Log: week 43 / 2022

Stacey doesn't fit in at work. She isn't as flashy or modish as the other women, so she feels left out. Then she spots an advert on TV praising a new skin lotion. It gives her an incredible rash, but the TV presenter assures her that means the lotion is working. Stacey is adamant in her attempts to transform herself and fit in with the rest.

Kate Micucci is a perfect match, Martin Starr deserves accolades too. The premise is quite original, the ending uncertain until the final minutes and the pacing is fitting. Amirpour could've pushed a little harder in places to make the comedy stand out just a tiny bit more, but that's just nitpicking. Good fun.

Lee Chun is a detective gone mad. He has a knack for solving cases, but he sees people who aren't there, he talks to himself constantly and he behaves like a true madman. When he told the police that they got the wrong guy for two high-profile cases he was fired from the squad, but years later these two cases come back to haunt them.

Ching Wan Lau commits fully to his character, the pacing is insane, the action over-the-top and explosive, and the cinematography is slick and atmospheric. There's a lot to like and love here, except if you prefer more grounded, serious police thrillers. It's nice to have Wai back and hopefully, this isn't just a one-off.

A police investigation turns dark when a miner kills himself and takes a few of his colleagues with him. The police chief wants an autopsy on the victims as their bodies are all bled dry. During the autopsy, the coroner slowly uncovers what exactly took place inside that mine.

The production value is high, the finale is pretty strong and the gore is perfectly executed. It's just a shame that the police investigation is rather sluggish and that there have been better and creepier autopsy films in recent years. Not a bad film, but a step down from the other two Cabinet of Curiosities entries that came before.

A gravedigger is having a hard time when the increasingly hostile rats get to the corpses faster than he can. When a fat cat dies he deems himself rich, but when he digs up the corpse he sees it being taken away by a pack of rats. He follows them down their tunnels, but graver dangers await down there.

The cinematography is moody, the effects are top notch and there's quite a bit of variation in the horror. I also appreciated the touch of dark comedy present. There's a bit too much packed in the short runtime, I'm not sure why Natali felt he had to keep it so short, but I had a really good time with this one.

Favraux is a corrupt banker who made quite a few enemies for himself. One of those enemies is Judex, a mysterious figure who wants revenge for what Favraux did to him and his family. He seeks out the banker, but his mission becomes a whole lot trickier when he falls in love with Favraux's daughter.

Thank God the pacing is half-decent, as Feuillade's films are pretty damn long. The story and the reveals are rather basic though, and there's a lot of plot to wade through. His work isn't as visual as other films from the era either. Coupled with the length, that made it quite a tough film to sit through.

Baku overplays his hand when he tries to become the leader of the Kakero organization, a wealthy club that oversees large bets. He is exiled and flees Tokyo, but a few years later he sees a path to rejoin the organization. For that, he will need all his skills and cunning because his adversaries are just as crafty as he is.

The elongated gambling scenes are pretty fun, the problem is that the outcome is always very predictable and the little twists aren't really all that genius. Performances are decent and the production values are high, but it's not really enough to make this one stand out. Solid and decent entertainment though.

A washed-up war veteran has trouble paying off his debts. He buys up abandoned lots and hopes to hit a goldmine, but these bets rarely pay off. Until one day he finds a fancy-looking table with some books inside. He brings them to an appraiser, who immediately calls in an expert.

The characters aren't very sympathetic, but the actors do a solid job, so they never become too grating. The cinematography is polished (not too surprising for a cinematographer turned director), the score is moody and the creature effects are top-notch. I'm already looking forward to the rest of the anthology.

When two old business partners quarrel about money, things are about to heat up. Unable to pay back his loan, one of the men offers the other a priceless artifact as collateral. The other man doesn't accept but ends up dead not much later. The culprit seems obvious, but the detective assigned to the case finds some inconsistencies and decides to dig a little deeper.

45 minutes is pretty short, so you won't have to worry about the pacing too much. The twist is decent enough too, but nothing out of the ordinary. The presentation can't hide the film's TV roots and is pretty unimpressive, certainly for Suzuki's standards, but that was only to be expected. This was pleasant enough filler, just nothing memorable.

Jack's big dream is to become a fighter pilot. His next-door neighbor Mary is madly in love with him, but Jack only has eyes for Sylvia. Sylvia is more interested in David, but then WWI starts and both boys are summoned to go and fight in the war, completely messing up any romantic aspirations.

The dogfights are still pretty decent, the pacing is solid and there are a few shots that are well ahead of their time. The war scenes do go on for too long though and the love triangle is very bland and uninspired. Not a bad war film though, certainly not for its time. I'd expected worse.

