Log: week 7 / 2025
It's not that director Alex Visani lacks the talent for horror, there are in fact some very dark and moody scenes here. But all of that instantly disappears when the actors come into play. There's an insane gap in quality between the scenes with and without actors, making it almost like watching two different movies. There are some scenes here I liked a lot, but they are too few and far between. The performances are atrocious and Visani seemed ill-equipped to cover them up. Give the man a proper cast and a more skilled team to handle the technical elements and he might be able to create something exceptional. This wasn't it though.Read all
I was hoping for a bit more. This felt like the spawn of Ghost in the Shell and Renaissance, but it doesn't come close to either movie/franchise. There are some fun ideas here and with more efficient world building it might've worked, I just couldn't look past the rather lackluster presentation of it all. From the dry art style to the dull score and lifeless dub, the film seems to do its best to be as uninviting as possible. The potential was there I think, with a bit more skill and effort this could've turned into something great, but most of it falls flat by the end of the film. I'm a little disappointed, but there's still enough core genre appeal there for fans of hard sci-fi.Read all
Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants
Hark Tsui's latest is another fun action epic. Despite having moved to China (like most of his Hong Kong peers) he is one of the few who has managed to bring some Hong Kong with him. The action scenes in particular reminded me of 90s Hong Kong martial arts cinema, which is not a bad thing at all. The only thing I'm not convinced about is that stretching these action flicks to 2+ hours is making them more epic. There's a bit too much filler here, especially around the halfway point. Other than that this was a capable film with fun cameos, memorable characters, and impressive action scenes.Read all
A film carried by Michael Caine. Without him, this probably wouldn't be half as interesting, his ease and flair are what make Alfie watchable. Caine breaking the fourth wall is a nice touch too, but it's not the first film to do this and I've seen better executions. Could've been shorter though. The comedy bits are amusing, the drama is a little less interesting. It's also unavoidable that the film slowly tilts towards the latter in the second half, which makes the runtime an extra burden. Still, I expected much worse. Not quite as stuffy as other UK films from that era, but it's not exactly dashing cinema.Read all
Just more of the same, and that isn't good enough. The first Moana was decent, but for the most part, it stuck to familiar patterns. In this sequel, there's even less room for surprises and you're getting a repeat of the first film with a few new characters and a slightly different story. The songs are terrible, the new characters aren't much fun and the old ones aren't fun enough for another 100 minutes of adventuring. The setting is nice and it's cool to see less obvious cultural elements in a Disney film, but this sequel was pretty unnecessary. Not a film I will be remembering for long.Read all