Log: week 43 / 2024
Henry VIII doesn't have the best reputation, but going by this film he seems to have been a rather basic gentleman. He seemed at the mercy of his wives, but with a bit of a temper and with the power to get his way. Not that I think this was a valid representation of reality, but at least you'll know what to expect. There's a lot of back and forth between Henry and his wives. The performances are bland, the cinematography is dry as bones and the pacing is slow. At least the atmosphere is pretty light. It may not be true to life, but it did make the film just a tad easier to sit through. Not one I'll remember for long though.Read all
Basic Blumhouse horror. The production values are there, but the simple premise and the bland execution make it hard to like this film. There are some attempts at scares and the film follows traditional horror conventions, but there's very little heart in it. This was made to lure people to the theaters, nothing more. The performances aren't great, the setup is banal and the introduction is too long (because the drama simply doesn't work). The horror isn't scary at all and even the conclusion fails to ramp up the tension. It's a waste of money, though I'm sure Blumhouse got their money's worth. The most basic horror filler.Read all
A love triangle that develops as a typical tennis match. The stories are set up in such a way that Guadagnino can easily switch between both timelines, but I didn't quite understand the need to do so. It's a narrative folly that only adds the runtime, which is quite excessive for a simple romance like this one. The performances are decent and Guadagnino makes an effort to add some visual frills. He also tried to do something different with the soundtrack, but the electronic music sounds horrid and fake, I don't understand why music composers keep coming up with this kind of garbage. I can't say I cared too much for any of it, but it wasn't a terrible film.Read all
I'd heard a lot of good things about this one, but despite having a more interesting art style, the film is pretty much consistent with other childish US animations. Irritating characters and horrid comedy make this unpleasant to sit through, even though it shouldn't have been too difficult to turn this into a decent film. The voice acting is grating, the robot has the charm of a generic US soccer mom and the animals are all suffering from ADHD. The visuals offer something a little different, though it feels a bit too much like a simple filter on top of the usual 3D CG designs. The plot and moral takeaways are disappointing too, but it's still mildly better than many of its peers.Read all
A rather dreary film that gets a lot worse when Kieslowski starts to dwell on the nature of cinema. I'm having increasingly more trouble sitting through these types of self-absorbed films, and being set against a grim Polish background didn't make things any better. This was one of Kieslowski's worst for me. Films about films tend to be pretty lofty, and Camera Buff is no exception. But it's the grey and uninviting drama, the middling performances, and the unexciting characters that made this a chore to sit through. People who dig 70s grit and grim Eastern-European dramas will have a field day with this one, it's just not for me.Read all
Zelda Williams' first full-length feature. It's a film that borrows a lot from 80s Burton cinema, and as such its release is a couple of years too late, but it's goofy and quirky enough for this time of year. The horror elements are very mild, it's probably better to expect a dark fantasy with some romance instead. The plot is a fun take on the classic Frankenstein story, the performances are tongue-in-cheek and the pacing is decent. I'm not a big fan of the 80s pandering, nor the US high school setting, but Williams' direction shows promise. If she can refine her style and distance herself a bit more from Burton's signature, she may have a promising future.Read all
This is an amazing return to the horror genre for Moreau. It's been a while since I've seen a good horror, and it's been at least two decades since I've watched a great zombie flick. But executing it as a single-take endevour tracking the original outbreak was a very smart choice. The performances are excellent, the camera work is smart and the sound design is stellar. This was an amazing thrill from start to finish, a mix of Cloverfield and Irréversible, but with zombies. If you're looking for something fun to watch during Halloween, you can't go wrong with this one.
Indian Neorealism. It's a far cry from current Bollywood cinema, but it has its fair share of fans (mostly in the guise of Ray supporters). The Whole Sky fits the niche, but I can't say it did much for me. It's a pedestrian drama presented in a less-than-stellar way, then again, I'm not a big fan of these types of films. At least it's shorter than the current Bollywood features. Chatterjee makes an effort to be more playful with the visuals, but the attempts are rather crummy, and the black-and-white cinematography isn't all that pleasing. Nor are the performances and the drama, which left me with very little to enjoy.Read all
No false advertising here. There are many scenes where Ken Ogata is doing just what the title promises: walking around a snowy, rural village. The drama built around it is quite small too, but there are little moments of greatness here, small poignant details that give the film some necessary depth. The performances are good, with a very solid role for Ogata. The setting is nice too, the drama is pleasant and Kobayashi keeps things breezy by adding a lighter (and rather atypical) score. It's a perfectly nice film, but it does lack something that makes it truly memorable. If you like Hokkaido though, be sure to give this one a go.Read all
Farhadi became famous after directing A Separation, if you want more quarreling people then About Elly won't disappoint. The first half of the film is relatively light and breezy (though already extremely talkative), after that, the mood completely sinks and what remains is mentally exhausting. The beginning of the film was surprisingly colorful. Not that the drama was incredibly captivating, but it was pleasant enough. After the dramatic twist halfway through the film completely lost me. The characters annoyed me immensely and I was glad the film was finally over. I don't think Farhadi is my type of director.Read all
It's a shame to see Yamada ending up a generic horror director, but such is his fate. Hanako of the Toilet is a popular legend (and adapted quite a few times already), but this reboot doesn't add much to the plot. There's too much time spent on mediocre drama, and not enough on the horror elements. The performances are mediocre, the plot is generic and the horror is predictable. There are some decent scenes and the pacing is solid, but there have been too many similar films already and Yamada does little to nothing to set this one apart from all the others. Japanese horror filler in the purest sense of the words.Read all
By far one of the mushiest, cheesiest films I've ever seen. This film is so feel-good that it made me feel bad. The worst thing is that it goes on and on and on, and it's all just a repetition of the same concept within different periods of Mr Chips' life. Even the drama felt jolly and goofy, which I doubt was the desired result. The performances are dusty, the characters are way too gullible and the transformation of Mr Chips felt forced. It reminded me almost of an older version of Forrest Gump, but even cornier still. At least the film is light and remains light, which makes the whole thing somewhat bearable. It's a film I might remember longer than most, but not for the right reasons.Read all
It's obvious this film only exists because it's a popular franchise that comes with an interested user base. It's certainly not a very good film, but as lazy blockbusters go, it's also not the worst I've seen. And it kept its runtime well under two hours, which is something to be celebrated for this type of film. The performances are bad, they could've done a lot more with the setting and Claptrap is downright annoying. But the pacing is solid, the film doesn't take itself too seriously and there are some goofy, memorable moments. The world could've done without this Borderlands adaptation, but there's still some fun to be had here.Read all