It was an exciting double feature. Until it wasn’t.
It was one of those Friday nights with an unhealthy amount of beer, pizza, and popcorn to enjoy two of my most anticipated films of the past month. The night would be an eclectic one. First, a homage to old silent films and animated pictures. It would be a live-action cartoon. The reasons to be excited about watching it just wrote itself.
The second film was a horror film that caught the attention of its trailer and the good reviews from the lucky ones who watched it already. However, there was a backlash regarding this film. And it was something every auteur should hate at this point, Artificial Intelligence.
There is a significant contrast between how both movies made me feel. An opposition to creativity and technology as a shortcut to save time or money. Here are my reviews retrieved from our Letterboxd account:
Hundreds of Beavers
Just when I thought there was no hope for cinema with all the AI shit after watching another movie that was released recently, on top of all the mediocrity and saturation of existing franchises. As an art form, I am re-inspired by this homage to silent-era slapstick comedies and cartoons. A movie I’ll definitely watch again any cold Minnesota night, this midwest epic revolves around a drunken applejack salesman looking for food, survival, and becoming a fur trapper overnight.
Imagine if Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton is a hipster-looking midwestern dude in a Looney Tunes cartoon that usually turns into an old-school video game. And you get Hundreds of Beavers. Yes, that is the best way to describe this work of art. It’s cute, nutty, and weird, and like the silent-era heroes, it also has a heart of gold.
Hundreds of Beavers feels like the kind of movie we get once in a lifetime, a cinematic work that deserves to be remembered for its insanity and boldness. If this is the start of some bizarre era of live-action cartoons. Bring it on! I need more of these, like animated furry foxes craving furry bunnies.
Late Night With The Devil
First, let’s start with the fact that Late Night of the Devil is a good horror movie. It’s a well-paced, scary movie that burns slowly. Creating a tension driven by the found footage format.
Should I be just another person who brings up the elephant in the room? That’s fine with me, as I can’t remain silent. Whether it’s an entire introduction or a graphic that appears for a second. It should be considered unacceptable.
The saddest part about this fiasco is that David Dastmalchian deserves better. He’s one of the best working character actors who’s been in everything from fun trash made by YouTubers like The Angry Video Game Nerd to some of the most acclaimed films of the last 20 years. To finally have him as the lead actor and put some AI content is to shit on his career. As both the WGA and the SAG-AFTRA just finished a strike that included concerns about these practices and regulations relating to AI, everyone should be a lot more vocal about it.
With all this said, I’m giving this movie a half-star on Letterboxd. I know my half-star won’t have any impact. But, if you’re reading this, I implore you to do the same and share this concern. No more AI in movies, not even in a single frame.
Conclusion
I love technology. I wouldn’t have chosen technology as my 9 to 5 career if I didn’t love it. Machines shouldn’t replace creativity. After all, art is “a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination.” To see one of the AI graphics in Late Night With The Devil was distracting. Consequently, the conversation surrounding the film revolves around the use of AI and not the positive things such as David Dastmalchian’s performance.
On the other hand, Hundreds of Beavers feels like a cinematic triumph. The result of a creative passion project filled with a touch of mischief and a whole lot of love for cinema. As a matter of fact, we should be regard this film as a game changer. And filmmakers won’t touch AI again.
I know. It sounds utopic in a dystopian world.
