People, I will be one person brave enough to say that: 2025 so far was not great. I won't get in all the reasons why (Have you checked your 401K lately?), but even narrows the aperture only in the world of films, things were pretty harsh there. Most of the big studio movies were disappointments, and the box office fought hard Until "Minecraft Film" comes. There were several highlights - I loved the "Ballad of the Island of Wallis", For example, I really enjoyed a one-two-two-two Steven Soderberg "presence" and a "black bag"-but the first few months of the year were not fulfilled with non-stop Bangers.

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Given the thorny film on the film they are currently experiencing, I felt a tangible sense of relief when I saw the new horror/comedy "Hell of the Summer". It's not the type of movie that will save the box office, but it's a fresh, funny download of the famous camp story, which actually cares for his characters and feels like it is made by people who were creatively invested in what they did instead of just checking boxes to satisfy the shareholders.

One of those directors is Giant Wolfard, who probably knows best as Mike of Stranger Things. Wolfard wrote and directed "Hell of the Summer" along with his Pal Billy Brajk, and the two play two camp advisers fighting for their lives when a mysterious masked killer starts choosing councilors a week before campers arrive. The film marks the directorial debut of Wolfhard and Brajk, and I recently talked to Wolfhard about what films they inspired when they tried to "hell in the summer". He cited "John of the Dead" of Edgar Wright, who appeared several times during a press tour as a northern ves, because of the way he focuses on his characters instead of simply going through the movements of the film genre, but there were two other films that he surprised me.

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"It's hard not to talk about Spielberg all the time, so being able to shape shots, was definitely a lot of inspiration from him in some scenes and the way some things were filmed," Wolfard told me. "But I remember, there is a combat scene in the movie that is happening, this kind of great action sequence, and we have inspired the fighting scene in" Raising Arizona "and a scene in the Ananas Express fight, as well as to behave and be numerous films.

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Spielberg's influence is not surprising - there is a clarity of vision that seems to be followed on the chin - but the other two films are almost not so obvious. Would claim that there is nothing like Prolonged and manic as a fighting scene "Ananas Express" In "Hell of the Summer", but after we rethink that clip and this Fighting scene from "Raising Arizona", I can absolutely see why Wolfhard and Brayk have watched those films as examples of what they wanted to achieve. There is a tact of these struggles that makes them feel more realistic than the typical filmed movie fights, and the specificity of the people who break their fingers on the ceiling or break their heads in porcelain toilets, makes the audience win and feel about the characters instead of looking at the eyes as they do.

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You can listen to my full interview with Finn Wolfhard, which also refers to "Stranger Things" and his experience working with Willem Dafo in the upcoming "Legend of Ochi" of A24, at today's episode of /film Daily Podka:

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"Hell of the Summer" is now in cinemas.