I’m 100% European, but Repo Man is great, and in some aspects was ahead of its time, why? it doesn’t feel dated, you can’t have a better repo man than Harry Dean Staton
Great soundtrack, I’m European like the director and like that old punk sound and attitude in a film.
Great influence on Tarantino that’s for sure
Iggy Pop’s main theme is great but other than that didn’t notice anything special.
For an “old” punk it’s precious
Black Flag
Circle Jerks (hardcore starters)
Suicidal Tendencies
Great anytime
Never really uinderstood the praise for that movie either. Yes, maybe the weirdness factor
Kursk (2018, Thomas Vinterberg)
Based on the 2000 disaster of the Russian submarine Kursk that sank after some explosions had taken place during a naval exercise in the Barents sea. The movie often feels like a Hollywood blockbuster, but it’s a Belgian- Luxembourgian movie (co-produced by Luc Besson’s company EuropaCorp), with an international (Belgian/French/Swedish/Danish/Dutch, etc.) cast. All actors speak English while impersonating Russians, except for Colin Firth, who plays a British officer attempting to convince the Russian authorities to accept foreign aid.
It’s not a bad movie, but I had expected a little bit more. There’s a protracted diving scene, with Schoenaerts looking for oxygen canisters that is almost literally breathtaking (can anyone hold its breath for so long?), but overall the movie takes too much time to get to its inevitable conclusion. Matthias Schoenaerts is okay as the crew’s captain, but French actress Lea Seydoux easily steals the film as his pregnant wife. Her emotional final speech is the most impressive part of the movie.
Hellboy (2019)-1/2
Shaft (2019)-1/2
Cold Blood (2019)-
A Reaso to Live, A Reason to Die (1972)-
Alita:Battle Angel (2019)-
The Glass Key (1942)-
Phantom of the Opera- (1943)1/2
Gilda (1946)-
Seeing a lot of this general disappointment in the new Hellboy. It’s a shame, I was really quite looking forward to this. I mean I’m still going to give it a look for myself of course but I’m nowhere near as enthusiastic about it now.
Tomorrow Never Comes (Collinson / 1978)
Peter Collinson made some very watchable films in his too short career (The Italian Job, Fright, Straight on til Morning, Man Called Noon) but this is not one of his best by a long chalk. Features some of his usual interesting visuals but the script is just plain awful and the excellent cast all look well past their best. It’s strictly a phone in from Olly Read and Donald Pleasance and Susan George was not looking her best although she does try to make something of a largely one dimensional part.
Can’t really recommend. 2/5
La Mala Ordina -
A bit disapointed with this one, I have only seen Milano Calibro 9 before wich I like ALOT but in comparison this one felt cheap. Laughed alot though.
Tequila Joe -
Hellboy (2019) - I had been reading Mike Mignola’s comics long before the first movie with Ron Perlman came out. Never thought much about Mignola’s writing skills, but he is phenomenal artist. So, storywise, first two Del Toro’s movies are okay, faithful to the comics and that’s it. It’s not a big surprise that story in the new Hellboy sucks even more. But there are some positives - I really like David Harbour as Hellboy, it is on par with Perlman’s performance. First half is actually not bad, but somewhere after the scene with Baba Yaga (best scene in the movie), it starts to be really demented. So for me 5/10.
Ready player One (2018) Steven Spielberg
Good surprise, there’s always something almost magical in Spielberg films (the good ones at least) that makes the difference, a normal story but so well told taking advantage of the gaming culture, on other hands most likely to became cheesy but no far from that, in the vein of those quality blockbusters that only Spielberg knows how to make.
4 out of 5
I think we’re Alone now (2018) Reed Morano
Peter Dinklage is the man of the moment, well deserved he’s a great actor. This Post Apo. Story tries to be different from the Zombies and Co typical World endings, for while a in a slow paced way it does accomplish that objective, but the final twist towards the end really spoils it, at least in sense that until then the film was so different. Even so I can recommend the acting is great, even if the story could have been better or at least better told. Can’t beat the Road
3 out of 5
The Foreigner (2017) Martin Campbell
The best Jackie Chan film I’ve seen in years and the best Jackie Chan/Pierce Brosnan ever. I was afraid that would became another entry in the Liam Neeson middle age violence revenge flicks, but no, it’s revenge all right and there’s violence, but the plot and characters are very well made. To be honest Brosnan ends up to be the main character, and the IRA subplot it’s even better than the revenge one and both are well connected, but yes Jackie Chan is great doing the Liam Neeson in his unique way.
