Log: week 20 / 2021

Eve is going through a bit of a rough patch. Trying to escape the rut, she decides to go out for a night in the town. In a local bar she meets an intriguing guy who helps her to get rid of an annoying drunk. The two hit it off, but when they leave the bar, Eve is dragged into a car and finds herself at the mercy of two crazy guys.

Paronnaud's direction is well above par, the performances are strong, and the soundtrack is a big plus. The setups is rather basic though and the film goes a little off the rails at the end. If you're looking for a solid revenge flick with some standout moments, this comes recommended.

The series originated as a spin-off from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a game based on the classic Chinese story. It's a hack & slash affair and you'll see that back in the film. Superpowered heroes are fighting off armies of faceless adversaries, with only the battles between the lead characters carrying any real weight.

Quite a few famous names in the cast, most notably Louis Koo and Lam Suet. Not really a film where actors make much of a different though, as it's the big battles that take center stage here. The action looks pretty impressive, the cinematography is nice, the pacing is solid. This type of film has been done better, but Chow has nothing to be ashamed of.

Lionel suffers from Tourette's Syndrome and doesn't have too many friends, except for the boss of the investigator firm where he is employed. When his boss gets killed, Lionel takes it upon himself to find out who was behind the murder, a quest that drags him down a big old rabbit hole.

Some solid performances, a fun lead (played by Norton himself) and a properly structured narrative made sure I didn't lose interest, even though the film is quite long. But as a director Norton colors a little too neatly inside the lines and unless you're a real big fan of these types of detective stories, there's really not much here. Decent but very safe entertainment.

John and Joanna are an interracial couple. They want to get married, but haven't told their parents yet they're dating someone with a different skin color. A dinner is supposed to clear everything up, but not everyone is on board with their plans, even those who have thought themselves to be pretty liberal.

Though the film is presented as a thematic exploration of race issues, it's just as much about gender, with both moms supporting the young couple, while both dads are firmly against the marriage. Performances are decent and I did enjoy the lighter tone at the start of the film, but it becomes so overly moralistic that the entire second half turned into one big cringe-fest. Hopelessly outdated.

It seems that most artists here have been given free rein to talk about whatever came to mind, as long as it was tangentially related to the central concept. Sadly, most of them didn't get any further than spew platitudes and/or wax philosophically about things that just happened to be occupying their brains at that time.

Wenders prefers glasses because they frame reality and dislikes modern cinema because he can't see between the frames, blind people can "see" with touch, perspective is important, images kill imagination etc. There was nothing here I hadn't heard before, also nothing I found interesting the first time around. Just people who clearly think they have something important and revelatory to tell, even though what they say is incredibly low on (f)actual wisdom. The word pretentious was invented for this film.

Wilson plays Thurber, a talented teacher looking for tenure at a small college. He isn't very successful in academic circles though and he sees his chances diminish when the school hires a Yale teacher. Thurber gets help from his best friend, fellow teacher and president of the Sasquatch club, but it's clear his heart isn't really in it.

The cast does a pretty solid job, there are some genuinely funny moments and even though the romance is perfunctory, it's not entirely without charm. Tenure is not an extremely memorable or remarkable film, but if you're looking for some easy filler than Million has you covered.

Zash is eying the Dragon Cry, an ancient artifact that may help him destroy the world. A troupe of magicians isn't too happy with that prospect and will do everything in their power to stop him. Cue a series of increasingly destructive fights, but some basic fantasy lore thrown in between.

The art style is a bit crude and the animation certainly isn't up to feature film level, then again that's no surprise for these franchise-based feature-length films. It's a step up from TV anime and that's enough to please the fans. The fight sequences are quite fun and the film doesn't take itself too seriously, but if you're used to watching fantasy anime there's very little here that sets it apart from its peers. Decent fun, but not that remarkable.

A young man is traveling around with his fiance, looking for a suitable parish. When he finds a town that is looking for a parson, he has to compete against two other candidates for the job. A trial sermon will determine who is to be the chosen one, but even the positive outcome doesn't mean the end of this young couple's troubles.

Dreyer shows himself a rather competent director, though the film is rather slow. Especially for a true silent, meaning there's nothing in the way of music or dialogue to add flavor to the images. The quirkier moments are definitely a big plus here, but overall I found the film a bit too simple to be engaging.

A spaceship is carrying a group of settlers who are out to colonize another planet. It's a long trip with plenty of hazards, many of which the crew will have to overcome before they reach their destination. From abandoned spaceships and radioactive black stars to technical malfunctions and cabin fever, life in space turns out to be quite tough.

The visual effects reminded me of Ishirô Honda's films. That's not necessarily a bad thing, unless you're expected to take the film serious. The performances, the languid pacing and the general lack of fun seem to suggest that was indeed the point. It takes a lot of potential amusement out of a film like this, hence this wasn't a big success for me.

I've seen so many adaptations of this book already, but I keep running into parts of the stories I'm unfamiliar with (I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and read it myself one day). In this film, the Monkey King and the Goddess of Mercy band together to fight the child god Hung Hai-erh, a nasty little bugger.

