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La nuée (2020)
Dark, tense and disturbing
Don't want to oversell this, but probably the best killer insect movie ever made - with the caveat that it's a twisted, slow-burn drama that only becomes full-blown horror in the last act. Genuinely disturbing.
Batman: The Long Halloween, Part One (2021)
A new high standard for the DC animated movie series
Simply put, most of these animated movies (which I love BTW) are loads of action with enough plot wedged in-between to get by. The Long Halloween isn't that. It's a proper story, with character development, drama, intrigue, suspense, relationships...there is action, including a great Chinatown brawl with three Triads, but this is a story-driven movie. Batman, James Gordon, Harvey Dent et al are all more rounded than usual, Gotham feels more like real place, and the sense of corruption and crime is tangible.
The Dark Knight took a lot of inspiration from The Long Halloween comics, so you'll spot some similarities to that movie both major and minor.
Also the animation is first rate, detailed and smooth. The unique, expressionist style of original Long Halloween comic artist Tim Sale isn't used, but instead a more realistic style that still allows for touches of caricature. Batman looks menacing and mysterious, but like an actual human being. Catwoman is lithe and athletic. Gotham itself is murky and mysterious in a film noir way.
Not many downsides. This is only half the story, so the most exciting stuff is yet to come, and it'll undoubtedly be re-released as a complete movie, so it might be best to wait for that.
There's some completely unnecessary gore with a ship's propeller.
Also, given this is part of the brand new DC animated continuity, it seems an odd, jarring choice to use an imitation of Mark Hamill's Joker voice, which is thirty years old now.
Polaroid (2019)
Goosebumps meets The Ring
A good introductory horror for teenagers who are old enough for scary movies but not really horrific ones. There's a monster, a mystery to be solved and a frightened but determined heroine. Although some characters are killed, it's not gratuitous or gory.
Polaroid is also very nicely shot, with a kid of dusky gloom throughout.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Suck on this, George Orwell
Now THIS is how you do a 1984 story. Magic wish stones, invisible planes, loser dweebs turning into cheetah women.... Big Brother and the Thought Police are all well and good, I suppose, but this movie has Wonder Woman lassoing BOLTS OF LIGHTNING AND SWINGING ON THEM. No contest.
Beneath (2013)
Jaws 2 on a lake
Interesting premise - more about how people behave in a 'how-do-we-get-out-of-this?' survival situation than the actual monster scenes, although there are those too. The title refers to the secrets and tensions that come out among the group as the tension mounts. Although the movie has many similarities to other entries in the genre - it feels especially like a low-budget Jaws 2 - it comes to a different conclusion.
Most interesting however is that the film, purposefully or not, seems to have a subtle satirical undercurrent. It knows the audience expects the formula of stereotypes getting eaten by a monster one by one, and overindulges until the viewer feels uneasy.
Very nice cinematography by Gordon Arkenberg.
Calibre (2018)
Spiritual sequel to Straw Dogs
How civilised are we really, when it comes to the crunch? That's the question Calibre investigates. The plot sees the events of a hunting trip escalate out of control in tense but always feasible ways, and the likeable, down-to-earth characters are always relatable and sympathetic. The visuals add a lot, setting this in a remote village teetering on the edge of civilisation.
Six Minutes to Midnight (2020)
If you ever wanted to see Eddie Izzard play James Bond...
Handsomely shot, this is an unusual mix of school room drama and cloak-and-dagger thriller. Izzard does all the usual spy stuff, and even gets to wear a tux and do as much running as Tom Cruise - though in this case, across pebbled beaches and down country lanes. The film really could have done with an extra 30 minutes to strengthen the characters and their relationships, as the emotional final scenes aren't quite given enough weight beforehand. The period atmosphere is delightful, and will make even those who weren't there nostalgic.
Shock Waves (1977)
The best film John Carpenter never made - Halloween meets The Fog
Take the lo-fi stalk-and-kill style of Halloween, including the ominous, rarely seen silent killer....take the premise of The Fog, with a small isolated group of people under assault on an island by zombie-like figures who rise from the sea...and you have the best John Carpenter film not made by John Carpenter. It's all here - the unglamorous characters, the oppressive, pervasive sense of evil, the lonely scenic shots, the clanging, doom-ridden synthesizer chords - even a veteran British actor (in this case Peter Cushing) pops up to provide the exposition and tell the characters just how much danger they're in.
The plot of aquatic zombie Nazis sounds pure B-movie, but it's dealt with in a surprisingly effective way. As is so often the case with horror movies, less is more. They are kept offscreen as much as possible, seen only in silhouette much of the time, and when they do appear, waking up underwater and rising to stalk their victims, it's genuinely unsettling. They say nothing, they don't emote, and they don't have any kind of exaggerated zombie movements. They just silently and efficiently go about their business. Their backstory is also wisely kept to a bare minimum, and the result makes them, like the villains of the Carpenter films, a mysterious force.
A solid horror flick, well-produced and with a simplicity that gives it a nightmarish quality.
The Truth About Emanuel (2013)
Well-crafted emotional drama
This is a rare mainstream film which allows for subtly, nuance, and the story to be told through the actor's performances rather than simply dialogue. This isn't really a thriller so much as a dark emotional drama. Poignant and effecting.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
Dramatic with intense action, unfairly slated for not being a Marvel film
Everyone seemed desperate to slate this movie ever since it was announced, and unsurprisingly many of the reviews are negative. But in fact, it's a solid movie. It's decently made, it's competent. It's a 3 out of 5 movie. No, it's not a great ending to the series, and no, it's not as good as Endgame, but it really is a no way near the disaster it's been labelled as from day one.
