Ariel Schulman
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Connections, in both directions
There’s no question that Project Power is borrowing from other movies, such as Bradley Cooper’s underrated Limitless and elements from the Marvel and DC Comics universe.
The idea drove the plot of both Limitless (2011), which featured NZT-48, an experimental brain-enhancing ‘smart’ pill and Luc Besson’s Lucy (2014) with CPH4, an atomic-powered formula which boosts the human brain capacity from 10% to 100%.
Project Power takes the Limitless concept and runs with it to glory.
I suppose their new film, “Project Power,” is an attempt to blend the relentless energy and pacing of “Nerve” with the cerebral context of “Limitless” and the result is a tired misstep that lacks any punch and desperately needs a drink of its own medicine.
Each time the drug gets popped, there are montages of dilating eyeballs and triggered synapses that crudely mimic the ones in “Requiem for a Dream,” and the whole this drug will make you amazing! concept feels like a lift from “Limitless,” the terrific 2011 dramatic thriller that established Bradley Cooper as an actor who could do more than strut through a “Hangover” movie.
The film is part "Limitless" and part "Lethal Weapon," with superpowers thrown in for good measure.
Paramount Pictures referenced Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist in the trailer (a line that's not in final product), which is fitting considering the filmmakers capture a lot of the essence of the Steven Spielberg-produced haunter, only with a fraction of the budget.
After all, think of many of the greatest and most effective ones -- such as "The Exorcist," "Poltergeist," "The Shining," and "The Omen" -- and they all involve children who end up threatened by one sort or another of supernatural entities.
A bit of " Rosemary's Baby " here, " The Shining " there, " Poltergeist " there, not to mention some Japanese stuff, and, of course, "Blair Witch" itself, particularly at the end.
To that end, the notion of this screenwriter teaming up with Matt Reeves for “The Batman” could yield some excellent results, but “Project Power,” especially from these “Catfish” and “Paranormal Activity” filmmakers ultimately feels like a big let down— a captivating idea about the way the system preys on the disadvantaged and the constant exploitation and appropriation of black and brown voices, that fizzles out fast once the high of its concept wears off.
Directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, who made the third and fourth installments of the Paranormal Activity franchise, the kinetic energy running through the veins of Project Power keeps the movie pumping at a chaotic tempo.
I don't know if that's what inspired screenwriter Mattson Tomlin to write the spec script "Power," but co-directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (who together directed the third and fourth installments of the "Paranormal Activity" franchise along with the 2016 film "Nerve") have now brought that into existence in "Project Power."
Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman made their mark with the internet trolling movie “Catfish” and followed it up with entries in the surveillance camera-powered “Paranormal Activity” horror series.
Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (who helmed a couple of Paranormal Activity movies) seem fixated on boosting their movie’s horror cred with exploding viscera and more IPM (impalements per minute) than any film in recent memory, which just gets in the way of the storytelling, and isn’t even totally hilarious like it is in Deadpool .
Not that they’re particularly known for their restraint (they’re most famous for the documentary Catfish , but they also helmed Nerve and a couple of the Paranormal Activity sequels).
The tone and style of the film are akin to Josh Trank’s surprising 2012 sci-fi “Chronicle.”
While the concept of unfolding the story primarily over a computer screen is less innovative in the wake of the opening act of 2010's " Catfish ," as well as 2014's " Open Windows ," 2015's " Unfriended ," and 2018's " Unfriended: Dark Web ," writer-director Chaganty and co-writer Sev Ohanian use it in a natural, dramatically sound way.
You’ve got your X-Men references, your Captain America riffs, your Midnight Special parallels, and elements that are similar to last year’s as-yet-unreleased festival title Synchronic .
Not much should be said about the film going in — it proceeds like a thriller — but it’s no spoiler to say that anyone who has seen the 2010 doc Catfish will recognize how deception is now very much a part of online activities.
A romantic thriller about an iPhone game from Catfish directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, Nerve is sharper and smarter about surveillance and social media than the latest installment of the spy franchise.
“Nerve” is directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, whose debut documentary, “Catfish,” was a true story about the perils of the internet.
Nerve is the latest offering from Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman – and, like their earlier Catfish (2010), it explores the ways in which the internet doesn’t always promote the best in human behaviour.
Joost and Schulman previously made the documentary “ Catfish ,” another film about people who go way too far on the internet, and here they mix action and romance with social commentary about the ups and downs of living life in public online.
Franco too manages to exude both genuine confidence and vulnerability, and the energetic direction by Catfish collaborators, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, gives the proceedings a pacey energy.
From the creators of “Catfish” and MTV’s “Catfish: The TV Show” comes “Nerve,” a phenomenally stupid techno-thriller that tries to make up for in absurdity what it lacks in everything else.
Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the directing team behind "Catfish," "Paranormal Activity 3" and "4," and the new teen-oriented cyber-thriller "Nerve," know how to affect coolness and currency without seeming to try too hard -- a rarity in Hollywood.
El resultado se enmarca en ese subgénero de blockbuster que mezcla acción sobrehumana con pseudo ciencia (Lucy) y no llega a ser totalmente original, pero ya les habría gustado en la segunda temporada de Stranger Things o a alguna de Lobezno contar con la mitad de su ritmo.
The idea drove the plot of both Limitless (2011), which featured NZT-48, an experimental brain-enhancing ‘smart’ pill and Luc Besson’s Lucy (2014) with CPH4, an atomic-powered formula which boosts the human brain capacity from 10% to 100%.
Scripted by Mattson Tomlin, Project Power is as scientifically stupid as Lucy, but it doesn’t waste nearly as much time as that movie trying to explain itself.
But it's a lot smarter than the trailer and the opening scenes get across — and surprisingly fun, too, in the way that movies like Lucy and Limitless are fun: the kind of loony, kinetic thriller that knows it's all just shenanigans, and leans in.
Like its super-drugged predecessors Limitless and Lucy, the creative fireworks it promised in the trailer fizzles out over feature-length.
Think Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg in Captain Marvel or Ruby Rose’s Ares in John Wick: Chapter 2 .
Imagine: The drone could meet something unthinkable in the sky or the treetops, or maybe just torment us with what’s off camera, the way Paranormal Activity 3 achieved real suspense just by putting a camcorder on an oscillating fan.
Similar to the surprising “Paranormal Activity 3” from a few years back, Wingard and Barrett find interesting and sometimes ingenious ways to incorporate new technology into the series without completely taking away from the spirit of the original.
With a plot that is denser than it needs to be, more characters than necessary, and enough backstories to fill an Al-Anon meeting, it’s no wonder the pacing drags (editor Jeff McEvoy, The Lincoln Lawyer ).
Think Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg in Captain Marvel or Ruby Rose’s Ares in John Wick: Chapter 2 .
Fumbling to examine hidden scars of the past, Shyamalan also doesn't really capitalize on the found-footage angle for tension, the oscillating camera in "Paranormal Activity 3" remaining one of the best ways that's been done.