Log: week 17 / 2019

Lobo had a strong vision, so much is clear. Though low on action and somewhat lacking in the acting department, I Trapped the Devil is a moody, tense and mysterious film that survives on a great build-up and slick direction. The music in particular is a superb asset, creating a dark and disturbing vibe that swells as the film reaches its climax.

If you're wondering how Paris Is Us came to be, what hurdles had to be conquered and how Laurent Garnier got involved, do read on.

A fine and delicate mix of intricate drama and outspoken narratives. The actors do a great job, but it's Hamaguchi who finds the perfect balance between narrative intrigue and emotional drama. Smart direction, beautifully executed and powerful when it needs to be. Not for everyone, but the film won me over in no time.

High Life delivers the kind of DIY sci-fi you'd expect from a bona fide arthouse film. Contrived acting, slow pacing and a level of vagueness that allows for various interpretations make this a rather predictable arthouse affair that merely abuses its genre influences. There is definitely potential here, but Denis' execution simply isn't good enough.

A fun and inventive sequel. The first couple of minutes make it look like a bored and uninspired cash-in, but things quickly turn around and the film gets pulled in a very different direction, without ever losing touch with the original. Don't expect a full-blown horror flick, instead this is a pretty cheeky yet successful attempt to mess with the audience's expectations.

Extremely cheesy and third-grade action flick. Ringo Lam takes his prison drama outside of Hong Kong, but fails to make it enticing. The acting is atrocious, the plot is laughable and the attempts at make it a little more poetic are simply painful. The action is dull too, which makes you wonder why they even bothered with this at all.

Mikey meets Chucky. The Prodigy tries its best to be a brooding psychological horror, but in the end it's nothing more than cheesy nonsense. That's a big problem, because the film is dead serious. Rather than have some fun with a devilish kid, McCarthy's confused direction turns it into a frustrating journey.

One of Soderbergh's indie projects. A small but genuine and candid drama about a high class call girl trying to balance her work with a relationship. The acting is decent, the cinematography is intimate and the film doesn't overstay its welcome. It's nothing out of the ordinary, just a solid and well-made film.

A pretty decent continuation of the series. The overarching plot line isn't all that interesting, but the cases do keep me intrigued. The animation is a somewhat poor, but the art style and the music make up for it. It's also pretty graphic for a series that is quite talkative and pensive. Looking forward to the other parts.

A fine survival flick. Mads Mikkelsen is the ideal actor to take on the role of a plane crash survivor trying to make do in Antarctica. It's not a film with a lot of action, but it gets pretty tense and the build-up is pretty much perfect. The ending is a bit unnecessary and it's not the most original of films, but the execution is on point.

Easily the best of the Black Mirror shorts. Finally a film that strives for some kind of cinematic prowess. The black and white visuals are striking, the camera work isn't quite on point, neither is the editing, but at least there's something to see here. The ending isn't all that great either, but the bits with the robots are pretty kick-ass.

You've seen this all before. The Mexican lore doesn't really add all that much, this is just another Wan-like ghost flick with loud scares and scary apparitions. The problem is that Chaves fails to properly build up tension, which makes the jump scares come off cheap. It's not a terrible film, decent horror filler, but very derivative.

Not the worst Hughes film, not the worst Candy comedy. The Uncle Buck character is fun enough and there are some nice interactions between him and the kids, but overall it's all very basic and formulaic 80s film. Hardly anything of note and even though I'd never seen the film before, it felt like I'd seen it a million times already.

Somewhat plain drama that deals with mental illness. The acting is a little too heavy-handed, the direction is a bit too simple and dry. It doesn't help that Nichols ends with a couple of clichés that would be more at home in a true genre film, which takes away from the dramatic impact. It's not a bad film, just not all that exciting.

More horror than sci-fi, this one. Tibbits does a pretty fine job with the material at hand, but 42 minutes just isn't enough to give the ending its intended impact. The acting is also rather poor and the cyclic nature of the story is a little too predictable. One of the better films in the series, but still pretty flawed.

The whole reason for me starting this series was Wan's episode. And Wan delivered, though I have to admit that I've grown to like the mindless and over the top action that came to define the Fast & Furious films. It's easily the best one so far, though even Wan couldn't fix the non-action scenes. Good fun.