Log: week 17 / 2024
A very small, but warm and capable sports drama from Sho Miyake. It's not quite as gripping or moving as And Your Bird Can Sing, but that's probably just personal preference. His former film felt more contemporary, this one is closer to the classic Japanese indie drama. Pleasant, but not 100% for me. Yukino Kishii is stellar in her role here, and the drama feels genuine and heartfelt. There are several poignant moments, the problem for me was that the styling was a tad too pedestrian. Muted colors, a barren score (though functional), and dry cinematography prevented the film from becoming a true personal favorite. Other than that, this was a great film.Read all
A blast from the past. Dead Calm is one of those films I once caught on TV but never revisited since. I vaguely remembered bits and pieces of it, then again, it's also a rather basic thriller so I can't even be sure if my memories didn't get tainted by similar films. It wasn't too bad though, just not great in any way. Zane's performance isn't great and it's probably best to switch off your brain while watching because there are some leaps of faith required to follow along with the plot. But the soundtrack is cool and the pacing is solid. And the end shot is pretty iconic of course. It's not a terrible film, just a little mediocre.Read all
The third part of the franchise moves things to Italy, which is pretty much what this film is all about. It has the usual Equalizer beats, only it's all happening in a very picturesque, uniquely Italian setting. I can't say I minded that much, I quite like the Equalizer films, but a masterpiece this is not. The setting is lovely, Washington has aged quite a bit but he's still passable for his role here and the action scenes are subdued but stylish and to the point. The real excitement may be missing a little and the film doesn't add much to the previous installments, but it's perfectly decent filler.Read all
This was a whole lot of movie. It was almost like watching two or three films crammed into one, with all the emotions cranked up to 100% for the entire runtime. There's a lot I liked here, also things I plain loved, but 140 minutes of it was just a bit too much. And it's not often I say such a thing about a film. Huang Bo plays the raging father of the victim, Xun Zhou the icy mother of the suspect. It's an interesting contrast, but the story takes a few too many twists and turns and on top of that, there are typhoons, cosplay cons, and fish showers to make things even more manic. Maybe they should've split it into two, or they could've simplified the story a little. A slightly slower film would've been better, but there's still plenty to love here. Quite the experience.Read all
A pretty cool crime flick carried by a strong performance of Terence Stamp. At times, it reminded me of Soderbergh's The Limey, but that may just be my memory failing. I wasn't expecting much, but this was a perfectly pleasant film, sporting a fun premise and some memorable moments. Stamp is truly great here, the setup is funny and Frears uses it to pepper The Hit with some dark comedy. The film's a bit fragmented, but that's normal for a road movie, and the runtime could've been a tad shorter maybe, but other than that I had a good time watching this. A cute little surprise.Read all
A fun and entertaining little brawler, but a bit too basic to stand out from its peers. With films like High & Low still doing very well, expectations for something like this are a bit steeper nowadays. Out doesn't do anything wrong specifically, there just isn't enough there to set itself apart. The styling is proper, the performances are fun and energetic and the comedy is on point. The film is a bit too long maybe and the action scenes aren't all that impressive, which is where the film loses out compared to its competitors. Still, if you like a fun brawler, Out won't disappoint. Good fun.Read all
Clint Eastwood going for the basic buddy cop movie. He cast himself as the token old guy, Charlie Sheen is the rookie opposite of him. All the rest is just standard 80s action flick. I've never really liked Eastwood, not as a director, not as an actor, and this film didn't change my mind. It's also not the worst one I've seen though. Two hours is long for a simple setup and the film does drag a little in places. The performances are passable though and the pacing is OK. The action scenes aren't the worst, but there's very little here that stands out and unless you're a hardcore fan of 80s cop films, this is a tough recommend.Read all
A pretty remarkable film. This felt a bit like an early Tatsuya Nakashima project, but it was in fact directed by Yukisada. The most surprising thing though is that it never appeared on my radar before. It's the type of film I tend to like a lot, and I hold Yukisada in high regard. I'm glad I was still able to catch up with it now. The cinematography is warm and colorful, making the best of a summery Japanese countryside. The plot is a bit disjointed but fun, the performances aren't exactly subtle, but the lead character is a real treasure. It's a relatively basic film, even though the second half does contain some more poignant scenes. Not quite strong enough to be a personal favorite, but it came very close. A lovely little gem this one.Read all
A solid horror film, but I might have been hoping for a little extra. I'm a big fan of stop-motion cinema and even though there are some cool scenes here, the film never goes beyond. Stop-motion cinema is naturally creepy, so moving it to a dedicated horror setting should've given it an extra edge, sadly I didn't feel that. The stop-motion scenes are nice, but not as creepy or moody as I'd hoped. The plot is also a bit meager and stylistically there was room for improvement. But that's just me being critical because I was low-key expecting a new personal favorite. It's a perfectly fine horror film, better than most in the genre, so if you're a horror fan you should definitely give it a go.Read all
