Log: week 37 / 2018

Dark, amusing and mysterious film about actress Paula Maxa, the queen of horror theatre. Or as the film calls her, the most assassinated woman in the world. It's more genre than straight-up biography, but that's a plus in my book. Well directed, well acted and very moody, there's plenty to like here.

Light on story, heavy on music. That's makes it quite a challenging film, especially because the music was absolutely grating. It's probably a cultural thing and it no doubt it needs some getting used to, but I clearly wasn't ready for it yet. Apart from the music, the rest is pretty slow and uneventful too. Terrible film.

Nice doc about the abortion fight in the US. Even though this became a constitutional right, years of activism have made it hard for women wanting to go through with it. It doesn't ask too many critical questions and it's a bit too leading, on the other hand there's some dire footage in there that needs to be seen.

Oldskool martial arts films that borrows more than a couple of cues from Hark's Once upon a Time in China. The result is a fun but shameless love letter to early 90s Hong Kong action cinema, the only problem is that director Lin himself doesn't quite meet the standard. Amusing, but not a modern masterpiece.

Mood piece about mountains. Sadly the execution is quite cheesy. Lots of expected drone shots, ethereal music and some painfully kitschy narration by William Dafoe. There's incredibly little substance here, stylistically it's just too by the numbers. Some nice shots and pretty views, but that's about it really.

Fun, creative and quirky spin on the superhero genre. Even though Toyoshima is somewhat of a veteran director by now, the film still feels young and fresh. There's no lack of interesting ideas, the execution is on point and the actors are in on the joke. It lacks a little refinement, but otherwise it's a very amusing film.

Very plain and simple 90s action thriller. It's exactly the kind that works for Bruce Willis, but without a half-decent director backing him up these films just aren't very good. The pacing is alright and there are a couple of okay moments, but overall it's completely forgettable film with no lasting power.

The only genuine comedy feature Kitano ever directed. While comedy it a big part of his oeuvre, it tends to come second in his films. Expect plenty of dry, absurd and crazy comedy sketches, held together by a slim storyline. It's funny though and that's what really matters. Not Kitano's best, but thoroughly entertaining.

More of the same, but with a slightly less enthusiastic cast. There's still a lot of fun to be had with this one, it's still pretty crazy and out there, but overall it lacks the reckless charm of the first film. If you liked the first film you can do little wrong with part 2, but it's probably best to avoid watching them back to back.

Herman Yau, forever making genre films with a social conscience. While in many ways a typical Hong Kong police flick, Yau weaves in poor post-handover conditions and the severe effects on the underpaid police force. Sadly production values are subpar, but there are some interesting bits and pieces here.

Pretty crazy comedy that holds the middle between Dahl's Matilda and early Jan Kounen, if that makes any sense. I'm not familiar with the St. Trinian's franchise (quite a long-running series it seems), but this latest incarnation features a starstudded cast that clearly had a lot of fun while shooting. Cool beans.

Another one of those Bollywood films that tries to cram every possible genre into 150 minutes of film but doesn't succeed in any of them. It's one big mess, badly acted, horrible scored and sentimental to the core. I guess that makes it a good recommend for fans of typical Bollywood cinema, can't say I'm a big fan.

Very capable disaster movie that starts off well but loses it a little in the second half. The build-up and the actual disaster are executed to perfection, the rescue on the other hand is too cheesy and sentimental. It gets way too Hollywood after the halfway point, a missed opportunity because the rest of the film was great.

Early Xiaogang Feng that is surprisingly traditional. A Sigh a romantic drama featuring a lot of torn and broken characters. The love triangle is nothing new, neither is the execution. It's not bad, but I've come to expect more from Feng, plenty of others could've directed this film and the outcome would've been just the same.

It's not difficult to see how the film earned its reputation, but 60 years later there's little left of the shocking and perverted material on display. It's all rather slow and tame, Mark is a boring psycho and the acting as well as the styling are a bit dubious. Unique for its time, but not much to look at nowadays.

Takashi Ishii doing his version of Perfect Blue. It's very direct, way more twisted and quite a bit darker, but that's to be expected. Ishii does a good job elevating what is basically a pretty sleazy and perverted film, but the first hour is a little tough and his experiments with digital aren't always successful. Still worth a try.