3,5 out of 5.
Beirut (2018) Brad Anderson
Good thriller with the guy from Madman, I like films based in recent historical events, not James Bond but a good spy story, even if not always truly faithful to what was happening in Beirut during that period, but that’s just me my and my history hobby speaking, a good watchable film that will keep the viewer entertained.
3,5 out of 5
Judicial Consent (1994) - Director: William Bindley - 6/10 - While the film doesn’t explore any new territory with its rather formulaic story or its pedestrian characterization, the acting and the rendition ensure the superior quality of the material at hand. Bonnie Bedelia gives an entirely satisfatory performance as the confounded judge trying to unravel the central mystery as well as clear her name before she falls into the hands of the law. Notwithstanding its predictability and its slightly hackneyed storyline, the film succeeds in overcoming its shortcomings through its sufficiently sturdy storytelling and its well-molded structure.
Testament (1983) - Director: Lynne Littman - 9/10 - Definitely one of the most poignant motion pictures of this kind. There are no big explosions or cataclysmic eruptions found to be here, but rather an exceedingly arresting and deeply personal portrayal of the collective struggle of the small, rural community endeavoring to overcome the unthinkable and face their doom with dignity and in conformity with one’s values. Instead of degenerating into another cheap, schlocky actioner and pelting its audience with the usual tableux of catastrophic imagery, the viewer is exposed to the trial of the central nuclear family trying to make ends meet without the head of the family and come to terms with the fading embers of the civilization within the confines of their household and their community. What is the most striking component of the motion picture, however, is how emotionally mature the entire venture is on account of its profoundly affecting depiction of quotidian activities slowly getting eroded by the encroaching miasma of radiation and despair. The film captures the slow degradation of the mundane sphere of life like nothing else I have ever seen and clearly attests to the imaginativeness, perceptiveness and the deep emotional wisdom of the creative forces at work here.
Krull (1983) - Director: Peter Yates - 6/10 - The formative influence of Star Wars saga is unmistakable in film’s profuse usage of laser projectiles, which slightly throws the whole work off balance and makes it feel somewhat schizophrenic, but fortunately the motion picture doesn’t rely on this blockbuster gimmick to an insufferable degree and has a couple of aces up its sleeve. One of its most compelling assets is its cinematography and surreal sets that are quite unforgettable and endow the whole effort with a one-of-a-kind appearance. Notwithstanding its enthralling visual decor, the film also greatly suffers from its tenuous characterization and one-dimensional characters; this renders the movie quite insignificant and additionally underlines the inherently superficial nature of its narration, which skims over consecutive phases of the script without expanding on its motifs too extensively or adding depth and detail to its relatively cursory storyline. Still, its alluring visuals and moderately gripping narration inform the entirety with multiple thrills and a sufficient narrative propulsion to make it interesting to watch.
Warning Sign (1985) - Director: Hal Barwood - 6/10 - While I do understand why some people may have some gripes with the film, none of these shortcomings got in the way of my enjoying the hell out of this motion picture. The story admittedly does begin to dissolve in the second half and doesn’t really constitute the strongest point of the film. With that being said, that doesn’t really matter all that much and it did not debilitate the flick for me too much, for the suffocating atmosphere and the claustrophobic sets are where the main attraction of the whole endeavor lies. The whole lab milieu appears to be oozing with dread and squalor and perfectly corresponds with the kind of virulent ambiance the motion picture sets out to achieve through its visceral depiction of the epidemic derangement. Hence, although the movie doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense, it doesn’t really matter all that much in light of the miasmic climate Warning Sign succeeds in conjuring up and its impressive technical execution.
