Archive for August 2023

17 posts from 03 to 31 August 2023.

  • Dark Places

    Insurance fraud as drama, this is weird. I thought only Suburbicon dabbled on that theme, it’s a genre now. “Angel of Debt” is a great moniker. Did not know this was a Gillian Flynn book adaptation, Gone Girl is less rural.

  • Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

    Not Pussy Galore. Marsden does his best Ryan Reynolds impression, or maybe that’s how all Canadians sound like.

  • Rules of Engagement

    A much, much crappier version of A Few Good Men. Equally jingoistic, but boring as fuck, with shitty writing. So many fake Americans. Bloated as the Yemeni bodies, there’s even time for a They Live-style wrestle match in the middle.

  • 10,000 BC

    Makes Stargate seem a documentary. The hodgepodge of references to ancient stuff is crazy. Of course the alpha couple are Canadian dudes with dreadlocks, for budgetary reasons, rather than outright racism.

  • Terminator: Dark Fate

    Come with me if you want less money. I only watched this for Mackenzie Davies, she hit the gym hard, but does nothing but kill people like crazy. It’s a CGI fest in the worst possible way.

  • Derailed

    Wait a minute, I saw a variation on this film already, it was called Deception. And it was right around the same time too. Miramax and R ratings, I can’t unsee jacking off into potted plants.

  • Hereditary

    Hail Paimon. Go ahead, chase me, I’ll run away to the attic.

  • Meg 2: The Trench

    MOAR sharks, one of them is a pet. There is also a giant octopus too (don’t call it a Kraken). The Chinese money is smellier this time, about half the film is spoken in Mandarin, the rest is shark grunts and Statham vocalisations.

  • Bad Santa 2

    At first you think this can’t work again, lightning doesn’t strike twice. Then you have the opening shot, of Wille riding a sports car on The Strip, drooling over a breastfeeding mother, crashing into the valet service he is working with, being fired on the spot. Brilliant, even though I think I got the censored TV version.

  • A Most Violent Year

    That was not what I expected from that title. A deep character study about American immigrants, several possible paths for the same starting point. You either die a hero, or live long enough to become a villain, and our protagonist has been around for a long time.

  • Dying of the Light

    Whaddaya you know, it’s a Paul Schrader film. Of course the protagonist is a jaded older guy, dying, raging at the world for its corruption, greed, general right-wing behaviour. Not as polished as First Reformed, there are too many rants to be accepted as a mainstream affair.

  • Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters

    An even bigger Harry Potter ripoff, but the plot is The Prodigal Son, ironic considering the Olympian setting.

  • Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

    Chris Columbus directs another kids’ movie, age-adjusted Home Alone. The PG13-ness is preposterous, satyrs having sex must be implied, but chopping off Medusa’s head can be seen directly.

  • Candyman

    I see the trappings of a good horror film, and totally agree with the message, but this tries to have its social justice cake and gore slasher scenes for the “ratings”. It feels disjointed.

  • Enemy of the State

    Great action thriller, at least the first half. The ending is pulled out of their asses, but it is a great romp.

  • Carrie

    The rampage is not even the most interesting part of this, just a technical muscle flexing. Loved the practical effects! Feels like De Palma wanted to just do the rest of the story, but did the rampage for the ratings.

  • Pôr do Sol: O Mistério do Colar de São Cajó

    Like a 100 minutes long TV episode. Fairly packed with jokes, a lower budget Airplane! or Top Secret!.