Movies
Spanish horror cinema had a little renaissance during the late 00s. The Orphanage was one of the front-runners, but there have been so many copycats since, that this film lost some of its original appeal. It's still a stylish slow-burner with some decent scares, but that's not enough to set it apart from the many others. The film is a bit slow to start and the scares are predictable. The performances are solid though and the cinematography is pristine. The soundtrack adds to the mood and the tension ramps up as the finale draws closer. But there's no real climax here and there isn't enough to make the film stand out. Worth a watch if you haven't already, but it's not what I call a personal favorite nowadays.Read all
A Spanish remake of Alive. I'm not sure why they felt it was necessary to tell this story again, especially since the film hardly deviates from the original. It doesn't add that much, at the same time, it's not noticeably worse either. It's just the same story, told in the same way, four decades later. The performances are decent and the setting is majestic, but that's about all this film has to offer. The story was familiar territory, the drama is a little too cinematic at times and 140 minutes is a bit much for what is mostly a single-location film. It's not a terrible upgrade, but it is a pointless one.Read all
Another good director wasted on a generic Hollywood product. The best thing about the latest Jurassic Park film is a big and spectacular volcano outburst. That's nice and all, but since this is a film about dinosaurs it's telling how botched up the rest of it is. Just kill this franchise already.