The stories are pretty simple, Sammo Hung reminisces about classic martial arts training, To looks at the stock market, Ann Hui digs up the old school life and Patrick Tam finds two lovers torn apart. Hark is the only one who had a bit of fun, throwing us inside a mental hospital where doctors and patients are too alike to distinguish.

I'm not a fan of nostalgia and sentimentality, many of the directors present aren't really equipped to deal with these themes either. It would've been a lot better if they'd stayed closer to their signature craft, that's what the anthology concept is for. A little disappointing, though I can't say I'm all that surprised. Hark deserves lots of props for his short though.

Reiko is a young writer working on her latest novel. She moves houses and ends up in a rather fancy loft. An abandoned building across her new house doesn't appear all that abandoned when she notices a shady figure roaming around at night. It turns out to be a professor who discovered a 1000-year-old mummy in the nearby swamps.

The music is the big star here. It adds oodles of atmosphere, but that alone isn't enough to make a creepy horror film. The scares are a bit expected, the cinematography a little too dim, and the plot starts to dominate the mood near the end of the film. It's still a worthy film, well worth watching if you're looking for some prime horror filler, but a true favorite it is not.

Nightingale Wong is a fearsome fighter who is called in by her boss to weed out some bad seeds in his organization. She fails to protect him and ends up with some kindhearted prostitutes, after having lost her memories. She can't escape her fate and not soon after she bumps into the man who killed her boss.

The cast is pretty solid for a film like this, the action sequences are decent and the pacing is traditionally slick. The film makes no sense whatsoever though (the superhero outfit of the main character is a true puzzler for example) and the direction is pretty messy and rushed. It's decent entertainment in other words, as long as you keep your expectations in check.

On a short vacation to San Fransisco, accountant Frank Bigelow is administered a lethal poison. They tell him he only has 24 hours to live, but Bigelow is clueless about who is behind this scheme and what their goal is. He doesn't have much time, so he launches his investigation right away.

Endless conversations, a minimum of action, and some crummy fight scenes. Also men in raincoats and hats, possibly against rainy backdrops. If only a more serious attempt was made to make the presentation stylish, the characters somewhat interesting, or the plot entertaining, but alas. It's just basic genre fare.

Transcendent bases have bred a special kind of human. The film highlights some of the lives of the kids growing up there. One story deals with a former racer meeting his dead friend in the future, another with a trainee who falls in love with a boxer, a third story deals with a terminally ill guy who finds someone who can save his life.

All of this could've been told without the sci-fi elements present, which is my biggest critique. I did like the styling of the film, even though the soundtrack was a bit sentimental. The budget and the potential were here to make a real gem, it's just that it wasn't very cohesive. Still, worth a shot if you're looking for something different.

During the 16th century, Oda is on a violent conquest of Japan, wreaking havoc wherever he goes. Ninja and samurai are combining their forces to stop him in his tracks, but they soon find out that Oda has a couple of nasty tricks up his sleeve. One of them is Ginnai, a fearless assassin who proves impossible to kill. Shishimaru and his team have their work cut out for them.

The art style is nice enough, and the animation is pretty rudimentary, but on par with other OAVs of that time. The true appeal lies with the batshit crazy premise and the utter lack of explanation given. Cyborgs, computers, and aliens are all part of the mix, even though the story is set in the 16th century. Obviously not the greatest anime ever made but good fun regardless.

Myers, literally a very old man now, is still roaming around in Haddonfield. Instead of attacking people directly, he found himself a little substitute (Corey) who does the dirty work for him. Things become complicated when Corey starts a relationship with Allyson, Laurie Strode's granddaughter.

Myers isn't the impressive killer he once was, 110 minutes is way too long for a simple slasher, and any aspirations Green had to make this into something more fail horribly. Some scattered references are somewhat fun, but that doesn't save the film, or the franchise. Bring back Zombie.

A nurse is having a little organ operation on the side. When a delivery goes missing, she needs a replacement kidney fast. She gets a little help from her niece, but the situation only gets worse when cops show up at the hospital and the traffickers visit to see where their goods are.

It isn't until the final 20 minutes or so that the film gets up to steam and the comedy becomes dark enough to actually do its thing. The characters are pretty lame, the actors fail to do anything with them, it looks as if the cinematographer was on holiday and the soundtrack is messy. The ending puts a few things right, but not enough to make this a great film.

Monster hunters are gathering after their leader has died. One of them will inherit the bloodstone by completing a ritual. The ritual is tied to a monster, and the hunter who can catch it becomes the next leader. Jack Russell seems to be the man to beat, but he carries a dark secret with him.

The presentation is what makes this one stand out. The production value is high, and the execution is on point. The lore is a bit simple and the finale could've used a little extra spice, but considering this is a Marvel production, it could've been a whole lot worse. A pretty fun diversion, I wish they'd make more of these.