Hidden Obsession (1993) - Director: John Stewart - 4/10 - A typical killer-on-the-loose whodunit mystery executed in the most uninspired way possible. Despite its laughably slapdash attempts at putting viewers off the track, you can easily conjecture most of the story without much difficulty and the whole tale is unfolded in an embarrassingly cumbersome manner. With that being said, I must admit I kind of embraced the trashiness of the whole package and managed to enjoy the whole venture in the post-ironic fashion regardless of its inextricable preposterousness and its mind-bending lack of cohesion. The soundtrack is just as formulaic as the storyline itself with its 1980s e-pianos and Roland D-50 Digital Native Dance preset used quite prominently here, but I think that’s the whole trick of the motion picture; the ubiquitous triteness somehow enhances the overall experience and actually makes it work a lot better than it would normally do, which I guess is a very euphimistic way of saying I simply enjoyed it for what it was, but I suppose I’m too much of a pretentious twat to say it in direct terms. It’s trash, but it’s a very agreeable piece of trash and Jan-Michael Vincent gives a great performance and yippee ki-yay.
Prime Risk (1985) - Director: Michael Farkas - 2/10 - One of the most obnoxious films I’ve seen in a while. A Mary Sue character get paired up with her dumbass boyo sidekick and this supposedly charming, but in fact cretinous couple is wedged into this overwrought, incredibly far-fetched and ludicrous story that might’ve worked in some kiddie TV show, but is utterly insufficient for an actual freaking feature film. It’s acceptable for a movie to temporarily deploy an implausible event, which is supposed to be preceded and immediately followed by more believable occurrences, with a view to diversifying an otherwise uneventful plot, but the instant an entire storyline is composed of such incidents of little credibility, the work in question instantaneously loses its suspension of disbelief and becomes an insufferable joke of a motion picture, which is exactly what happens in this case.
Consenting Adults (1992) - Director: Alan J. Pakula - 5/10 - It’s an odd curio of a film in that the flick laboriously erects a number of meticulously delineated characters only to deploy these in a mind-numbingly hackneyed thriller scenario, which is implemented in the second part and is precisely the reason why the movie doesn’t become a great film it could’ve been. The great acting and the entirely prepossessing execution cannot make amends for the void uncovered by the completely incomprehensible decision to turn a tale of this sort into yet another studio thriller, when this begs to be a more sophisticated drama reliant on different narrative devices altogether. That is not to say the venture doesn’t have any advantages or that it isn’t entertaining enough, but that’s beside the point; It is ultimately an intrinsically contradictory thriller which fails to fulfill its potential in spite of its elaborate and intriguing narrative preparation indicating a completely different type of a motion picture.
Trial by Jury (1982) - Director: Heywood Gould - 5/10 - Apart from failing to deliver on its promises and resolve the whole story in a genuinely satisfactory fashion, the film seems disinterested in the moral ramifications of its thematic turmoil, remaining content with skimming over the surface of the story without ever delving into the moral shadings of the ambiguous ethical ground. Therewith, a large portion of the story is a paltry, commercialized attempt at rigidly encasing the whole tale within the narrow boundaries of a formulaic studio production without making allowances for the internal dynamics of the story itself. In other words, the whole tale feels excessively accommodated to the needs of serial production, squandering all the potential the original premise presents, failing to deliver anything of interest and settling for something moderately diverting, yet completely inconsequential.
The Hunger (1983) - Director: Tony Scott - 8/10 - A veritably evocative and bizarre vampire movie that takes an slightly different approach to the whole subject and bases its whole story on its redolent visuals and dense, sumptuous and surreal atmosphere. I must say I did not expect it to be this esoteric and outlandish in tone on account of my previous experiences with other Tony Scott feature films and I must it was quite an eye-opening viewing. The whole venture boasts a distinctly exotic, otherworldly, lush ambience and an almost mythic quality to it and I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like it, it really is one-of-a-kind motion picture. While the story itself doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and the denuouement borders on being downright nonsensical, the ethereal aura the film is fraught with proves to be so irresistible and immersive I don’t really care about its technical shortcomings in its purely literary domain as much as I do about its deranged, hysterical and arcane aesthetics.
Next of Kin (1989) - Director: John Irvin - 6/10 - An unusual crime thriller recounting its story through the prism of small-time, rural America. The quaint perspective of the motion picture endues the effort with its singular, idiosyncratic flavor distinguishing it from a number of similar examples, however, the second part waives its more interesting and sophisticated dramatic devices in favor of a more straightforward actioner formula. While the entirety of the flick is handled in a satisfactory fashion and the whole action is sufficiently galvanizing in its dexterous execution, the former part of the movie is a lot more intriguing and engaging in its focus on the family drama than the predictable, run-of-the-mill second half, which is more preoccupied with the usual, shoot-'em-up content rather than the human element.
