Log: week 33 / 2023

Frank is a simple chauffeur for a wealthy and respected woman. He is secretly in love with her stepdaughter, a spoiled brat who loves to manipulate the people around her. She can't stand her stepmother and plans to kill her. The trap is successful, but poor Frank turns into a scapegoat.

A classic crime plot dressed up with endless dialogues and a bit of forced romance. The film's not much to look at, the performances are overwrought and the dramatic tension is insufficient. It's a good thing the film is pretty short and it helps that the final third isn't a complete slog, but other than that, extremely forgettable.

When Yohei and his girlfriend split up, a ghost takes her place. It turns out that she's been living there all along, but Yohei's girlfriend's strong aura kept her at bay. Yohei isn't too shaken by the ghost, even when she tells him off for treating his former girlfriend badly. The two get along well, and Yohei begins to fancy his new roommate.

Light romance and comedy, and a bit of plot to fill the gaps, that's what you're getting. The performances are okay, the presentation is proper but not too remarkable and the pacing is solid. It's certainly not the most memorable film, but the finale is nice and it passes the time quite well. Solid filler in other words.

During a flight from Berlin to New York, Kyle loses her daughter who boarded the plane with her. When she asks around, nobody seems to have seen her daughter or even acknowledges her presence on the plane. A police officer takes care of Kyle, but even he finds it difficult to believe her story.

Foster's a bit frantic, Sarsgaard could've done better with his role. The thriller elements feel generic and predictable, the presentation is lackluster, and even though the film is on the shorter side (for a blockbuster), it still feels like it outstayed its welcome. Unremarkable thriller filler.

The pirate crew is hungry and out of money, so they accept a new challenge. They enter a race, the winner gets a hefty sum of money. Along the way, they get sucked into a rivalry between ex-marine Gasparde and bounty hunter Shuraiya. Luffy and his friends will have to go to extreme lengths to win the race.

There is some interesting experimentation with cel-shaded 3D and regular animation, and the trademark exaggerations are fun enough, but the plot is basic and the comedy/crazy is also pretty repetitive. It's a shame the next few films are all 90-minute affairs, but maybe the animation picks up as the series would gain in popularity. Fingers crossed!

A basic jewelry heist goes wrong, and while regrouping the guys quickly come to the conclusion that there is a mole in their gang. As the scattered arrive back at their rendezvous spot, it's key to find out who has been informing the police, something the audience will learn through a series of flashbacks.

The meaningless conversations are obvious highlights, and the camera work is also surprisingly energetic (for a Tarantino flick). Once the focus shifts to the plot and the crime elements things get a little less interesting, the soundtrack too is a clear foreboding of what would become Tarantino's signature style. Good fun though.

Peter is a shy and introverted boy who is getting bullied at school. His home situation is pretty rough too, with two overprotective parents who make things worse. When his new teacher takes an interest, it starts to dawn on her that something might be off. Peter's drawings suggest that things at home are far worse than they appear.

The first third tries to keep the film's mysteries hidden, but once the cat is out of the bag it follows a pretty familiar pattern. Bodin builds up the tension pretty well, the scares are effective and the film is brutal when need be, though most of the gory bits happen off-screen. Good horror fun, though a bit too safe to stand out.

Malice is a broken doll who lives in a city bereft of humans. She wanders around until she hears of someone who should be able to fix her. When she gets derailed she is attacked and harassed by a monster. After waking up, she realizes she has become human. The other robots fear the new Malice.

The setting isn't unlike Nihei's Blame! and some of the designs really are outrageous. The music is also very moody, and the plot is interesting enough, it's just a pity that the animation and art style are so crummy. It's like watching outtakes of an old PlayStation game. Still, if you're able to look past that, there's some good fun to be had for hardcore sci-fi fans.

Keshavarz is a director working on Zendegi Edame Darad (Kiarostami's previous film). He's mixing inexperienced actors with a few seasoned artists, but once he starts shooting things don't go quite as planned. There's a relationship blossoming between the leads of his film, and it's impacting the production.