Other points:
- It's dramatic. It doesn't try to be a huge action-heavy movie, or mix in lots of comedy. Lessons were learnt from Apocalypse. Dark Pheonix is primarily a character-driven drama, and all the action comes from that drama. There are no set-pieces for the sake of it.
- When the action does come, it's intense. The whole climax is furious and the characters - including the X-Men and Magneto - really don't hold back. It's worth seeing for this sequence alone.
- This is a very downbeat movie. Grey skies, rain, and a moody, ominous atmosphere throughout. It's played less like a superhero film, and more akin to something like The Ring with Naomi Watts.
- The characters - specifically Charles and Eric - feel more like real people here than ever before. Less hero and villain, more flawed people, and they are brought down to earth here.
- It's not really about the X-Men as X-Men - they spend very little time in costume - it's more about how they fall apart as a family.
- The Pheonix story, while not as epic as the comics, is certainly done much more effectively and on a bigger scale than The Last Stand. Jean is the good person struggling with incredible power, as in the comic, and not the brooding witch Famke Janssen played the character as in X3. And she does wait 'til the end to unleash her powers, either. Everyone in the film, friend or foe, suffers her wrath, and sometimes it's shocking.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
I'll beat the drum all day for The Lost World. The best of the Jurassic sequels.
I'll beat the drum all day for The Lost World. For three clear reasons.
1. Spielberg. The Lost World isn't prime Spielberg, but medium-level Spielberg is still far and away superior to other directors trying to copy him, as in JP III and Jurassic World. For instance, he comes up with a set piece that doesn't even involve dinosaurs - Sarah Harding on the cracking glass - that has more suspense than anything in either of the other sequels.
2. Plot actually progresses - and provides a good ending for the saga. JP III and Jurassic World just regurgitate the original movie. The Lost World properly continues the story of Ian Malcolm, John Hammond, InGen, the dinos and so on, and then comes up with a worthwhile ending where Hammond has learned to respect nature and makes a paradise for the dinosaurs instead of exploiting them. That's the best ending the saga can have.
3. It's Jurassic Park through a dark mirror. The 1993 original is all bright colours and a sense of wonder amidst the scares. The Lost World is dark, dirty, ominous, and is basically a two-hour rage against the inhumanity of capitalism. Jeff Goldblum's now-sombre, foreboding Ian Malcolm says it all.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Same old cookie-cutter Marvel stuff...
Ultimately, it's like most of the Marvel movies; slick but shallow, doesn't take it self seriously, and full of obligatory CGI fight scenes with no real impact. Ragnarok basically throws in all the great stuff from the Thor comics that haven't been used yet, pays lip service to them, and then makes a mockery of the whole thing. Hulk fighting Thor? Has no impact because it's all so comedic. It's just empty spectacle. The whole movie is like that.
So much here is wasted. Heimdall (Idris Elba looks like he didn't even want to be there). Cate Blanchett. Odin. Skurge. The Fenris Wolf. Surtur. Planet Hulk. The whole Ragnarok myth is reduced to not very much. All sacrificed at the alter of constant, silly gags.
If you want some dumb, silly, spectacular entertainment, it's passable, but Thor: Ragnarok is a terrible waste of potential and great source material.
Superman (1978)
Review of the 3-hour extended cut
I hate to be the bearer of bad news....but the new 3 hour cut is not worth watching. It just makes everything longer for no reason, it's clear why the extra scenes were deleted in the first place, and a lot of it actually detracts from the film.
The most worthwhile additions are: Superman saving Miss Tessmacher from Lex's pit of big cats; more on Lois' interview with the Native American; and more disaster movie action during the earthquake.
But most of it is just padding and jokes which fall flat. The scenes of the Metropolis cops pursuing Otis? This is now twice as long, for no real reason. There are longer establishing shots. There's stuff we don't need to see, like Clark and Lois getting a taxi after the alleyway mugger incident. And so on.
We get a lot more of Lex, Otis and Miss Tessmacher messing around, and most of it is simply not very good. The whole sequence of them changing the nuclear codes and encountering the soldiers on the bridge is now much longer, and full of gags, but ruins the underlying danger of what's happening. In fact that sums up my feelings on the 3 hour cut as a whole; I thought it would make the film seem more epic, but it actually makes it more of a comedy. The only addition which is funny is when Otis follows Lex around, trying to squeeze the water out of his robe.
The best thing about the 3 hour cut is that is shows you what a film editor does. By looking at this and then the normal version or the Donner cut, you can see that by trimming the fat, making everything more succinct, clearer and pacier, you can create a better movie.
Long Weekend (1978)
Gripping horror-thriller
Absolutely perfect mix of low-key realism and expressionistic horror. I'd liken it to Straw Dogs, The Birds and Rosemary's Baby. It's more a psychological thriller than a straight-up animals attacking human film, but the savagery of the natural world is never far away.
No special effects, very little music, just a young couple whose marriage unravels on an isolated beach, and at the same time nasty events happen which suggests nature isn't happy with them....it's all done in a believable way so the animal attacks may just be co-incidence. Very atmospheric, perfectly paced and great building of tension - reaching a real sense of dread in the last half hour.