Log: week 30 / 2021

Performances are decent, the presentation is solid, and the mystery is kept alive until late in the film. If you've seen a couple of these films before there won't be any big surprises here, but that okay. The execution is more important and director Calparsoro does a more than solid job. Good stuff.

The chemistry between Johnson and Blunt is amusing, the villains are cheeky, the setting is nice and though the CG can be a bit obvious, it's never really distracting. A bit long maybe and the music is a bit bland, Collet-Serra is also mostly absent as a director, other than that, a simple but fun blockbuster.

The stark black and white cinematography is nice and the camera work surprisingly modern, the 4:3 ratio is a big disappointment though, and the folk music is an acquired taste (read: it was pretty grating). The structure of the film is interesting, but the short runtime makes it tough to care for the two. A shorter intro, a better soundtrack and a tighter focus on their relationship might have done wonders, but it's definitely worth a try.

Not so much that in the end the crisis is averted (the volcano never erupts), but the guy they find isn't really all that interesting. He becomes the primary subject of the documentary, but he just goes on about God and whatnot. Still, Herzog shoots some very nice pictures of the island and the deserted towns are pretty haunting. Decent.

The film revolves around Simone, a bitter woman who lives alone in the countryside. She drinks a lot, listens to metal and spends her time trying to write her second novel. One night, driving home wasted, she hits a young girl on the side of the road. Reluctantly, she loads her into her car and lets her spend the night. The girl won't reveal where she's from and even though Simone isn't looking for company, she can't just kick her to the curb.

The Green Sea is a film that thrives on atmosphere. The soundtrack and soundscapes in particular stand out. Not even so much the metal tracks, which are more incidental and little more than background noise, but the haunting melodies and distorted rumbles that give the film a dense mood. Coupled with a grim and desaturated color palette, a lingering camera and sharply edited segments that drive up the tension, it makes for an impressively stylized film.

Plunkett does well to keep the mystery intact while revealing just enough to give the necessary context to the plot. The performances are solid, and the finale is memorable. The Green Sea loses a tiny bit of steam in the middle part, I guess a runtime closer to 90 minutes would've fitted the film a little better, other than that I had no real complaints about this one. I'm already looking forward to seeing what Plunkett will come up with next.

Apart from some tedious life lessons that are probably best ignored altogether, the film tries to play up the romance between Jenny and Matt. Ruffalo does a decent job, but Garner just isn't all that likeable. The comedy is pretty poor, the soundtrack is cringe worthy and the film is hopelessly predictable. Not my cup of tea.

There's very little dialogue or explanatory text, instead Sorini registers and lets the images speak for themselves. It's certainly a pleasant approach, but the lifeless framing and the predictable soundtrack don't have the intended effect. The first 15 minutes were quite intriguing, the rest of this doc turned out to be a pretty big slog.

McKay's sense of humor is what sets this film apart. The fake end credits and the restaurant scene in particular are real stand-outs. Performances are decent too, but it's not quite enough to keep an otherwise predictable film interesting from start to finish. Then again it certainly could've been a lot worse.

Moe and Pa are two brothers who have lived together longer than they care to remember. Pa is the only one to have ever taken a short vacation, an event that is coming back to haunt the brothers when a boy appears on their doorstep, claiming Pa is his father. The boy moves in, but Moe and Pa have a hard time adjusting to their new roommate.

The bland setting, the boring characters and the predictable comedy don't really work in the film's favor. It's probably more fun if you're the precise target audience of this type of comedy, but I've seen quite a few of these films, and they're all pretty samey. Not funny and absurd enough, all that remains is a sluggish dullness.

Though Rauch's part isn't all that different (apart from being quite foul-mouthed), she's pretty funny and plays well off the rest of the cast. The drama is limited, the comedy doesn't fade away, secondary parts bring the necessary diversity and the film isn't overly long. A solid, entertaining comedy.

A couple of Japanese high school students trapped in a school building, if you've watched some Japanese horror films it's not something you haven't seen before. Luckily, the kills are pleasantly over-the-top and some shots are pretty awe-inspiring. Not enough to make this an instant classic, but if you're looking for some fun horror filler, Corpse Party does the trick.

For a film that is called Brutal and wants to be in-your-face and shocking, too much is left to the imagination of the audience. Hirose's frantic camera work and two sufficiently deplorable leads are the perfect ingredients for a real nasty splatter fest, but in the end you get a lot of off-camera stabbing and smeared-out blood. It's a good thing the film was relatively short, so at least it never became too boring or repetitive.

There are three noteworthy horror/thriller moments, the rest is just two siblings reconnecting after not having seen each other for a long time. The performances are rather weak, the cinematography is shabby and even though the film is short, the middle part really drags. There are glimpses of quality if you look long and hard, but it's not enough to keep this film afloat.

The black and white cinematography is rich in contrast and the flashy editing adds a lot of flair to the film. The finale is pretty impressive too. But the revolt of workers against their bosses is rather basic and the runtime too long. Not a terrible film, but I'm a bit bummed Eisenstein went for a more narrative film, whereas his style has so much more potential.

Can't say much about the quality of the dance, but the mix of exotic locations with an atmospheric soundtrack made this a pretty easy watch. There's enough variation, there's a mysterious and fantastical mood that runs throughout, and the runtime is perfect. I didn't expect too much up front, but this film turned out to be pretty solid.

The performances are rather bland, the plot is nothing spectacular. It's Ruben's direction that really fails the film though. For a thriller, it's just not very exciting. At least the pacing is decent, and it never becomes extremely boring, but it's one of those films that didn't really stand the test of time.

The finale is pretty spectacular, a fine mix of horror and fantasy elements, it just takes a long time before it actually starts. Performances are decent, and the setting is very atmospheric. Sadly, the drama is rather bland, and the first 90 minutes are pretty by the numbers. Shimizu can do better, if only he could bring his films back to 90 minutes.

Simple characters, boring cinematography, a sentimental score and predictable drama. Driving Miss Daisy is a typical tearjerker, the precursor to Green Book, but even less subtle. The film's only saving grace is that it is rather short, so at least the pacing is decent. Other than that, not a film that had anything to offer to me.

The battles are decent enough and the focus on the strategic elements is nice, but there's a bit too much melodrama and the film slows down considerably during the second half. Performances are nothing special, and the film struggles to set itself apart from its peers. Not bad, but nothing you haven't seen before.

Like most silent dramas, I feel that the exaggerated performances and constant interruptions of intertitles stand in the way of the enjoyment. Especially when little effort is made to make the film look good. There are a handful of decent nature shots here, other than that it's just a simple plot spread out over 100 minutes of film.