Log: week 4 / 2021

The setting and cinematography are impressive, sadly the props and costumes come off a lot cheaper. Performances aren't that great either and the darker second half takes away some of the film's appeal. People with a soft spot for the weird and creative owe it to themselves to give this one a fair chance, others should tread carefully. Interesting, but not entirely successful.

The film's a bit oldskool for a '97 Hong Kong project but fails to revive its glory of just half a decade ago. Performances are weak, the cinematography is a little disappointing and overall the project feels rather cheap. Might be better for people who are more acquainted with the subject, though they might be bothered by Ko's inability to fully suppress his comedy background. Not great.

Z is an amusing film, but that's about it. The political context is little more than dressing and the investigation is very by the numbers. More and more clues push the investigator into the right direction, who doesn't have to do much but wait until everything is thrown into his lap. It's not really a genre I'm very fond of and I didn't see anything too special here, but it was decent enough.

Performances are decent, but the intrigue simply doesn't work. Ôbayashi's style isn't very suited for serious films and when he tries to get poetic it just comes off silly. There are moments where his talent shines through and its certainly not a terrible film, just not on the same level as his other work.

Performances are bland, the cinematography is rather dull and the drama is extremely predictable. I couldn't really find the appeal of this film, nor how it earned its status as one of the big classics. At least the film isn't too long, but after about 30 minutes I grew tired of it and it didn't get any better after that. Disappointing.

The film is just really amateurish. Performances are crap, the sound mix is hilarious (with much of the music fully drowning out the dialogues) and the cinematography is substandard. Some moments are moody, but they're completely overshadowed by the poor execution elsewhere. A bland and cheap attempt to cash in on a franchise that isn't very good to begin with.

It's a silly premise and even though the film tries to come up with an explanation, it still makes very little sense. The time travel scenes are also a bit too complex for a little genre film like this, which takes away from the impact. Performances are decent and the soundtrack is pretty great, visually it's also pretty solid, but it's just a little too serious for its own good.

The effects are crummy, Honda isn't really suited to direct cop thrillers and the performances are quite poor. It's just a very sluggish and dull film. The finale quarter is slightly better as things heat up (quite literally), but watching transparent goo isn't as much fun as seeing someone prance around in a rubber suit. Not a fan.

The fantasy lore is interesting enough and there are moments when Xu shows he could one day be a capable director, but overall the film looks too cheap, the fantasy elements are poorly conceived and some misplaced comedy didn't help much either. It's certainly not a terrible film, it's just that the potential was there to be great, it just never really materialized.

Guo is a young director, so it's no surprise that the film sometimes feels like an elongated cut scene from an unreleased Final Fantasy game. It's just not quite cinematic enough to be a real masterpiece, but the lore is compelling and intriguing, the action scenes are glorious and the film feels truly epic. The character models are a bit flimsy (faces can look very realistic, but the body language still feels off) and there are definitely some pacing issues, but the fantasy elements are more than sufficient to make me want to go back and watch the first film, while looking forward to the conclusion of this trilogy. Good stuff.

This was easily the best-looking entry in the series. The snowy scenes in the mountain were pretty great and the finale was by far the most impressive of the three films. It's a shame that there's not quite enough variation in structure between the films, as it all felt a little too predictable the third time around. This was good kaiju fun though, definitely recommended for fans of the genre.

The performances of Kaho and Shim Eun-kyung are stellar, the chemistry between the two is truly off the charts. Hakota aptly balances deeper and darker moments with light comedy and there are quite a few poignant moments. The soundtrack's a bit underused though and visually it's just a little too predictable. But the potential is clearly here, I'll be keeping a close eye on Hakota. Fans of Japanese drama should definitely give this one a go.

Kill! is just a smidgen over-the-top, which doesn't read as very funny when you're not too versed in rules of the genre. I mostly saw a very familiar setup with the usual elements I dislike about chanbara cinema. Crude characters, uninteresting drama and poor action scenes. Maybe I'll revisit it once I've seen more core genre efforts, but for now this was a big disappointment.

The soundtrack isn't great and the drama is a bit much, but the cinematography elevates the film above the usual Shaw Bros fare and the film is actually quite atmospheric. Performances are decent and even though the characters are a little too stereotypical, Sex, Love and Hate succeeds in what it sets out to do. Not bad, just don't expect a typical Chor martial arts epic.

The colorful cinematography and light tone are a pleasant departure from the norm, the plot is simple but leaves enough room for some genre fun. The problem is that the film gets way too serious, jumps from one genre to the next and grossly overstays its welcome. The usual Bollywood complaints in other words. A real shame, as with some serious trimming this could've been a pretty acceptable film.

Brosnan doesn't quite feel at home with so many bullets flying around, Yeoh's martial arts skills are underused and Pryce must be one of the blandest bad guys yet. There are some nifty action scenes and the film's a tad shorter than usual, but there's nothing really memorable about this Bond entry.

Promising Young Woman has everything to be a cynical, gutsy and relevant revenge thriller, but it feels like Fennell keeps pulling punches. There isn't really one identifiable thing that goes wrong, it's more like a series of missed opportunities that make it feel like the film didn't live up to its full potential. Still, some fine performances, strong cinematography and cheeky twists (not a big fan of the massacred pop songs though) make this a very worth debut.

Performances aren't great and the comedy is a little questionable, but once the film starts to focus more on the action that's quickly forgotten. There's nothing exceptional here, it surely can't compete with the better films in the genre, but if you're starved for some decent martial arts fun than this is a pretty solid bet.

It's not the most imaginative setting and even though Theron does her best, she'll still somewhat of a miscast. Once Davis hits the screen things get a little better, but some silly twists and questionably executed scenes in the second part don't do the film any good. Not a terrible film, just rather mediocre.

The characters are a bit livelier and there's a stronger focus on action, which makes it a little easier to sit through. I still don't care much for the setting and there's still too much posing and boring conversation to make it truly entertaining, but compared to its peers Django is a breath of fresh air.

While the exploitation elements are definitely fun, Ishii seemed a little too confident in the technical side of his production. Paint-like blood and rubber body replacements don't work that well from up close. The pacing is high though and there are some very nasty kills that will no doubt please genre fans.