Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Colossal (2016)

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Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 04-09-2017, 05:49 PM:

After being dumped by her boyfriend, an alcoholic trainwreck returns to her hometown and takes up with an old schoolmate, only to notice that their interactions are influencing a battle between two giant monsters taking place in Korea. At the Regal Union Square Cinemas, New York City.

*****

Every bit as ridiculous as it sounds, this movie features Anne Hathaway as hard-drinking screwup trying to get her life back on the rails. After she returns to her parent’s (conveniently) abandoned house, she runs into Oscar, a former schoolmate who she has a barely remembered history with. He offers her a job in his bar, which she accepts, but is soon distracted by the fact that every time she steps into the small playground near their former school, a giant monster appears in Korea and mimics her every move. For a little while, it’s pretty amusing watching Hathaway’s character trying to piece things together while simultaneously trying to do good by her new boss and patch things up with her boyfriend. But at about midway though, Oscar discovers he has the same ability, and the picture turns into a nasty little number about relationship power struggles, male domination and score-settling and winds up as a wildly contrived revenge fantasy. Hathaway gives it her all, but can’t overcome the movie’s fatal flaw: if you are going to come up with a plot this preposterous, you had better also come up with a decent explanation for it. The filmmakers miss this by a eye-rolling mile.

I can’t recommend this picture, but I CAN recommend the short-subject that plays before it: 5 Films About Technology, which demonstrates how you can use a smartphone to screw up your life (for example, by surfing for porn while your device is still paired with the screen on your mother’s car dashboard). Hysterical, and it got the round of applause that the feature didn’t.