Better Never Than Late on "Vivarium"

After seeing, and quite thoroughly enjoying "Backrooms", I have been on the search for movies with a similar vibe. One movie that kept popping up on some lists related to my search was "Vivarium". I had never heard of it, but it had Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg. That was more than enough for me. But, if it was anything like "Backrooms", I figured I was in for a treat. I found it streaming on Vizion On Demand for free and turned it on yesterday.

Before I get fully into my review, the movie does have a similar feel as "Backrooms". It is creepy and sinister and dark and slow in certain parts. But that is pretty much where the similarities end. While this movie has a good idea and good actors attached, it is nowhere near the level of "Backrooms". I found the movie to be weird for the sake of weird, and way more boring than anything else. Eisenberg and Poots are up to the task in their roles, but the writing and direction feels slightly lacking in my opinion.

The whole idea of the movie centers around Poots and Eisenberg, a young couple, looking for a new place to live together. They want to start a life with one another and they figure the first step is getting an apartment together. They can't find anything until one day when they stumble into an office building that is selling homes in a new and upcoming developmental neighborhood. The person working at the office building is weird and pushy, but he is intent on getting this young couple to look at one of the homes. He gets them there, shows them around, mimics Poot's character very weirdly and all of the sudden disappears. The couple cannot find a way out of the development, and they keep ending up back at the home, number 9. Every house looks the same, the roads look the same and no one else seems to live there. They try to follow the sun to get out, they write on the roof of the home for help, they try to dig their way out, they even try to burn the home down. Nothing works, and all the worse, the home is unaffected by whatever they do to it. They wake up one day to a baby and a note. The note tells them to take care of the baby and they will be released. The kid is a nightmare and forces the couple to grow to resent one another. Eisenberg becomes obsessed with his hole, Poots tries to play mom and the kid just gets worse and worse.

This all feels like a well thought out idea, but the movie tends to go off the rails far too much. The kid is loud and obnoxious, but never really scary. Eisenberg and Poots do their best to show this couple growing apart, but it was easy to see this coming from the start. The effects and underworld they created for this movie are fine, but you can see this in any other sci-fi movie. And the biggest discrepancy for me, the movie is never all that scary. "Backrooms" did a great job of making us feel like we were living in the space created for the movie. It was creepy and unsettling. The music was perfect for the atmosphere they created. The actors knocked it out of the park. "Vivarium" tried their best to do this before "Backrooms", but it wasn't the same. I wonder if I had seen this before "Backrooms" would I have a different feeling? But that is not the case, and I'm going to be comparing a lot of sci-fi psychological thrillers to "Backrooms" from here on out. I would like to point out that I did think Imogen Poots did prove that she can be a leading actor in movies moving forward. She did a very good job with less than stellar direction and writing to work with in this movie. And sometimes, being weird just to be weird doesn't always work out. The movie just kind of ended and it felt hollow to me. I tried to read a bunch of stuff to wrap my head around it, but everyone has a different theory and they are all over the place.

If you liked "Backrooms" I'd say skip "Vivarium". It just didn't work all that well for me, and it is nowhere near the level of other really good sci-fi movies in my opinion.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Cloves and Fedoras: Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is the Movie of the Summer

Over this past weekend I finally got to see my most anticipated movie of the summer, "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping", and boy, did it ever deliver.

"Popstar" might be one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen. I'm a humongous fan of everything the Lonely Island does. The Lonely Island is Akiva Schafer, Jorma Taccone and Andy Samberg. They started doing the short videos on "SNL" a long time ago, and those were always fun and very funny. They have released four albums as a "rap" group, and while it is meant to be comedic, some of their songs are really good, chart topping good. Then, awhile back they created one of my all time favorite movies, "Hot Rod". "Hot Rod" was so bizarre and not like any comedy I had ever seen. The jokes were written and delivered weird, but in a very funny way. I absolutely adore that movie. It has gone down as one of my personal top ten movies of all time.

