Log: week 52 / 2018
Cheap effects, a poor performance by Tim Allen, a horrible kid and a mediocre Christmas story. Even though the film tries to get the Christmas feeling across, it's just too flimsy and shoddy to have any kind of effect. It's a bit surprising Disney went this cheap, at least they put more effort into their kids films nowadays.
Somewhat tepid and simplistic drama by Ann Hui. The film looks nice for a 90s Hong Kong film, but the drama between a grandfather and his visiting grandson is hardly substantial. The acting is poor, the film is predictable and there's absolutely nothing that makes this one stand out. Not terrible, just forgettable.
Doc on the "club of 27", 6 influential pop idols that died at the age of 27. They suffered in their younger years and were unable to cope with their success, that's about the only thing to come from this doc. The rest is just a quick rundown of the event that lead to their death. Pretty pointless and not very informative.
A poor and derivative sequel/reboot to a series that wasn't all that interesting to begin with. Renner has trouble replacing Damon, Weisz is almost invisible and Norton isn't much of a bad guy. The first 90 minutes are dull beyond belief, but a well done action sequence at the end does make a small difference.
Quintessential Christmas classic. Edmund Gwenn is superb as Santa Claus, but that's about the only positive thing to be said about this one. It's all rather plain and functional with not much actual Christmas atmosphere to speak of. At least it's short and rather uplifting, but it's not a film I'd like to revisit.
A film that was clearly distancing itself from the Shaw Bros legacy. Arhats in Fury is a transition film, with still plenty of SB traces present, but also different enough to stand out. At times the production feels quick and dirty, but the martial arts scenes are top notch and in the end that's what a film like this is all about.
A film that somewhat works, despite Murray's presence. Murray's character requires him to be annoying, but he's just too loud and obnoxious. The stuff surrounding him is pretty goofy and funny, though time also chipped away at its edginess. There are some fun moments, but overall it's just not that great.
Another quality Tanaka film. More in line with Bunny Drop, combining drama and comedy to great effect. Mr. Long also introduces some crime elements, though they are very limited. Well shot, perfectly acted, dramatically impeccable. It's not as unique as some of his other films, but well worth a watch.
Cheaply produced Christmas film, which is oddly enough its saving grace. Not that it's a great film, but because it's rather crude and down to earth, the usual cheese isn't all that overpowering. The kids are genuinely amusing and Freeman is nice as grumpy teacher. Decent filler, but don't expect too much of it.
Grating. Grant is absolutely horrible and Hepburn's voice is completely unsuited for screwball comedies. The dialogue is fast and there's plenty of it, but almost none of it is funny. And so, safe a few inspired moments, the film simply goes on and on and on, growing increasingly more annoying with each passing minute.
Bog standard Christmas film with some annoying attempts to modernize things. Russell sucks as santa, the kids are intolerable and the story is rather longwinded. There's also some atrocious animation and a cheesy ending. I'm sure this was an honest attempt to make a modern Christmas classic, it just didn't work.
Another one of Sandrich's famous Astaire & Rogers collaborations. It's a very typical musical, with a bunch familiar songs and a few token dance sequences. The plot is negligible and it probably should've been a little shorter, but if you're a fan of Astaire & Rogers you really can't go wrong with this one.
A rather plain and tepid drama about a plane crash. It features some interesting bits about the media portrayal of heroes, but apart from that it's mostly US patriotism and hero worshipping of the worst kind. Eastwood's direction is as flavorless as ever, so is Hanks' portrayal of Sully. Not terrible, but quite boring.