, the strange people, fairies and variations, legendary stories, ghostly, frightening people, appearances and disappearances…?
4. The opening, Daniel in the forest, his age, alone, the Point of No Return signs, the night, as stumbling, climbing the tree, falling, the huge flock of birds? His disappearance?
5. Mina and her story, American, in Galway, running away, the later flashback of the drive, the girls, her wilfulness in the car, her mother, the crash and death? Phone calls from her sister? Working in the shop, going out on the town, the black wig, flirting? Job, the bird, the cage? Relationship with the bird? Driving through the forest?
6. The car breaking down, the signs, wandering, getting lost, the disappearance of the car, encountering Madeline, her urgency, the warnings? The audience sharing Mina’s bewilderment?
7. The bunker, finding Daniel, Ciara and the disappearance of her husband, the explanation of their being trapped, The Watchers, stage, the glass, the Watchers outside, observing the humans – and the motivation? The humans and their performance?
8. Beginnings of explanations, Madeline telling the stories, life in the bunker, hunting outside, food, and the irony of the television with the reality shows? Time passing? Discussions of escape?
9. John at the door, voice, the plea, resisting? The Watchers and their taking over the humans like John?
10. Mina and her daring, going down the hall, the rope, finding the bicycle and other equipment? The threats and destruction with the cycle?
11. The discovery of the basement, the technology, the computers, the files, the videos with Kilmartin explaining, his obsessions, research?
12. The escape plan, Madeline leading, running through the forest, the pursuit, getting out?
13. Mina and return to her flat, the escape, having Kilmartin’s files, going to the University, going to his office, taking the material, going to see Ciara, Madeline, the Watchers and their attempts to take over?
14. The explanations, Kilmartin, Madeline, part human, part Watches, the plan, on the women, the taking possession of the young girl, wandering the city of Galway, taking her stand outside the window? But Mina reunited with her family?
15. A film for the Irish audience, those intrigued by this kind of folk story and legend?