Deep Red (1994) - Director: Craig R. Baxley - 7/10 - Deep Red is an astonishingly sumptuous and evocative low-budgeted neonoir with a high dosage of noir atmospherics and the redolent, transfixedly slick execution making good use of its shoestring budget. There is no disguising the fact the movie does deploy some rather trashy narrative elements in the form of its somewhat caricatural villain and the slightly cheesy mystery, but the thing is these components never bothered me in the course of my watching the movie, as I was more engrossed by its aesthetically vibrant package and its multiple references to other works. What might be one of the most absorbing constituents of the direction is that it seems to apotheosize certain genre symbols and images by adumbrating the archetypical visual elements of the genre, indulging in the gloomy city landscape and attempting to underline its influences through its distinctly neonoir imagery, which was something I genuinely cherished. That is not to say the film is without its faults, but I have to say I was legitimately captivated by its distinctively somber scenery as well as the pensive narrative, enough so to overlook some of its more obvious shortcomings springing from inevitable budget constraints; notwithstanding the underlying cheapness, I appreciate the filmmakers’s willingness to make allowances for the natural rhythm of the story and to take time building its dense atmosphere, which is indicative of director’s love for cinema and at the end of the day, that’s what counts the most for my part.
This Gun for Hire (1991) - Director: Lou Antonio - 7/10 - Another great little neonoir from the early 1990s; this one feels considerably more traditional in its decor in the sense the New Orleans locations seem to endow the feature film with a slightly more older feel and look to it. With that being said, it’s a great marriage of the old and the new with a slight emphasis on the latter. The excellent rendition by Antonio, the fairly rugged narrative, plus the scrumptiously cool performance by Robert Wagner makes this one a great pleasure to watch and it comes highly recommended.
Under Investigation (1993) - Director: Kevin Meyer - 4/10 - A fairly standard crime flick from the early 1990s without any particularly distingushing features. The story is a fairly pedestrian reformulation of the femme fatale neonoir trope with several twists thrown in for good measure. Albeit quite meandering and not exactly taut, the narrative proves rather adequate by virtue of how little material there is, in fact, to tell, so a couple of diversions in the form of the cop buddy subplot don’t debilitate the focus of the story too badly, well, at least not as badly as the ponderously handled denouement that drags like hell and lasts for about 10 to 15 minutes too long. While most of it is fairly predictable and doesn’t really venture into some novel territory, it constitutes a fairly diverting slice of the early 1990s late-night cable trash, but then again I have a soft spot for that sort of thing.
A Place to Be Loved (1993) - Director: Sandy Smolan - 7/10 - A poignant family drama about the struggle of the foster family to shield their adopted child from his abusive and manipulative parents. The movie benefits from the great performance by Richard Crenna, who plays the role of the concerned, protective parent looking out for his adopted son, and the scrupulously detailed domestic relations between miscellaneous members of the family. This is a simple, but graceful modest family drama which doesn’t pretend to be something it isn’t and most of its charm stems from this very artlessness.
And the Sea Will Tell (1991) - Director: Tommy Lee Wallace - 4/10 - A middling courtroom drama that doesn’t really know where to go or how to go about its elephantine story about a woman who is reported to have committed a murder along with her boyfriend 10 years eariler. One of the reasons why the movie fails to be of much interest stems from the fact that the whole tale is recounted in an uninspired way without much regard for how all of the disparate subplots and recollections coalesce into one whole. To add insult to injury, there is no human element to speak of here and I found the female protagonist to be quite unlikable for some reason, so I never really cared about the outcome of the trial throughout the duration of the pic. Thus, the whole story just sort of bumbles along without ever jelling or piquing one’s interest.
Black Sunday (1977) - Director: John Frankenheimer - 7/10 - A highly diverting old-school blockbuster actioner; there is no disguising the fact a large portion of the story is quite far-fetched, but the movie doesn’t really conceal its crowd-pleasing purpose and concentrates on delivering the high-octane, no-fucks-given popcorn fun in the form of this wholesome piece of entertainment. Therewith, the motion picture furnishes the whole spectacle with a number of fairly developed, idiosyncratic characters, which additionally props up the efficacy of the entire action machinery. All in all, there is not a whole lot to complain about and it’s simply a lot of fun to watch.
