Log: week 24 / 2019

Gilliam's Don Quixote is finally finished, but I wonder if it was worth the wait. The film takes an awfully long time to get up to steam, Driver is a bit too committed to his role of obnoxious American and Gilliam's fantasy elements feel somewhat scattered and out of focus. The finale is better, but it takes quite a while to get there.

An atmospheric and somewhat quirky look at the later years of Howard Hughes, written, directed and played by Warren Beatty. Ehrenreich and Collins are good, the star-studded secondary cast is on point too. Not the flashiest of films, but it's amusing and not too serious, which makes it a little easier to deal with the rather running time.

A light and breezy comedy that rests on the shoulders of Anna Faris. She does well with her character, the rest of the cast is largely dependent on her. The House Bunny is hardly standout material, but in a time largely deprived of pure comedies it makes for a nice little diversion. Not bad, if you know what you're getting yourself into.

Starts off as a documentary that aims to explore the relationship between people and the sea, but ends up a surfer doc. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, apart from the fact that the whole thing lacks focus and has very little to say, besides "surfing rocks". Some nice footage of the sea and one or two interesting stories, but overall it's a little dull.

Pretty amusing film that makes the best of its formulaic setup. Sandler and Aniston are a nice duo, the locations are summery and rich and the comedy is overall pleasant. It's not very edgy or sharp, but the whole thing is delivered with a wink and although the film's aspirations are quite limited, it results in decent filler.

Something about the exploitation of pop musicians and brain replication. Black Mirror is repetitive, unoriginal and lazy to the core, which could be extremely meta, but I doubt it. As an anthology series it's one big waste of potential. A boring, derivative and simplistic slice of sci-fi that does nothing to dissolve my bias against TV series.

A pleasantly destructive episode in the Gojira film series. Not too much time for politics and drama on the side, this film is about big beasts destroying cities and smashing each other. Destroyer is a formidable enemy, Gojira himself is tough as nails and the scenery appears to be extra explosive. Jolly good fun indeed.

A very poor effort by De Palma. I'm sure he's aware that this film isn't quite up to par with his earlier work, but the need to make films must still be strong. The acting was horrific, the film looked cheap, there was no tension, no atmosphere, no nothing really. I think it's time for De Palma to seriously consider retirement, because this doesn't look well on his resume.

Another tame Black Mirror segment that feels hardly related to the main series. Some oldskool critique on social media and smartphone addiction, apart from that it's just a somewhat boring and predictable hostage thriller. It lacks proper direction, an interesting story and decent acting, it's just more TV mediocrity.

I don't mind horror films with a slow build-up, but there has to be a worthwhile pay-off. Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl keeps its cards close to its chest for almost the entire running time, only to end with a rather tame and derivative finale. It's a shame because the setup was pretty solid, sadly it ended with a whimper.

Less focus on romance means more time for comedy and stunts. Go West is another illustration of Keaton's strengths and weaknesses. Even though it's one of his longer films, it never runs out of steam. Keaton himself is amusing, his companion is too and the build-up is pretty solid. One of Keaton's finer films.

A fine follow-up to the original series. The level of animation is slightly higher this time around, the demons on the other hand are a little less inventive. And so it evens out quite neatly. It's a series that is starting to show its age, but there's enough fun to be had with the lore and legends of the three-eyed people and their adversaries.

Films with a clever and original concept are quite rare, films that can cash in on that potential even rarer. Dave Made a Maze is the perfect film for a first-time director. With limited means Watterson made something bizarre, wondrous and unique, not depending too much on the goodwill of his audience. I dearly hope this isn't the last we'll hear of him.

Can't really fault the film for trying, but Foster and Dennis tried to do a little too much here. The setup interesting enough, but without a proper budget and without the proper restraint this is a very difficult idea to pull off. And so Time Trap turned out to be quite cheesy and silly, rather than grand and adventurous.

Even with Avengers behind us, Marvel still isn't ready to slow down. The umpteenth sequel in the X-Men saga is another melodramatic, ill-conceived and poorly directed Marvel film, barely saved from total cringe by an explosive, action-packed finale. It's become impossible to keep track of these franchises, on the other hand they all look the same to me.

By far one of the most ridiculous entries in the entire series. Black Mirror has always been very tech doom centred, but this was on a whole other level. Both story and execution are laughable, I felt bad for the actors, who had to be all gloomy and serious until the very end. This is definitely a low point, even for Black Mirror.

A story with literary roots that mixes fantasy, mystery and horror elements. It's a pretty conceptual genre film, so much in fact that Balagueró gets a little lost in the plot. It's an interesting story with enough potential to be great, but in the end the film lacks a little punch. Not one of Balagueró's best films, but still a worthy addition to his oeuvre.