Romance, comedy, and some musical elements. And yet, the film isn't funny, the romance is icky at best and the musical elements are as dire as I'd feared. The advent of sound moved cinema away from some of its core strengths, in return we got a lot of films that were little more than recorded theater plays. There's a lot of talking, some doubty performances, and a few musical moments. The romance is anything but romantic, the comedy is little more than a lighthearted mood and the rhymes are pretty basic. It's a short film though, so it doesn't go on endlessly, but that's not much of a positive when nothing else stands out.Read all
Concert registrations, not the biggest fan. But Swift is huge and this film became a real box office hit, so I figured it was time to become a tiny bit more acquainted with one of the biggest pop stars of this era. I think I recognized three or four songs in total, and I'm afraid this film didn't prompt me to find out more about her or her music. On the technical side, it's a rather dull registration of the concert. You can do so much with editing and camera work, but my guess is that Swift and her army of fans aren't interested in that type of cinema. Based on this film, her enormous success remains a pretty big enigma for me.Read all
A pretty cool surprise, this one. It almost felt like discovering a lost Iwai film (or an early Yukisada). There's a sweetness and playfulness here that is reminiscent of Iwai's mix of drama and romance. The only thing lacking is that little bit of extra refinement, but there are some superbly lovable and memorable moments scattered throughout. The setting is lovely, the music is nice, the characters are intriguing and the pacing is the right kind of slow. Add a little dance/ballet scene at the end and it's obvious why this references Iwai. This is one of Shinohara's better films and an easy recommend for fans of Japanese romance.Read all
Sentimental Hollywood crap, a popular description that conjures up some very specific imagery for me. Imagery that maps perfectly on Places in the Heart. This type of cinema is truly the bottom of the barrel, the kind of grotesque that I cannot handle. To each his own of course. The cinematography is dreary, the performances are stern and lacking emotion, whereas the plot is just gushing with sentiment. None of the emotions feel earned, the film is way too long and the ending is horrid. No doubt there's an audience for these types of films, I would rather stay away as far as possible.Read all
Part 3. And to be honest, I wasn't even aware I had skipped the second part. The first Trolls film was pretty horrid, this sequel certainly didn't improve on it. The animation is crummy, the commercial tie-ins are blatant and the choice of music is beyond terrible. It pains me to see a film like this still brings in the money. Sure enough, it's not just endless references to bad boybands, there's also some cheap Hollywood morality to make things even worse. The film looks pretty cheap for a Dreamworks production, I hated all of the songs and the dub is horrendous. Do I have anything positive to say about this film? Nope.Read all
That Obscure Object of Desire
Luis Bunuel's final film. It hinges on a rather iffy premise, but the way the film is set up is somewhat interesting. Not enough to make it a good one though. It's not the worst of his I've seen, but I didn't care for either of the main characters or the issues they were trying to work through. The age difference between the main characters is quite big, and the "romance" isn't very romantic. Once you get by the borderline creepy relationship, what remains is some back-and-forth between two genuinely irritating characters. At least the story remains somewhat unpredictable and the pacing isn't too bad, so it's not all bad.Read all
Hamaguchi's latest is another decent film. I'm still unsure of why he became the token Japanese drama director of our times, but here we are. Evil Does Not Exist is another slow-moving drama, with a rural twist. It's pretty basic drama fare, with an archetypical arthouse ending tacked on. The pacing is very slow but deliberate. Hamaguchi takes his time, with many scenes playing out in real-time, aptly setting the mood. I'm a bit surprised about the setup (quite a few contemporary Japanese dramas deal with withering local communities, Hamaguchi's take appears to be the opposite), it's also a bit too generic for my taste. The ending does add some intrigue, but not enough to make this a great film. A perfectly serviceable movie though, just a bit overhyped because of the name attached to it.Read all
Ethan Coen, solo. I generally don't mind the films of the infamous brothers, but I rarely see signs of true mastership in them. They had some more interesting films during the late 90s/early 00s, but few of them got me truly excited. For me at least, Drive-Away Dolls is his best film in almost two decades, but the popular consensus seems to be disagreeing. Make no mistake, the comedy is pretty crude and blunt. If you want subtlety, you're not going to find it here. Not like most comedies that are made these days. The performances are good too (very self-aware), the plot is fun, the runtime is nice and short and the pacing is slick. It's nothing too special, just some prime entertainment. A welcome surprise.Read all
The worst thing about this fourth part is that it brought in a lot of money, so there's a big chance there might be even more pointless sequels. Part 4 offers little more than yet another adventure, with a new villain who isn't at all interesting. Oh, and a new side character voiced by Aquafina, who else? It's the same kind of humor, in the same type of setting, mixing purely US sensibilities with Chinese culture. The comedy is horrid, the voice acting is bad, and the plot is utterly boring. If I want Chinese fantasy cinema, iQiyi and similar are releasing these films on a daily basis, and still, they're better than this junk.Read all