Too Old to Die Young (2019) - Director: Nicolas Winding Refn - 3/10 - Boy, oh boy, I’m not even sure where to begin. The primary issue with Refn’s latest mammoth is that there isn’t any specific underlying purpose to the whole narrative and the entirety of the show doesn’t really know where to go and when to stop. One of the compelling factors of Refn’s typically surrealist feature films is the rigorous editing counterpoising the languorous pacing of his works and it seems that the ubiquitous self-indulgence found herein is a direct result of unrestrained creative freedom that must’ve been bestowed upon Refn. So much of the show is slow insofar as it becomes more of a test of patience rather than some enriching feature. Suffice to say, the structure of all episodes proves so sparse as to render the whole composition virtually amorphous. Secondly, the show appears to want to make some sort of political statement whilst partially undermining its surrealist sensibilities as well as contradicting itself on multiple occasions. The sociopolitical commentary turns out to be a crude regurgitation of the usual platitudes and inherently elitist notions, so a lot of this surreal satire touching upon various topics relating to the current political climate in the US is predictably piffling, trite, excessively Lynchian in tone and quite frankly, tedious.
However, what is more unusual and quite disquieting is its portrayal of the Hispanic demographic as this some sort of primordially destructive force razing everything to the ground and constituting this quasi-supernatural energy challenging the withering status quo, which is something that completely flies in the face of the show’s supposedly anti-racist message. I’m really not the kind of person that indulges in excessive virtue-signalling at every turn, but this exceedingly outlandish and explicit demonization of Hispanics goes against the primarily anti-racist message and obfuscates the whole point of the commentary so much as to render it completely meaningless. It also uncovers the ultimately cosmetic and cursory domain of politics in the show; the inherently contradictory nature of the sociopolitical content only attests to the fact that Refn isn’t particularly interested in the artistic quest of truth and simply deploys the subject matter as a mere facade to make himself look more significant and relevant than he really is, pretending to share some wildly unorthodox observations whilst having nothing particularly worthwhile to say. I suppose he might be referring to some gnostic concepts beyond the mainstream cognition, but even so, the portrayal happens to be inadvertently bigoted in a way.
Well, truth be told, none of this would really matter if the rest of the show had something interesting to offer, but it’s yet another element that doesn’t work at all. Another aspect of the series utterly stultifying the sociopolitical commentary is the dearth of human element: there are no tangible characters to be found here and we basically get another helping of Refn’s opaque writing in the form of emotionless mannequins roving around the degenerate wasteland and awkward exchanges and longueurs prologated ad nauseam, the difference here being the desperate need for palpable characters in consideration of its political message, whatever it might be. Last but not least, the quality of writing in some episodes is so mind-numbingly poor it actually renders some parts of the show completely unwatchable and the storyline begins to dissolve towards the end of the series. The last episode is like a modern example of an antifilm in the same vein as Warhol’s efforts. I can’t remember the last time I smashed that motherfuckin’ fast-forward button so eagerly and repeatedly, over and over again, just to finish off a piece. All in all, definitely Refn’s worst work yet and an insufferable piece of effing shite; there is a very good reason why Amazon decided to pass on advertising the whole enchilada.
Shakedown (1988) - Director: James Glickenhaus - 4/10 - It’s a rollercoaster or a trainwreck of a movie, depending on the way you look at it. The whole plot barely makes any sense and primarily relies on its precipitate narrative momentum as well as its unrepentant, freewheeling and schlocky merriment, but the thing is even in its more charming moments, the film still feels incredibly inept, superfluously disorderly and all over the place. It kind of works regardless of its inner messiness (or perhaps because of it), but I failed to enjoy it to the same extent as a lot of other people apparently did. It’s kind of fun, but mostly just effing dumb.
Call Me (1988) - Director: Sollace Mitchell - 3/10 - A substandard thriller with very little substance or any real suspense to pique one’s interest for the entirety of its duration. Apart from having very poor production values, the motion picture is completely stifled by its inchoate structure, the inordinately episodic and digressive narrative and the lacklustre direction predominantly trying to make amends for the inferior quality of the screenplay, yet to no avail. Even in the world of low-budgeted crime flicks of this sort, the movie undeniably looks like crap and the whole impression is additionally compounded by the omnipresent meaninglessness and aimlessness of multiple sequences as well as poor craftsmanship, which is evident in the framing and the editing. Siskel & Ebert’s review is pretty much spot-on.