The performances are okay, but not too great. The cinematography is plain, the settings are rather grim (apart from the finale), and the conversations are meandering. There's a certain rhythm that keeps the films going, but it never truly engaged or gripped me. Kiarostami's films are not really for me.

The Angel Arms is a group of counter-terrorists founded by Takako, a former policewoman. When they apprehend a famous crime figure, they hope they use him as bait to bring an entire international crime ring down. Things get complicated when a former boyfriend of one of the Angel Arm's members is sent out to kill him before he can spill the beans.

There are some solid ideas here and the mechas look fun enough. It's just a shame that the art style is very basic and the animation is limited. Some of the action scenes look decent, but only because that's where they spent all their budget. OK anime filler and fans of Shirow should give it a go, just keep your expectations low.

After Adonis retires with a championship belt, an old friend of him resurfaces. Adonis used to hang out with Damian when they were younger, and he's willing to give his old pal a nudge in the right direction. Damian rises to the top, but then he starts badmouthing Adonis behind his back.

It all leads to a big fight at the end and everything works out per the norm of the genre. The performances are solid and the fights are properly choreographed, the drama is weak though and it ruins the pace of the film. I guess next up is a spin-off with Adonis' daughter. That would surely tick a couple of boxes.

There really isn't that more to it. We hear from scientists and people involved in the field, how they started working on applications that could make the world a better place, only to realize it could easily be turned around into a weapon that could very well wreak serious havoc on humanity.

It's a pretty slim premise that isn't even explored very well. While short it is still very repetitive and rather than take a scientific approach to the problem, it's mostly just people cowering when they talk about the unknown. As a summary of the current state of AI, it isn't too bad, the rest is negligible.

After divorcing her husband, Yoshimi gets into a legal battle over the custody of her daughter. Her husband never really cared for her, but now he wants to take her away from Yoshimi. They need to find a flat quickly, so Yoshimi picks the first one she comes across. The place isn't great, and it may be haunted.

The start is slow, but the build-up is competent and things get progressively more tense. It's not exactly scary anymore and if you've seen a couple of these films you can easily predict the underlying drama, but the final third of the film contains some haunting and memorable scenes. Very solid, but a little dated.

The plot isn't much to look at, but that's hardly a surprise. Kumiko works at a travel agency, and she has an insatiable sexual drive. The men she dates aren't good enough for her, so she goes from guy to guy, trying to find her one true hero. The men she leaves behind are desperate for her love.

Like most pinku movies, the film is anything but sexy. No Good Men does touch upon some interesting themes, but Zeze merely breezes by them. The cinematography is cheap, the performances aren't good and the drama never really hits the mark. Mostly for completists, unless you're a big pinku fan.

Looking up the idea behind this film afterward, I have to admit that I found none of the intentions back in the final film. Maybe it's because the crude animation and rudimentary sound design failed to pull me in, or whether the director's sentiments are mostly alien to me, but this just didn't work on any level.

I do know that I'm getting increasingly more allergic to (Western) angst as I grow older. The endless focus on negativity and danger and the urge to sell it as reality is starting to wear me down, and I find it harder to put in the effort, even when it's just a 65-minute film. The music saves it from being a complete failure for me, but this didn't do anything for me.

When Benedict bumps into Leslie, it is love at first sight. He asks her to marry him and they both travel to Texas, where Benedict's ranch is located. His sister runs the place, and so does so quite sternly. When she dies she leaves a bit of land to Jett, a helper on the ranch. He digs for oil and hits the jackpot.

The performances are overdone, the cinematography and colors are ugly as can be and the score is tiresome. I didn't care for any of the characters, nor their soap-like drama. The runtime is the final nail in the coffin. Giant is a grotesque Hollywood drama that deserves to be buried in the past.

When Tom hears his promotion is given to an old flame of his, he starts to lose grip. Things get exponentially worse when she sues him for sexual harassment. Tom won't back down that easily though, especially when he begins to understand this entire situation is a setup to get him fired.

Douglas is a perfect villain, but for some reason, he was often given the role of the hero. It's hard to root for him here, which sucks as the entire film revolves around him proving his innocence. The VR stuff was pretty hilarious and the film isn't exactly boring, but it's a pretty mediocre thriller that fails to stand out.