Log: week 24 / 2025
This would make a nice companion piece to Tokyo.sora, even though Ice Cream Fever is quite a bit brighter. This all-female drama is an aesthetic delight, doused in joyous colors and brought to life through stylish and evocative camera work. The performances are strong, the score is remarkable, and the dramatic elements are pointed without being too overwhelming. Director Chihara set a high bar for himself, and hopefully, he'll get a few more chances to better himself.
The Edward Snowden story was big, so chances are most people watching this will be familiar with most of the details already. What sets this documentary apart is that everything is happening in real time. This wasn't set up after the dust had settled, but Snowden contacted Poitras well before word got out. The subject and the presentation are rather dry though, and quite a few scenes and monologues also play out in real time, which isn't always the most interesting to watch. A bit of extra editing and somewhat more effort into the presentation would've been nice, but it's still a stark reminder that governments don't always care about our privacy.Read all
When you're a former fighter trying to make it big in Hollywood, it seems you need to feature in at least one of these films. You'll be paired up with some random little kid in a silly action comedy that is targeted at younger audiences. Welcome to Dave Bautista's My Spy, a not-so-great film. Peter Segal is a decent enough comedy director, but he can't do much with this material. The action's a bit too gritty, the comedy's too childish, and the mix doesn't work that well. Bautista and Coleman are a solid pairing though, it's just not enough to turn this into a capable film. Forgettable fluff.Read all
I'm always happy to catch a new Cronenberg, but nowadays I'm way more excited about Brendon's work. The Shrouds is David's latest, and it's been a while since he made anything half-decent. This wasn't a true return to form, but there were some interesting tidbits that kept me interested. The body horror is a little tacked on, and the sci-fi stuff felt like leftover Black Mirror material, but Cronenberg manages to create an uncomfortable atmosphere, and there are some solid performances to go along with it. The genre elements felt less accomplished, and the style is a bit outdated. Not the worst, but I think it's time to make room for the kids.Read all
Cheesy fun, and that's exactly what I was hoping to get. Amemiya has proven himself a capable director with this type of material (think tokusatsu action, but a little darker), and things certainly get a little weird. The plot isn't the most coherent, but it's simple enough to follow along. There are some familiar faces here (I didn't expect Hiroshi Abe to show up in a film like this), but you're not watching this for the performances. The creature designs are fun, the effects are a little crummy but in a charming way, and the pacing is slick. There's a lot of fun to be had with this one, as long as you can appreciate the tokusatsu elements.Read all
A solid drama, though a bit too plain to make a lasting impression. The performances aren't bad, though some of the characters are a little one-dimensional, and not all the dramatic story arcs are properly developed. A smaller set of characters and a tad more focus might've done the film some good. The somewhat lackluster presentation didn't help the film either. It's not overtly ugly, but a lot more could've been done with the cinematography and score to ease the viewer into the drama. There are still some poignant scenes and some interesting moments, but there are so many Japanese dramas out there doing a better job that it's difficult to recommend this one to casual viewers.Read all
Watching this again, it's impossible to ignore the extra layer Hoffman's death added to this film. It makes it a tougher watch, even so, I wasn't quite as impressed by it as I was the first time. That's mostly me and the way my interest in film has shifted over the years, because the quality is still there. This is very much a film about the actor, not so much about the presentation. Both Hoffman and Bates put in a tremendous effort, and there are some rough and touching scenes scattered throughout, but the dreary look and the lack of effort that went into the styling hampered my overall enjoyment of it. If you like a good indie drama though, give this one a go.Read all
Also known as Zombie 3, but it has nothing to do with the other films in that series, except that this is yet another film about the decaying undead bothering some unsuspecting people. It's all about the zombies, which are given ample screen time. The rest of the film is absolute garbage. The close-ups of the creatures are decent enough, but shots from further away make them look quite goofy. The actors are atrocious, the camera work is erratic, and the plot is almost non-existent. There's a bit of fun to be had with the gore, but it's not enough to make this a successful horror film.Read all
Dai Yilin is taking on a different type of action film. No classic fantasy martial arts displays here, Confrontation Peak is an action flick with stronger sci-fi influences, embedded in a plot that feels like it took a few notes from the Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter franchises. In other words: don't watch this for the plot. Yilin is one of the more gifted streamer directors, and it shows. The action scenes look snappy, the editing and cinematography are a step above the norm, and even though there are enough cheesy moments, the swift pacing and short runtime make sure it never gets in the way for too long. Good fun.Read all
One of those films I watched when I was exploring international cinema for the first time. It explains why this made a bigger impact on me when I first watched it. Two decades later, I'm more familiar with the tropes and the stylistic choices, and that inevitably makes it less special to revisit. That's not to say it's a bad film. The performances are strong, the drama is fine, and the way the music is incorporated is interesting. But the cinematography felt a bit lackluster, and the somewhat dreary mood of the film didn't always feel earned. A solid film, watch it when you get the chance, but far from what I consider a personal favorite nowadays.Read all
3.11 Sense of Home
I'm a vocal fan of anthology films, but there is a specific niche that I don't care for at all. When the films are very short and made to celebrate/pay tribute to some or other event, the results can be very amateurish. 3.11 Sense of Home is one of those films. Don't be fooled by the directors on display, there's no great cinema here. Not a single one of the short films was memorable. The technical qualities of the films are subpar, the topic is handled with limited respect, and most of the entries felt like hobby projects. At least the variety carried me through the shortish runtime, but this could've been so much better. Disappointing.Read all
If you've ever wondered why Hollywood writers are so afraid to be replaced by AI, it's probably because you need seven of them to come up with this piece of generic trash. It is by far one of the laziest superhero movies I've seen in a while, and it's only because of its stupidity that I found some minor things to like about it. The plot is terrible, the bad guy is a complete numbnut, the editing is terrible, and the styling is equally unattractive. Madame Web is as plain as can be, a sign that the superhero genre has finally lost all of its momentum and should cool down a little before trying to reinvent itself again.Read all
A nice but somewhat basic thriller. Director Ben Young made an effort with the soundtrack to make things a bit more stylized, and I think he did a pretty good job too, but it wasn't quite enough the lift the presentation to a higher level. And as such, this film struggled to be anything more than a solid thriller. The performances are good, the cinematography is decent, and the score is used well, but the premise is rather simplistic, and the plot doesn't go anywhere exciting. The kidnappers aren't excessively freaky, the violence isn't extra, and the few plot twists are more tedious than surprising. It's not a bad film, just not a memorable one.Read all
The nice thing about the Fantomas movies is that they're relatively short and don't feature the usual overacting that was so common back then. But the stories are rather dim and simplistic, and there are too many intertitles to wade through, which really slows down a film like this. The story is basic, with a fake Fantomas entering the stage to lure the real one out. The presentation is dull and functional, the pacing is slow for a film that only lasts an hour, and the score is a little grating. The series is a true crime classic though, so if you're wondering how they tackled crime cinema in the 1910s, it's probably the best place to start.Read all