A kid had to face the world in his own animated version and conquer life's biggest monster. ANI (The Harvest) It's as if a child's imagination is a safe haven, a place where the world is a playground for all the possibilities the mind could think of. And even the tight and humble space called home, situated on a busy Metro could not hinder the inquisitive headspace of a young Mithi (played by Zyren Dela Cruz), a boy who accomplishes the day by playing with his colorful toy robots that perform a vital role in his imaginary narrative. With a loving father and a mother that sings him a self-assuring lullaby, Mithi is blissfully unaware of the harsh reality. But life decided to toy with his fate, and Mithi's perfect little world is now showing its cracks, putting his vulnerability to the test and slowly depriving him of his happiness he thought would last forever. And through his eyes, the world suddenly transforms itself into a menacing monster. Set in a lush ...
"Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Vile and Evil" Movie Review - A Good But Sugar-Coated Version of a Killer
A closer look at the psyche of the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy from the perspective of her long time girlfriend. An extremely wicked, shockingly vile and evil tale of a man and his horrific murder accounts.
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Vile and Evil - Photo from IMDb
One of the most trivial and complicated cases of our history, the killings of Ted Bundy, from the early 70's has brought so much impact not just to the lives of the victims and their relatives but also to the American justice system as a whole.
Back in January, in an attempt to revisit such cruel times in the United States, Netflix released a documentary named Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, directed by Joe Berlinger about a series of interviews with Ted Bundy and every pivotal people involved with the whole case that brought the courtroom into a colossal mayhem.
Joe Berlinger's Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Vile and Evil promises to get us closer to the psyche of Ted Bundy (Zac Efron) through the perspective of her girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer (Lily Collins).
Zac Efron as Ted Bundy - Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Vile and Evil - Photo from Bloody-Disgusting
Weirdly enough, this film adaptation feels more like a gushing attempt to humanize Bundy instead of focusing on the horrors of his vile murders.
And much like Bundy himself, who charms his way out of the situation with his strong belief of his innocence, the movie does feel like it wants you to also believe that Bundy was wrongly convicted.
But is the movie actually good or extremely wicked as the title suggests?
For one, this film feels like a movie made for Efron. Akin to Bundy's natural looks, seductive masculinity and unapologetic intelligence, Efron did qualify for all these qualities, thus making the interpretation much more believable with a subtle hint of sinister hors d'oeuvre reminding the audience that his beautiful facade was only skin-deep.
While I like Berlinger's interpretation, I also feel like there's a lot more juicy details that were left out in favor of making this film a lot less gruesome and shockingly vile.
Let's Be Reel
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Vile and Evil has a lot of good qualities as a film and is effective at putting the audience in the courtroom as if we were the juries. This Berlinger version of Bundy is awkwardly dashing which was not the whole point of the movie if you think about. The acting is great, highlighting the best assets of its actors.
Same can be said about the cinematography, which also highlights the efficacy of Berlinger as a director and as a filmmaker who knows what he wanted to do and for the most part, delivers.
Despite of all these, I still thought that Berlinger could've added more teeth to his storytelling rather than playing it safe.
Overall, Berlinger's narrative didn't showcase the Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Vile and Evil pieces of this crime frenzy, but otherwise, it's a good film.
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