Movies
Better than I had expected. I can't say I heard of this title before, but I'm not a big fan of Ford and these late 80s/90s thrillers have aged considerably, so expectations were low. Not that Witness is a great film, but thanks to the very atmospheric score and above average cinematography it does manage to stand out. John Book is a police detective. When he is called out to investigate a murder, a young Amish boy turns out to be the only witness of the crime. When the book identifies one of Book's colleagues, things begin to heat up and Book can only narrowly escape. He goes to stay with the Amish for a while. The soundtrack is the biggest asset of the film. It gives it a bit of extra flair that similar films lack. Ford isn't too bad, the crime elements are basic but work well, and the romance is passable. It's a bit long maybe, and it's certainly not the most memorable film, but it's perfectly fine filler.Read all
A slight disappointment. With a title and poster like that, it's hard not to expect something a little crazier and wilder. But The Cars That Ate Paris is a pretty subdued film considering its pretty outlandish premise. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not really what I wanted from a silly film like this. Paris is a little backward town in Australia. To survive, the people of Paris have some nasty tricks up their sleeves. They cause car crashes whenever tourists roll through town, then they scrape the cars for parts and sell those for good money. Arthur survives his crash and the people of Paris decide to make him a part of their community. It takes quite a while for things to get really moving, it isn't until the last 15 or 20 minutes that things really start to heat up. The premise is fun though, the performances are decent and it's not a bad film by any means. The tone and vibe are just a little off, which takes away from the overall fun.Read all
A drab and unexciting adventure film. The premise of Master and Commander is simple, but not bad. A long voyage on a ship, faraway lands and warmongering nations, everything is present for a fun-fulled and entertaining two hours of cinema. Except maybe a director who knew how to handle the material. The film is quite serious, even though it's little more than three battles on the sea and some filler drama in between. The characters are cardboard and performances are uninspired, the soundtrack is misplaced and the cinematography fails to capture the excitement of the voyage and the battles. It's the trip itself, the vastness of the sea and the short visit to the Galápagos Islands that make it bearable, but it's definitely not enough to warrant the 2+ hour runtime, let alone the many accolades this film has received over the years. Mediocre Hollywood nonsense that should best be forgotten.Read all
A film I've actively avoided for a long time, for the many comparisons with Hadzihalilovic's Innocence. I'm quite fond of that one, but expecting something similar from a film made 30 years earlier would've been quite unfair. Can't avoid the film forever though, so I figured it was time to give one of Weir's most iconic films a shot. The story revolves around the mysterious disappearance of three girls after they went to explore Hanging Rock. The film itself isn't all that myserious though, apart from a handful of scenes it's mostly just a drama that deals with the disappearance and the search for the missing girls. I get the comparison with Innocence, but Weir struggles to get the atmosphere on point. He aims for a mix of dreamy, mysterious and sinister, but too often it's just cheesy and inane. The drama surrounding the disappearance isn't too exciting either and the performances are mediocre. Weir gets points for trying, but the execution is inadequate.Read all
