Movies
[BD Review] ‘The Last Exorcism Part II’ Boring Horror Loaded With Filler
Since CBS Films wouldn’t screen the film for critics, Evan Dickson hit a midnight screening of Ed Gass-Donnelly’s The Last Exorcism Part II, now in theaters everywhere, in hopes of witnessing the last great exorcism. Instead, he felt duped by yet another snail-paced film jam-packed with filler.
“Since this installment drops the POV approach I was actually kind of excited for the format shakeup here, stupidly thinking that maybe things would be sped along and an actual story would be told,” said Dickson in his review. “Nope! If anything, this new sequel breaks new ground in treading water, wasting time and general narrative inertia. It’s an almost Herculean feat of nothingness.”
It’s sort of a shame, too, because he says Ashley Bell’s performance is pretty great: “Bell’s depiction of Nell is good enough to deserve a better movie. At one point I considered giving the film a pass on that merit alone” that was until he realized there were still 70 minutes left in the movie…
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Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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