Rapid Fire (1992) - Director: Dwight H. Little - 4/10 - Just your usual martial arts flick primarily preoccupied with effectively presenting fight scenes rather than some particularly original, refreshing story. I mean, I don’t know, I might’ve missed something, but to me it looks just like a multitude of other films of this kind and it’s held in high esteem principally on account of Brandon Lee’s presence in the film. I mean who cares.
No One Could Protect Her (1996) - Director: Larry Shaw - 6/10 - A movie about a female victim of a rapist on the spree; the woman wants to come to grips with her trauma, but also anticipates her victimizer’s return by bracing herself accordingly. Despite being a fairly modest production without any particularly refreshing or distinguishing qualities, it is still a pretty successful little flick which achieves its aims through its relatively engrossing narrative and moderately dexterous execution. It’s nothing special, but it’s well acted, directed and diverting enough in my book.
Heat (1986) - Directors: Dick Richards - 4/10 - Although the narrative is heavily attenuated and doesn’t really seem to go anywhere for the most part, the movie still holds a strange appeal for me primarily by virtue of Nick Escalante’s overall persona and the odd, bittersweet atmosphere of stagnation and aimlessness the film is brimming over with. Regrettably, the pic loses some of that inadvertent inspiration once it turns into yet another example of a nondescript actioner; its resolution isn’t much better either and leaves a lot to be desired. It might be worth a look, but it’s far from being anything exceptionally good.
Malone (1987) - Director: Harley Cokeliss - 3/10 - The opus seems to suffer from multiple personality disorder in that it accomodates narrative elements of three types of a motion picture, but failing to excel in any of those fields; it is partly an espionage thriller, a western and a conspiracy thriller, but it never really succeeds in pooling all those disparate ideas and patterns to create something refreshingly new or interesting, flinging the film into pure chaos and ironically enough, utter mediocrity. It kind of attempts to bring something new to the table, but doesn’t really know how or why, ending up recycling cliches simply springing from different genres.
Undertow (1996) - Director: Eric Red - 5/10 - While the premise appears familiar enough, this motion picture is quite an oddity in the sense that it feels unlike anything else out there; the location-based focus of the story already furnishes the work with some originality, but the assortment of weird, tense situations, which are then spliced together within the narrative framework, endow the film with an eerie, suspenseful flavor and sort of make it work better than most filmic instances of this kind. Regrettably, although Eric Red is an interesting writer and does have a flair for penning engaging stories, he isn’t much of a director and his directorial abilities do not hold a candle to his screenwriting capabilities. Had this been executed by someone else, it even could’ve been a minor classic perhaps, but it ultimately is what it is. With that being said, it might be worth a look for some people purely by virtue of how different it feels from most movies out there.
Prime Suspect (1989) - Director: Bruce Kimmel - 3/10 - It’s very easy to shit on a film which had serious production problems, so I’ll refrain from slagging it off. Suffice to say, producers apparently had to fire its initial director and the script written by this bloke is a complete travesty, but even taking into account the horrible writing, the pacing and the narration molded by the guy’s stand-in are just as out of whack as the rest of it and ultimately, the film feels inordinately stagnant for something that’s supposed to be a galvanizing thriller. It’s a wretched piece of forgotten garbage; at least I didn’t hate it in the end, so there is that.
Bitter Vengeance (1994) - Director: Stuart Cooper - 5/10 - A fairly standard neonoir with Virginia Madsen as a damsel in distress grappling with her abusive husband, who connives behind her back. Again, it doesn’t really go anywhere other films of this kind have not been to, but at least it delivers its story in a fairly engrossing manner and is never really boring. One complaint I have is that Virginia Madsen is terribly underused in this one: she is employed in a purely instrumental fashion and addtionally, her character appears too perfect to feel like a real person, which manifests itself especially during the completely unbelievable quasi-deus-ex-machina resolution.
