Movies
AI Rising is an oldskool, but very moody and pleasantly focused sci-fi film. There's a little too much name-dropping in the beginning (Asimov's Law, Schrödinger's Cat), but apart from that it's a very strong and atmospheric exploration of the relationship between human and android. It's the kind of sci-fi I've been craving for a while now, glad to see it might be making a return.
Deathcember
Extensive seasonal horror anthology presented as an advent calendar. It's like the ABC's of Death, only with Christmas-themed shorts. It's a great way to start any movie run-up to Christmas, at least if you're into horror cinema (and all its genre relatives), as it's a lot less jolly than the usual Christmas fare. 24 shorts, about 5 minutes each, is quite a lot for an anthology, especially when you also count the two bonus shorts hidden away in the credits. It makes for a good 2.5 hours of cinema where every 5 minutes your mind needs a little reset. While I appreciate the high level of diversity, I think it would've been better if this had been 30 minutes shorter. Otherwise, there's very little to complain about. There's always going to be shorts that stick out while others fade away in the background, but the broad international selection, the varied mix of styles, genres and topics (while all holiday-related of course) and the many inspired ideas really keep Deathcember interesting and entertaining. I hope they turn this into a yearly tradition.Read all