Sleeping With The Enemy (1991) - Director: Joseph Ruben - 2/10 - One of the worst psychological thrillers ever made, hands down. The script doesnât make much sense and is filled with so many plot holes, it instantly gives you a headache and make your stomach churn. The characterization is absolutely dreadful and the entirety of the screenplay is so fraught with bromides, it all basically boils down to following the story from point A to point B and point C. The problem is that everything is either downright ludicrous or predictable insofar as you beg for the ending credits to roll. An atrocious piece of shit that is a real test of patience, the only reason why this turdâs got such a high rating is probably because Roberts gets to shake her ass on the screen or whatever. Avoid at all costs.
Wild at Heart (1990) - Director: David Lynch - 8/10 - I havenât given this one a try before because I thought it wouldnât be as surreal as other Lynch flicks. Fortunately, I was mistaken and this one is a new favorite of mine, a very classy venture with a classic Lynchian sense of humor. It is probably one of his most visual efforts, as it literally bathes its viewers with a warm, balmy palette on multiple occasions, really aesthetically pleasing.
The Keep (1983) - Director: Michael Mann - 8/10 - I love all of it now. Itâs somewhat hard to explain why I love this movie so much. Just saying it is the best approximation of a dream experience isnât going to cut it, so I guess I have to explain it in detail. Every once in a while, I dream about re-watching some of my favorite films, but the motion pictures I see in my dreams are contorted into something else altogether with the primary atmosphere preserved and multiplied by ten times in their emotional intensity. They are likewise a lot more awe-inspiring and intimidating, theyâre pure sensory experiences so to speak. Either way, in my view, Mannâs The Keep is the best approximation of what a dream like that actually feels like. Therewith, it is one of the most stunning production designs ever conceived, the only word I can think of that accurately reflects its epic stature is âmonolithicâ: I donât think there is anything quite like it elsewhere and the way Mann frames the supernatural drama at hand is simply awe-inspiring.
Despite its conspicuous faults, the film works incredibly well for me and Tangerine Dreamâs score is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, stunningly drony and sombre. Notwithstanding, some more melodic tracks like Sailing to Romania are also beyond description in how beautiful they still sound after all these years and firmly ground the work in more familiar territory, so itâs not all special effects and thunderous drones. I still cannot rate it higher because itâs disastrously patched together, no matter how you look at it, and the audio mix sounds fuckawful. Therefore, it doesnât exactly work on a purely conventional level. I wish I had some dirt on Mann so that I could blackmail him and coerce him into releasing directorâs cut. In the current day and age, there is hardly anything you couldnât remedy with CGI in the restoration process (Lucas did a great job with his THX1138 for instance), all you need is a little bit of good will. Now give us that 3-hour cut.
Revenge (1990) - Director: Tony Scott - 4/10 - Yeah, itâs pretty botched and not that interesting. A very basic idea is stretched out to a 2-hour length which almost results in the entirety of the plot snapping. I guess you could say it allows the director to substantiate its main characters, but it never quite works because the core of the story isnât sufficiently developed and the psychologism at hand is downright piss poor with little of depth or anything of importance happening. The characters just rove around and the whole drama constitutes, in essence, a bloated soap opera with a little bit of gore and extortionate violence thrown in there. The cinematography and the production design ainât bad, but virtually everything about the structure is misplaced and the whole venture looks about as graceful as a wambling drunkard puking on the pavement.
A Simple Plan (1998) - Director: Sam Raimi - 7/10 - It shows that Raimi is perfectly capable of directing more modest ventures without resorting to more cartoonish devices and succeeding in constructing some compelling drama. Still, itâs not one of my favorites, as it is somewhat unpleasant and difficult to watch, however gripping the whole story is.
Crimson Tide (1995) - Director: Tony Scott - 7/10 - A very successful Hollywoodian actioner with a lot to offer in terms of thrills and such. There is a lot of chemistry between Hackman and Washington, all of it is paced really expediently and overall, itâs an engaging little blockbuster.
Past Midnight (1991) - Director: Jan Eliasberg - 3/10 - There is nothing worthwhile about this one. Itâs a plain, formulaic soap drama with a little whodunit mystery thrown in there. The direction doesnât exactly ameliorate things, quite on the contrary, it stultifies most of what couldâve constituted filmâs merits and its attempts at conjuring up some sense of dread or suspense end up with a number of highly laughable scenes that effectively exert a detrimental impact on the tension of the motion picture which then irrevocably proceeds to sink into the mire of script-induced mediocrity.