The effects, settings and costumes are all rather low-key, which is a shame for a fantasy/adventure film. I think Yuen Chor would've been a better match for this material, but Chang tries to make the best of it. Sadly, not even the martial arts scenes look very convincing. It's a short film and the pacing is decent, it's also rather amusing to watch, but it's far from Chang's best.

An old castle in Czechoslovakia. Rumors say the old owner (count Mora) was killed there and still roams the premise, haunting everyone who dares to enter his former home. Borotyn, the new owner of the castle, isn't too impressed by all this folklore. But then one morning his dead body is found.

Instead of atmosphere, dread, tension or whatever, Mark of the Vampire delivers endless dialogues, as if the mystery here was really all that exciting. The performances are poor, the setting is dull, the horror is almost completely absent and the twist at the end is rather laughable. Clearly cinema wasn't quite ready for talkies just yet.

Inunaki Village is a ghost town, hidden deep inside the Japanese forests. When two kids go there to shoot a horror video, they are attacked by spirits. They get out alive, but Akina doesn't come out unscathed and not long after she commits suicide. Kaena, the sister of Akina's boyfriend, decides to investigate.

The film has its moments, but Shimizu messes up the balance between narrative and horror. There's simply too much backstory to wade through and since it's all so predictable, it slows down the film unnecessarily. The haunts aren't particularly scary either and though the second half is definitely better than the first one, this is hardly a standout film in Shimizu's oeuvre. Basic filler.

Four sisters are on the verge of adulthood. They have a pretty nice life, but some pubescent love troubles uncover a pretty big secret. It turns out three of the four sisters were adopted at a young age. While this news hits home, it's just one of the elements that pushes their lives in different directions.

Performances are solid, the cinematography is pleasant (with some truly standout shots here and there) and the score is appropriate. Not everything works equally well (the romances feel a bit obligatory) and it's nothing you haven't seen before, but if you're looking for a fine Japanese drama with minor Ôbayashi touches, this one won't disappoint.

Dolittle was able to talk to animals as a kid, his father wouldn't have any of it though and ordered Dolittle to stop with the nonsense. As an adult he forgot all about his childhood, until he nearly runs over a dog with his car. He hears the dog call out to him and from moment on he retrieves his old skill.

The CG is pretty basic, the animal dubs are simply terrible. The jokes aren't very funny, Murphy is annoying, and the plot is truly pedestrian. I know Downey Jr's update got a lot of flack last year, but it's miles ahead of this disaster. Unless you have some small kids at home, I wouldn't give this film any priority.

A woman wakes up in a small pod. A computer voice alerts her that something is wrong and that she is running out of oxygen at an alarming rate. The woman has no recollection of her past and she can only communicate with the AI. Little by little she starts piecing things together, but her time is running out very quickly.

I hoped Aja would've used this setup as an excuse for some audiovisual muscle flexing, and though he does his best I felt there was the potential to go a lot further still. Laurent does a good job and the plot was interesting enough, though not exactly very original. Oxygen is good, solid genre cinema with a little extra, but not quite masterpiece material.

Beatrice lives in Paris. She's about to go fully blind, before that happens she wants to take in as much of the city as possible. When she goes out one night, she bumps into a battered guy who lies on the street. She decides to help the boy, as he slowly comes to a sweet friendship blossoms between the two.

It's clear Dzhafarov envisioned a rather unrestrained and boundless film. Not so much a fixed narrative, but a poetic stage where two characters find each other. This contemporary take on the Nouvelle Vague turns out a bit forced and sterile though, with mediocre performances and some scrawny dialogs taking away from the atmosphere. There's definitely something here, but it needs to be nurtured some more before it becomes truly riveting cinema.

Thirty minutes isn't a lot to do justice to a person of course, so the decision to cut down on more contextual information is one I can definitely understand, it just didn't work very well for me in this case. The makers jump right into the work of Martinez, it just didn't really appeal to me.

The footage that goes with his poems isn't exactly impressive, interviews with his peers made me wonder whether they weren't just interested in making themselves look good and the random structure of the film made it quite messy. Fans of Martinez might get something out of this, others would do better to do a little digging of their own on the internet.

The plot is very basic. We follow an orphan who was brought up in a monastery. When he is of age, the monk sends him on a quest to find his father. On his way he befriends a female beggar, who joins him on his quest. When he finally meets up with his father, he isn't the man he hoped he would be.

The cinematography is well above par for a Shaw Bros production, the action scenes are proper, and the finale doesn't disappoint. The romance never quite finds its footing though and the performances are borderline acceptable. Chor's martial arts films rarely disappoint though and they offer a nice diversion from the more standard Shaw Bros productions.

The Cairn family are welcoming a new member of the family. While all the attention goes to Lily, Joshua feels neglected by his parents. He also doesn't fit in at school and starts behaving more oddly. His parent hardly notice though as Lily won't stop crying, which is driving them both insane.

Performances are solid and the duality of Joshua's character is fun, but that's where the positives end. The drama is a bit overdone, the pacing's a little too slow and the film should've been darker. It's a decent watch with a handful of memorable moments, but in the end it felt a bit flat and uninspired.