Tagged: Film Review
Interview-Review: Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel (1962) – A Discreetly Charming Essay of Bourgeois Critique
First of all I’d like to apologize for my behavior during the last Interview-Review for The Front (1976). I think I was drunk or something.
That’s okay, just try to keep it chill this time.
Yes… I’ll do my best, but I can’t promise anything.
Well, all right that’s good enough for me. Continue reading
Mini-Review: Curse of Chucky (2013) – Poorest & Most Generic Entry in the Child’s Play Franchise Yet
Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) is still trapped in the body of a creepy 80s doll named Chucky. On his sixth adventure Chucky is shipped to a seemingly random family: A middle-aged mother (Chantal Quesnelle) and her young disabled daughter (Fiona Dourif), living in the middle of nowhere (of course). The redheaded doll gets immediately trashed, but then obviously it’s only a matter of time until he takes revenge. However: Why this family in particular? Why the new haircut? And why were the practical effects on the Chucky doll better 25 years ago? C’est un mystère! Continue reading
Mini-Review: Il Vedovo (1959) – Your Typical Italian Tragicomedy Starring Alberto Sordi
Alberto Nardi (Alberto Sordi) is an enthusiastic, but unlucky Roman entrepreneur trying to make it big in Milan. All of his business ventures seem to be busts, but he still hasn’t given up hope and keeps dreaming of becoming very rich one day. In the meantime he has only made a lot of debts and if it wasn’t for his wealthy wife Elvira Almiraghi (Franca Valeri) he would probably be insolvent and declaring bankruptcy. Other than financial interests, Alberto doesn’t seem to care much about his wife. One day, it seems that Alberto’s luck has finally come: His wife has died in a terrible train accident and he is going to inherit her fortune. What a happy ending, but wait this is an Alberto Sordi film: It never ends well! Continue reading
Mini-Review: Black Christmas (1974) – A Canadian Horror Cult Classic with a Dash of Giallo
A bunch of sorority sisters are having a Christmas party at the sorority house. Everyone’s having a good time, drinking and being silly and stuff. All of a sudden their nice festive atmosphere is interrupted by an obscene phone call of a creepy man moaning into the phone, not making a lot of sense. Dismissing the incident as a bad prank, the sisters carry on. When one of them goes missing however, they start getting a little worried. Contacting the local police seems like the sensible thing to do, but can they really help? Have you ever seen a horror film where the cops save the day? It seems like the killer is always one step ahead of them, which is quite impressive considering how retarded he sounds on the phone. Continue reading
Mini-Review: Buongiorno Papà (2013) is a Predictable, Yet Charming and Endearing Italian Melodrama
Andrea (Raoul Bova) is a young bachelor, he works for a company that is responsible for product placement in movies. Aside from his job he loves young girls, clubbing and his best friend Paolo (Edoardo Leo) who lives with him. Andrea doesn’t seem to really care about anyone else except himself. One day, out of the blue, his careless lifestyle of casual sex and easy money is shaken when Layla (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers) a rebellious 17-year-old teenager shows up at his front door. She claims to be his daughter. Her mother is dead and Andrea is the only relative she has left, aside from her grumpy grandfather Enzo (Marco Giallini). Since their trailer broke down, they plan to crash at Andrea’s, where there’s going to be a lot of melodrama, but we all know it’s going to end well, right? Continue reading
Mini-Review: Don Jon (2013) Tries to Subvert Romantic Comedy Clichés, While Also Speaking Up Against Pornography
Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a young Italian American who seems like he just stepped out of the Jersey Shore. There’s few things he cares about in life. In his own words: “My body, my pad, my ride, my family, my church, my boys, my girls, my porn”. Now, while most people might be shocked about the church part (how many people do you know who still go to church?), Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), the sexy blonde he picks up at the club and falls in love with, is disgusted by his obsession with internet pornography. If he wants to keep the girl, he has to give up the porn, but can he do that? Does he even want to do that? Well, it shouldn’t be that hard, right? Right?! Continue reading
Mini-Review: The Spectacular Now (2013) Is a Solid Coming-of-Age Comedy, Romance, Drama, Whatever Genre They Were Going For
Sutter (Miles Teller) is a hard-partying high school senior, who was just dumped by his long-time girlfriend Cassidy (Brie Larson). Now what? More partying of course. After a heavy night of drinking and driving and being silly, Sutter wakes up on Aimee’s (Shailene Woodley) front lawn. The two become friends first and lovers afterwards. It all seems to be going swell, but there’s some dark shit in Sutter’s past. He never really knew his father (Kyle Chandler) and so Aimee pushes him to get in contact with him. That doesn’t prove to be the most pleasant of experiences and it may even threaten his relationship with Aimee. So what does he do now? Maybe taking it easy on the good ole alco-hole wouldn’t be such a bad idea, right? Continue reading
Mini-Review: Hello, Schoolgirl (2008) – A Cute South Korean Romantic Comedy
Kwon Yeon-woo (Yoo Ji-tae) is a 30-year-old civil servant who just moved into a new apartment building. Han Soo-young (Lee Yeon-hee) is an 18-year-old schoolgirl who lives with her single mom (Na Young-hee), just one storey below. It is inevitable that they’ll meet, sooner or later. Soo-young seems annoyed by him at first, but then realizes that Yeon-woo is just shy. Slowly but surely the two fall in love, but will their significant age difference be a problem? Of course it will, because Soo-young’s mother doesn’t approve of their relationship. Meanwhile, Yeon-woo’s friend and colleague Sook (Kang-in) has been experiencing some heartache of his own. He has fallen in love with Ha-kyeong (Chae Jung-an) a woman significantly older than him, who isn’t completely over her ex just yet. Will love conquer all? Is it better to have loved and lost? And is there really such a thing as a cat-dog? Continue reading
Mini-Review: Alain Renais’ Je t’aime je t’aime (1968)
Claude Ridder (Claude Rich) is a young writer who recently attempted suicide, but failed miserably. Now, a mysterious organization wants to recruit him to perform some risky time travel experiments on him. He is the perfect subject, because if he died during the process, they could easily stage everything to make it look like a suicide. Everything’s ready. Claude (and a cute little white lab mice) will be sent back in time exactly one year and should stay in the past for one minute. After four minutes (no relation to the all-girl KPOP idol group featuring Hyuna) he can be released from the time machine and go on with his life. Unfortunately, something goes wrong and he keeps traveling through time randomly without ever coming back for more than a couple of minutes. Will he make it out alive? What’s hiding in his past? And why is that mouse traveling with him? Continue reading
Good: Lust, Caution (2007), Roman Polanski Wanted and Desired (2008) and Blue Jasmine (2013)
I finally made it: I got to see Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine! One of my most anticipated films of the year. It was my first time watching a Woody Allen film in a theater. I’ve only discovered this fantastic filmmaker in 2011 when I watched Midnight in Paris an experience I’ll never forget. So anyway, that was the highlight of my week, in terms of movies, but there were also two others I’d like to discuss.
Lust, Caution (2007) – 7 (IMDb 7.5) – War, Drama, Romance (Taiwan)
Ang Lee is one of those directors I should get more into. It seems that everyone loves his films and while I can certainly see why, for some reason I never really love them as much as everyone else. I can’t connect somehow. Lust, Caution is probably my favorite of his so far. I mainly checked it out because it won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. To me there are three “authorities” when it comes to cinema: The Criterion Collection, Sight & Sound and the Venice Film Festival. I will literally believe and watch anything they praise. Continue reading
black is white 