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Hellraiser (2022)
Same Same, but different...
The vision director Bruckner has for this reincarnation of The Adventures of PinHead is clear on screen. Bruckner obviously loves the source material, his passion is splashed across the screen. Mixing the mundane with the phantasmagorical to almost hypnotic effect at times. CGI blended almost perfectly with practical gore effects, otherworldly enough to satisfy but never too exaggerated as to stretch into comic territory. Visually, the movie stands apart from other entries in the franchise - to be expected with the bump in budget and talent available.
That's where the praise ends sadly. The unlikeable lead is surrounded by undeveloped shells of characters. Usually defined by one trait, that being their relation to the main character - Brother, brother's boyfriend, boyfriend etc...the boyfriend being an almost surrogate hero til an obvious last minute twist pulls that likeable rug out from under. There's a glimmer of a remarkable film in there somewhere but it just seems as is often the case, all the effort and love went into the visuals and not into the characters and story. With too many coincidences and happenings, without which the story would just stop.
The ending is actually quite nice and neat, if only we'd cared a bit weather and or not any of them had lived, it could've been perfect.
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
A B-Movie with an A-List cast.
Not nearly as edgy or clever as it aspires to be. Whatever Gilroy et al. where going for here, they miss wildly. Where it not for the cast and huge amount of good will towards Gilroy after Nightcrawler (2016) Velvet Buzzsaw would exist solely as a straight to DVD, 2 for $5 trash piece curiosity. Instead, it gets a massive boost over much more deserving films.
Dull plot whose initial scintilla of intrigue fades quickly out aside, the entire cast are fine. No more than OK, which is a crime for a group of such talented people capable of so much.
Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2017)
Needs more Dolph..
Movies with businesses as heroes, trying valiantly to sell you things you will look at in ten years and mouth "What the fu...?" not the easiest thing in the world. Movies about making a super hokey but widely loved film, which everyone involved seemed to think that they were making Citizen Kane pt. 2? Easy, intriguing & bedding for longer than the 10 minute glossing over it gets here.
When Dolph Lundgren is the voice of reason - more can only be better.
Some of the history is interesting, no doubt more so to die hard fans (who doubtless will know all of this information anyway), nothing ever grabs or emotionally involves the viewer (beyond Frank Langella's sincere pride in and love of the movie).
Well worth a watch on a Sunday evening, even if it's just for the "wait, that'd captain Kirk's mum?" moment, but not worth digging through the bargain bin for.