Log: week 18 / 2024

In less than a decade, we went from moody and expressive silents to films where characters are just yapping away at each other for two hours straight. The Woman is branded a comedy but it isn't overtly funny, it's just a bunch of women trying to get their romantic affairs in order, delivered with a certain lightness.

A film that properly represents the trajectory of this franchise. Sequels need to be bigger and bolder, but they might have taken it a little too far here, with some completely random and unfitting subplots. Did we need crime and action elements in a Pitch Perfect film? I don't think so.

Kersey is back, and by now we all know that's not good news for Kersey. Every new Death Wish film pits him into some kind of horrible situation, after which he needs to get his revenge. The premise is a tiny bit different here, but the rest of the film is one big ball of 80s action cheese, with a very old man in the lead.

A pretty basic thriller that hinges almost entirely on its lead actor. This is 100% a Denzel Washington film, the rest is just filler and fluff. The good thing is that Washington is pretty solid, the bad thing is that he isn't the kind of actor who can singlehandedly carry a film, certainly not when the director isn't helping him out.

Movies about making movies. Hollywood sure loves its frantic movie-making cliché. Art is chaos, nothing works, and in the end everything comes together and art happens. I've grown allergic to it over time, but State and Main has a couple of other perks that save it from damnation.

I tend to complain that noirs are way too dialogue-heavy, but then I remember the crummy action scenes often featured in them and I begin to understand why directors did what they did. There are a few of those here too, and once again they don't really make the film any better.

Lui's Mutant Ghost Wargirl was quite the spectacle, so I was eager to see what he would come up with next. Art of War isn't quite on the same level, but it's not too difficult to see this comes from the same director. It's just a bit messier and even less focused, almost as if you're dropping halfway into a franchise.

A disappointing rewatch. 28 Weeks Later is a decent enough horror film, but this time I completely failed to recognize what made this film a personal favorite of mine. There's one pretty cool scene (with the helicopter), the rest is proper but basic (fast) zombie fare. A downgrade from the original.

As someone with a documented love for maximalist cinema, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that courtroom thrillers aren't exactly my favored genre. They are stuffy by design, tailored to be driven by heavy dialogue and sudden/random reveals. Presumed Innocent didn't do much to change that.

Larry Clark is a contested director, Ken Park one of the films that cemented his reputation. It offers a glimpse into the world of some skater kids. Unlike Van Sant's Paranoid Park, Clark tends to pick out and bring together some juicier stories, which some would call exploitative. So be warned.

A rather peculiar Russian film. It's not an outright horror flick, for that it doesn't seem interested enough in exploiting some of its more horrific narrative details, but it's a pretty dark and harrowing watch all the same. It's also a little dire, in typical Russian fashion, which is what kept the film from a higher rating.

A mix of Japanese horror elements. The premise is reminiscent of Ringu (and its many copycats), while the execution made it feel more like a subdued Sushi Typhoon project. There are some fun moments, but it's a bit too amateurish on one hand, and not quite crazy enough on the other to leave a strong impression.

A pleasant UK sci-fi film, though the balance between drama and sci-fi wasn't quite ideal. At times, the entire setup felt too much like an excuse to do a British variant of a US "projects" film set in London. Other than that, there were some interesting ideas and the execution was on point, just don't expect anything too spectacular.

A screwball comedy with light noir influences. It's a combination of two rather unpleasant genres, helmed by a director who never managed to impress me before. It's no surprise then that Unfaithfully Yours did very little for me. It's classic genre fluff that is already fading as I write this review.

Harada delivers once again. The core of the plot is pretty basic, if you've seen a few crime flicks there's nothing too novel there. But the way Harada opens up the narrative is quite impressive, slowly revealing important information while keeping some bits in the dark to keep the mystery alive. Add to that an incredible performance by Sakura Ando, a stylish presentation, and a handful of memorable scenes and what you get is another great film. Harada always manages to add something extra to his film, Bad Lands is one of his prime accomplishments to date.