The Odessa File (1974) - Director: Ronald Neame - 7/10 - Itâs a tidy little conspiracy thriller which is apparently based on real events. Either way, the movie provides a sufficiently credible insight into the inner workings of secret societies and doesnât devolve into a nonsensical clusterfuck so many of these flicks tend to degenerate into. It does have that air of old-fashioned filmmaking, but it doesnât get in the way of telling a relatively interesting story. It didnât exactly blow my socks off, but I had a good time with it.
Rush (1991) - Director: Lili Fini Zanuck - 8/10 - Despite the fact that the narration lacks some weight and the passage of time could have some more heft to it, the acting is simply superb and greatly underpins the general atmosphere.
Darkman (1990) - Director: Sam Raimi - 5/10 - Take the fucking elephant.
Bound (1996) - Director: The Wachowski Brothers - 5/10 - I guess itâs okay. I wouldnât say itâs that great, it just feels too Hollywoodian and mainstream and edgy and whatever. I donât know. I guess I would say that the Wachowskisâ direction just smacks of Hollywood meretriciousness and cheesiness and this is what is most apparent here with all swoosh-whoosh zoom-ins and outs, wham-bang close-ups and swish-whish slow-mo sequences. I get it that itâs not that much of a concrete critique, I know, but hey, itâs simply that itâs not a movie thatâs up my alley.
Payback (1999) - Director: Brian Helgeland - 5/10 - After reading scherpâs short review, I decided to give this one a shot and well, I guess itâs okay. It technically is a neo-noir, but it is that in the sense that some of Guy Ritchieâs feature films are technically that which is not the kind of thing Iâm looking for in neo-noirs. It likewise relies heavily on this specific kind of tongue-in-cheek humor which doesnât necessarily get me all that excited and apart from that, the narration is slightly out-of-focus and feels somewhat loose as well as not that engaging. Quips and gags work pretty well despite the violence found herein, but it all only kinda-sorta work for me. I watched theatrical cut, perhaps directorâs cut is somewhat superior.
The Crow (1994) - Director: Alex Proyas - 7/10 - A very entertaining and aesthetically distinctive motion picture with a shitload of visual splendor at its disposal. I really like the way the movie looks and feels. The Crow loses some of its charm towards the end, dedicating some of its running time to action scenes that sporadically lack some of that artistic gusto developed earlier, but overall it works incredibly well for a movie based on a comic book. Not that there is anything wrong with it, itâs just that some of these movies do not distinguish themselves with aesthetic independence of their own, excessively relying on elements established in its source material, not itâs fortunately not the case here.
Chronos (1985) - Director: Ron Fricke - 8/10
Upgrade (2018) - Director: Leigh Whannell - 8/10 - So, a new Sci-Fi that actually doesnât suck and capably explores the ramifications of a link between AI and human consciousness? Count me in. Not only is the flick abreast of current topics, it also scrutinizes these intriguing questions with respect to human integration with AI technology in a highly proficient manner, successfully blending elements of action cinema with some down-to-earth, no-bullshit kind of narrative that pays considerate attention to both the scientific component of the story as well as exuberant, galvanizing action sequences in equal measure.
Bad Influence (1990) - Director: Curtis Hanson - 7/10 - A little bit of a hidden gem. Itâs got all aesthetic trademarks of the genre which particularly manifests itself in the way the director tastefully frames all the decadence as well as glossy, modernist interior locations. I guess you could say the cinematography, the graceful production design as well as the irony are the factors that excite me the most and make me appreciate these films with regard to their aesthetic qualities. Therewith, the film packs a deadly dosage of sardonicism, both celebrating as well as deriding its genre conventions. That doesnât mean the movie is intrinsically funny, although it proves darkly humorous on multiple occasions, toying with its protagonist basically at every turn. Itâs too bad the flick runs out of steam towards the end and the denouement turns out a little underwhelming, but itâs still a fairly effective little neo-noir.
Baraka (1992) - Director: Ron Fricke - 7/10
The Boys from Brazil (1978) - Director: Franklin J. Schaffner - 3/10 - Jesus H. Christ, what the fuck is this thing supposed to be. The film has some of the most laughable overacting Iâve ever seen. Actor prance around, saying all kinds of moronic shit and doing the most over-the-top crap the screenwriter could possibly think of. If you make a conspiracy thriller, itâs difficult to endue your venture with believability. Suffice to say, the way of achieving credibility is not by throwing everything against the wall and hoping some of it stick, itâs the kind of genre that if you fuck up in one department, virtually everything else begins to crumble. In the case of The Boys from Brazil, everything is a bloody debacle: its direction pointlessly highlighting charactersâ affectations to the point of preposterousness, its far-fetched story that could be recounted in a mere hour and a half, its overly dramatic, antiquated score and the overall campiness induced by the aforementioned factors. Overall, some of it is so fucking terrible itâs actually good, but it cannot be treated seriously by any stretch of the imagination.