While doing all these things, the Lonely Island worked with a "minimal" sum of money, compared to what some other comedic teams were working with. Well, with "Popstar", they had a pretty big industry backing and many famous people came on as producers. Basically, they got the money to make a very big, very funny movie and they 100 percent did that with "Popstar". The movie focuses on Andy Samberg's character Connor 4Real. He, Jorma and Akiva were once in a band called the Styleboyz, but they broke up and Conner(Andy Samberg) blew up as a solo artist. He kept Owen(Jorma Taccone), as his DJ, but Lawrence(Akiva Schafer), looked at Conner as a sell out and left the music business to become a farmer in Colorado. I don't want to spoil anything because people need to see this movie, but that is the basics of the story.

"Popstar" is about so much more than a singer becoming famous and trying to live up to expectations. If I had to pick one central theme to the movie, I'd say it is about excess and how watered down the pop music industry has become in the 21st century. For example, Conner has 32 people on his payroll. These 32 people have jobs like someone to hit Conner in the balls when he forgets where he came from, or a perspective model, to make Conner look taller at photo shoots. It sounds insane and hilarious, of which it is both, but it is also a little too real. I would bet a lot of money that some famous pop stars today have similar type people on their personal payroll. Conner also has a house that would be too big if 50 people lived in it. Once again, we all see what kind of homes these singers today own. They are gaudy, huge and no one should ever want, or need a house that big. Conner also surrounds himself with only yes men and women. No matter how dumb, hurtful or ridiculous his ideas become, all his people tell him what a great idea it is, even if that means they eat pancakes that have dog shit in them. We all know that people like the Beibs, or Taylor Swift have a whole crew of people surrounding them that only say good things about them.

Once we leave the excess, "Popstar" moves into the decline that all these pop singers will eventually face. Conner's second solo album is an absolute flop, and it is because of Conner, and he does not know how to deal with the bad reviews and his fans turning on him. He will do almost anything to get back in his fans good graces. He wants to release his music in kitchen appliances so the whole world can hear his new record. Doesn't that sound eerily similar to U2 giving away their record for free on iTunes? I didn't want that album, but it showed up on my music the day it was released. I couldn't delete it fast enough. Same thing happens to Conner. People opening their refrigerators, ovens and microwaves were inundated with his music and they proceeded to break their home appliances. Conner can't sell out any of his shows, so he brings on the hot new rap artist, Hunter the Hungry, played so great by Chris Redd, but when he starts to get more shine than Conner, Conner becomes annoyed, jealous and upset. He can't handle not being the center of attention.

There are so many other ways this movie shows the excess and the almost obsessive need to be loved in so many great ways. Jorma is great as the DJ that is just along for the ride, but growing tired of not being involved. Akiva Schafer is phenomenal as the guy that leaves the music business, but just wants credit where credit is due. Tim Meadows is tremendous as Conner's manager and former member of Tony! Tone! Toni! Tony?. Imogen Poots is so perfect as Ashley Wednesday, Conner's star chaser girlfriend that leaves him the moment he isn't as famous as he once was. Sarah Silverman is very funny and very good as Conner's head of PR. There are so many other great performances in "Popstar". But, Samberg shines in this role. He is so good at playing this type of character and I want to see so much more stuff like this from the Lonely Island.

The fact that this movie isn't doing so well at the box office is an absolute shame. People nowadays would rather watch some mind numbing Michael Bay crappy action movie. That stinks. That isn't new or hip or even good. It's all rehashed garbage that didn't work in the 80's and 90's. It's a real bummer that more people would rather watch trash than a smart, well written, well acted and well directed comedy like "Popstar". This movie was incredible and greatly exceeded even my very high expectations. I cannot wait to see it again, buy it when it comes out on Blu-Ray and watch it over and over and over again. "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping" is a triumph.

GO SUPPORT THIS MOVIE!

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is serious people, go see this movie. Right now. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.