Movies
It's a blockbuster, as a blockbuster should be. Near perfect use of CG, superb mech designs, great action scenes, some funny moments, and a premise interesting enough to kick-start the whole thing.
Blomkamp does horror with a dash of sci-fi. Demonic was shot during COVID, which explains the smaller scale of the film, but that didn't hold Blomkamp back to do some film tech experiments on the side, playing with around "volumetric capture". Not that it has a big impact on the film itself, but it looks like improved versions of the tech are sure to have an impact on cinema's future. The digital scenes look nice enough, but aren't that special. The mix of horror and sci-fi feels a little forced and the horror bits aren't nearly as scary as Blomkamp hoped they'd be. But it's nice to see a familiar concept like demonic possession get a novel twist, even when the execution isn't quite there. A decent horror flick, but you'd expect Blomkamp to do better.Read all
A rather standard sports/racing flick that distinguishes itself with a slightly more interesting premise and pretty decent direction by Blomkamp. It's not the kind of film I like to see him do, but his talent has a respectable impact during the first half and it's good to see him actually releasing some films. I'm not sure how true to reality everything is, but the plot feels quite scripted (especially the races and the build-up of suspense). The performances are nice though, Blomkamp's visual flair is on display and the film reigns in the sentimentality. It's better than other recent racing flicks, but still not that memorable.Read all