Sweet Poison (1991) - Director: Brian Grant - 7/10 - Despite its quite meager budget and its relatively straightforward storyline, the movie succeeds in surmounting its bromides by amplifying the overall tension and truly relishing in the nastiness of the presented tale. It doesn’t really beat about the bush or toy with some unnecessary cinematic pleasantries and instead, expands on its fairly simple premise by adding some nuance to its main characters and revelling in its own piquancy and cynism, which instantly brings to mind John Dahl’s efforts and their kind of misanthropic playfulness. The film ends on a frame strikingly reminiscent of Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog; I’m not sure whether that was intentional, but if it was, then it was a nice little touch. Definitely one of the better obscure neonoirs of the 1990s.
Dragonslayer (1981) - Director: Matthew Robbins - 8/10 - One of the few old-school fantasy movies that manage to capture that mythical quality and the otherworldliness which elude so many other productions of this kind. Oddly enough, there aren’t too many cheesy moments in this one and the film genuinely feels impressive both in its visual department and in the way it is narrated and scripted. Likewise, I’ve got to admit film’s special effects still look fairly good and that dragon is badass.
Scissors (1991) - Director: Frank De Felitta - 2/10 - The primary issue of Scissors lies with the fact that the principal dynamics of the film completely hinge upon the psychoanalysis insofar as it completely stultifies the whole effort. To add insult to injury, the film also suffers from its genuinely cringeworthy theatrics, the bloated, orchestral soundtrack and the ridiculously overwrought and contrived storyline that gets stale and exasperating just as swiftly as its excessive psychoanalytic shtick intended to make the narrative look more profound and multilayered than it really is.
Crime Zone (1988) - Director: Luis Llosa - 5/10 - It’s exactly the kind of thing you’d think it is - brazen, trashy, slightly cheesy, but never really boring in spite of its inherently cliched nature. Crime Zone recounts its fairly pedestrian storyline in a tongue-in-cheek manner and doesn’t really aspire to be something it isn’t. What is rather unique about the whole thing is how it blends different thematic motifs and ideas with its Peruvian locations, which is something that gives it an uncannily exotic flavor. Some icy ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ in the soundtrack additionally contribute to the evocative atmosphere and enhance the whole experience; while there is absolutely nothing particularly substantive about its story or the way it’s told, it does what it does in a very expeditious manner and is a charming time-waster in its own right.
While I still like this one, I agree it’s not necessarily the masterpiece it’s hailed to be. I think I even prefer Fricke’s Chronos (1985) over this one.
Apart from Bauhaus appearance, never likes The Hunger that much, always thought it was too much pretensious
Now, that was a lot of mediocre movies. How do you even choose what to watch?
I have this on a watchpile for about ten years. And similarly as with Miracle mile lastly, you did it first!
I can totally understand why, the atmosphere of the movie really appealed to me though and the movie felt a lot more unhinged than pretentious if that makes any sense. It’s also visually very reminiscent of another Scott’s visual style.
I’ve hoarded a bunch of about a hundred movies I want to watch and have been viewing them one after another without much thought as to the order itself, so in order words, it’s quite random. I quite like it, it feels somewhat more organic, but then again it’s essentially hit-and-miss. A lot of it is obscure 1990s shit, but I really dig it.
yes, me too. From his three movies it works best, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and has an overaching idea of the passing of time that works very well
I was unaware of this until I noticed everyone on Letterboxd giving it perfect 5 star ratings up the arse out of nowhere.
Au revoir là-haut (2017) - Albert Dupontel
Haven’t seen much French cinema lately, too much comedies and nothing out of the ordinary, but stumble into this little gem.
It´s a WWI period history, with the main events taking place after the war, combining life, death, love and art in precise measures, in this unique history of two most improbable crooks that team together to have some sort of revenge from what they suffer in war.
The heart of the story is about life and art or life as art, and the artistic part it’s truly amazing, the masks used to cover the character with a deformed face (played brilliantly by Nahuel Perez Biscayart) are amazing and a must see.
There are no really good characters in the storyline, only ones that are better than others, but the story is pretty much believable, the characters are well dimensioned, the acting the scenarios with great quality.
It really kept me glued to screen, pretty quality film
4 out of 5
Alphaville (Jean Luc Godard, 1965)
I have a book titled 100 sf movies you should watch before you die with this movie in. Nothing can be farther from truth. Utterly boring experimental piece of dystopian crap with unlistenable music! 1’5/5