Love him or hate him, Gunn knows, at least where comics are concerned, how to capture the essence of the stories he's adapting.
I started reading comics when I was about ten years old ( yep, that's 40 years ago) and started off with Dutch translated X-Men comics. This automatically steered me to the Marvel Universe. I only encountered the DC universe through its TV and movie adaptations, one of the first being Christopher Reeves as Superman.
I loved those…
Satire only works when it's uncompromising and hilarious. One Battle After Another is all that and then some.
PTA throws us into a reality that feels off, yet very recognisable. We encounter characters that seem larger than life that interact with a world that feels so very much our own. That friction creates the satire, the hilarious moments, the feeling of 'damnit these people might actually exist' and in the end the scathing observation of the sometimes ludicrously fucked up…
Doing exactly what it says on the tin is more difficult than it seems.
The Fall Guys gets it beautifully.
Silly, ridiculous and fun. Scrumptious.
I was 23 in 1998. To say Caught Stealing captures what that time felt like and what the vibe in many action movies was, is the grandest of understatements.
I was very intrigued how straightforward and uncomplicated Aronofsky would click with me, but I'm happy to say it did so really well. He manages to show restraint while at some points still finding visual flourishes that give the film something extra.
Apart from that there isn't that much more to say here. It's fun, funny, violent and engaging. Don't need much more, do we?
Final Destination: Monkey Business
(But seriously, I like not so serious Osgood Perkins quite a bit)
Even though it suffers from bloated sequel syndrome where it becomes all explainy adding unnecessary fluff, pushing up the running time, it actually does a lot more right than wrong.
The biggest reason for its success lies with an absolutely amazing performance by Scott. Her descent into madness is so convincing it is at points unbearable to watch. When you manage to create a basically unlikable character but still manage to make us latch on to you, you win a…
Well this was just some outstandingly good Predator shit.
This movie is a bit like your appendix. It used to have a function, but in the course of evolution it has become less useful, because it has basically stayed the same while the world around it has changed. So you just kind of forget it's there.
Until there's inflammation. Then there's pain and this basically useless thing becomes dangerous and annoying after which you get appendicitis and it needs to be surgically removed.
Ok, so let me rephrase. This movie is like appendicitis. It's painful and bad for you. Please, remove it. Thanks.
So, before I start yapping about the excellent Thunderbolts* I need to talk about Andor first.
Why? Well, it's from the same company and I think they represent the same thing. A welcome change. See, Andor was perhaps the first Disney Original that did something to break away from the Star Wars cookie cutter production line. It embraced the Universe it was created in, but tried to be its own thing without obsessively trying to please fans by harkening to…
Hollow, superficial, forced, trite, annoying and one dimensional.
But that was just Chalamet's performance.
The rest was gorgeous, well acted, scrumptious, stunning and utterly engaging.
Even though it's riddled with flaws, I'd say that films like The Brutalist show that movies aren't dead and that there's still room to be challenging and different in a cinematic landscape dominated by products instead of original creations.
It's astonishing they pulled off this film with a budget of less than 10 million, because it feels epic from start to finish. This has a lot to do with the gorgeous cinematography and the stunning set design. They serve as…
So as I'm getting old and my body basically rejects most forms of cardio as everything seems to hurt afterwards, I discovered that rowing actually provides a welcome intense exercise so I bought a rowing machine and placed it in front of my TV so I can watch films and series to take my mind off the pain and suffering that comes with exercise which actually worked brilliantly until I watched this piece of shite which made me both suffer through the workout and the complete and utter piece of cinematic navel lint that is this film.