The Cineskinny on Coyote vs. Acme, Resident Evil & more

Resident Evil

Jamie Dunn: The most fun I’ve had at the cinema since we all last spoke was Resident Evil. I really enjoy the 2000s films – the dialogue and the acting are terrible, but Paul W.S. Anderson is such an inventive filmmaker. But this new version's swap of badass action hero Milla Jovovich for Austin Abrams’ schlubby delivery driver was inspired.

Ellie Robertson: It’s got everything; it’s funny, frightening, gory and gross. Each monster is its own setpiece that builds incredibly well. You just see a little tentacle and are like, ‘Oh fuck where are we going with this?’

Austin Abrams in Resident Evil. Image courtesy of Vertigo / Sony Pictures Entertainment

JD: I agree. Zach Cregger, the director, has such skill at pacing and building a sense of escalation. Abrams’ character’s worries start small. He’s one zombie to fight off, and then an infected dog, and then he has all sorts of gooey mutants to contend with. I was a fan of the human tumbleweed thing [basically a dozen people stitched together] and the adorable little girl with the terrifying tentacle foot.

ER: Abrams’ character is great – the main character is a sort of blank slate in which we’re supposed to see ourselves. He can’t shoot, but he can say “what the fuck?” in a million different intonations.

JD: He’s so good that I’m excited to see Whalefall, a film about a scuba diver who gets swallowed by a sperm whale.

Peter Simpson: Swallowed by a whale?

Anahit Behrooz: Wait, like Jonah?

JD: I’m rubbish on the Bible. Think Geppetto, Pinocchio's dad, but played by a shrieking Austin Abrams in a wetsuit...

Coyote vs. Acme

PS: Speaking of people getting swallowed up whole and spat out, did some of you go and see Coyote vs. Acme? The film that The Big Studios tried to put In A Cupboard?

AB: I can’t believe we’re moving right past my timely Biblical references but OK. I went to see Coyote vs. Acme and it FUCKED. Very David and Goliath story on both a narrative and meta level. I cannot believe Warner Bros tried to shut down a film all about a tyrannical corporation taking advantage of the little guy.

ER: There isn’t a film genre that can’t be improved by painting the Looney Tunes all over it. Sports epic? Boring. Space Jam? Masterpiece.

AB: Roger Rabbit and the film noir! People keep saying "what new Muppet adaptation should we do?" but I think it’s time we started thinking about the power of a Looney Tunes twist.

Wile E. Coyote in Coyote vs. Acme. Image courtesy of Altitude.

ER: This is a legal thriller where Wile E. Coyote is taking the Acme corporation to court, with the help of a pathetic little lawyer played by Will Forte, the closest we can get to a human version of Wile E. Coyote. The relationship between Wile E. and Road Runner makes for one of the most beautiful, and most homoerotic, on-screen dynamics since Camp Miasma.

PS: What should we Looney Tunes next?

ER: Next time Sam Mendes does a war film he should put Porky Pig in the trenches.

JD: A Looney Tunes erotic thriller?

AB: What would the plot be?

JD: Daffy and an in-drag Bugs Bunny bone; turns out Bugs is killing toons with an ice pick…

Sense and Sensibility, and an attempted discussion of Claude Chabrol

PS: I haven’t watched any new releases but I did watch The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, as well as Deep Impact (RIP a large part of the Earth) and Human Traffic (RIP the 90s rave scene). This has been an interesting month, and that’s reflected in my viewing choices…

ER: When I heard The Skinny was in trouble I randomly started rewatching Chernobyl. It’s always nice to remember things could be worse.

AB: I watched the new Sense and Sensibility in much the same ‘needing to be grounded’ kind of way. I do think an adaptation needs to either capture or subvert the spirit of the book and this one just seemed like it misunderstood a lot of the emotional complexities of the original. There was one scene where Willoughby turns around and I was reminded so viscerally of my ex, so who is the emotional idiot here really?

Daisy Edgar-Jones in Sense and Sensibility. Photo courtesy of Focus Features

ER: For a higher quality adaptation of Sense and Sensibility we might need to get the Resident Evil guy on the horn.

PS: "Hi Jane! It’s your cousin Marvin… Marvin Austen!" then just four or five minutes of screaming.

JD: The one silver lining of all this is going to movies in the middle of the day, and it turns out lots of people have free afternoons. I tried to see a Friday matinee of Claude Chabrol’s Le Boucher at GFT and there were like three seats left. Does everyone bunk off work on a Friday to watch movies?

AB: Jamie trying to bring this into high-brow mode, God bless. I did not go watch Claude Chabrol on a Friday but I did also watch The Love Hypothesis and Pollyanna.

PS: You know me, I would love to discuss the finer points of the French New Wave with you, Jamie, but we are unfortunately out of time…

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