The latest chapter in the sci-fi series about anti-hero Riddick, an extremely dangerous, escaped convict, finds Riddick left for dead on a sun-scorched planet. As Riddick travels across this desert-esque wasteland he begins to realize that indigenous predators offer a more substantial threat to his survival than the climate. With no other choice, Riddick activates an emergency beacon which alerts various mercenaries out to claim the bounty on Riddick's head. With a storm on the horizon, which brings these predators out in droves, time is running out for Riddick and the mercenaries themselves to escape with their lives. David Twohy's Riddick is a often generic, testosterone-fueled sci-fi action film which spends most of its effort re-establishing Riddick as an extremely dangerous bad-ass who should not be messed with. The film does spend the time to link this outing to the previous film, The Chronicles of Riddick, using a simplistic backstory that doesn't waste too much time. The backstory certainly works but I was glad it didn't encapsulate too much of the film with Twohy moving on rather quickly. The script of Riddick is serviceable but there are quite a few generic characters that really bring nothing new or interesting to Riddick's plight. Some of the character dynamics between the mercenaries are just unnecessary and uninteresting to the point that I found myself losing interest whenever Riddick was off screen. Riddick is a film that is far more like Pitch Black than Chronicles, and that is certainly a good thing, delivering a rather straight-forward, testosterone-fueled narrative that is entertaining even though it brings nothing new to the table. 6.25/10
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Inspired by the life and times of legendary kung fu master, Ip Man, Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster is an epic story that spans the time-period which saw the collapse of China's last dynasty and the rise of tumultuous Republican era. Being a time of death, chaos, and division, it is also regarded as the golden age of Chinese martial arts. Being directed by Wong Kar Wai, The Grandmaster is much more of a meditative study about the ideals behind martial arts then the action itself. The film consists of a sprawling and sometimes uneven narrative that really struggles at times to grab the viewer emotionally. This is particularly surprising when you factor in the compelling story of both Ip Man and Gong Er, with Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang giving stellar performances. While this is a film drenched in spirituality and philosophy it is far from slow with lots of fight sequences that are truly entrancing. Wong Kar Wai makes sure that every single punch and kick is felt by the viewer, routinely using extreme close ups, playing with frame rate, speed ramping, etc. to really capture the impact and damage that these various techniques have on the body. Honestly, given Wong Kar Wai's pedigree when it comes to cinematography the film's visuals didn't blow me away, but the highlight of the film from a visual perspective is no doubt the train station fight sequence. While Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster isn't as concise or emotionally resonant as it should have been, it delivers what really counts in being a beautifully shot and choreographed martial arts film. 7.5/10 Strangers In The Night is a fun little dark noir by Anthony Mann about a lonely, mentally disturbed elderly woman whose manifestation of a daughter she never had causes problems for a returning Marine from the war. The Marine received various letters from this fictitious daughter, setting up a dark and entertaining tale of deception and mental illness. Running under 60 minutes in length, this film is very direct and to the point in creating a rather disturbing view on Maternity. Pretty much for any film of this genre, the film lives or dies with the central performance, and Helen Thimig, who plays the elderly woman, really excels in this particular film. There is a quiet unease about this woman, and everything she does is cold and calculated, yet she is completely detached from the reality of life. Mann makes sure she is somewhat of a tragic figure, particularly during the finale in which we learn of her maternal desires and mental breakdown being primarily a result of her inability to have children. It's fast-paced, efficient and features a good atmosphere with some trademark Mann compositions making this a cool little semi-forgotten film of Mann's filmography. 8/10 Diana, a high school teacher who lives in Austin, Texas, begins to fall head-first into a relationship with one of her teenage students, Eric. What at first appears to be a somewhat innocent companionship, all things considered, quickly spirals out of control as Diana becomes increasingly attached to Eric. Hanna Fidell's A Teacher is a character-study that is incredibly simplistic in approach but still affecting in its dissection of this somewhat tragic character. A Teacher is a film that is difficult to watch at times, not because of the edgy subject matter, but because Fidell never completely takes the viewer into Diana's point-of-view. More like an outsider, we are able to simply watch this fragile and damaged individual go down a path which we know will inevitably end poorly. That isn't to say the viewer doesn't get into the psyche of Diana at all, it just chooses to be ambiguous about exactly how and why she would fall into a relationship like this in the first place. There is a small scene early in the film between Diana and her brother that subtlety hints at Diana's damaged past but it never shines any true light into her exact issues. This ambiguity along with Fidell's story decisions create a character in Diana whose trapped between her emotions and morals, making the film a sharp emotional experience. Featuring a powerful lead performance by Diana Watts, A Teacher is a simple, yet engrossing examination of a damaged individual. 7.75/10 Hall Baltimore is a mystery writer whose career is on the decline. He arrives in a small town to participate in a book signing which turns out to be merely a table placed in the corner of a hardware store with no one showing much interest at all. The only exception being Bobby La Grange, the local sheriff, who is not only a fan of Hall but an aspiring writer himself. Bobby, a man who seems to have a few screws loose, invites Hall to the morgue where he shares with Hall the latest murder victim, a young woman whom he believes to be the killed at the hands of a serial killer. Not amused, Hall cuts his losses and returns to his hotel to sleep. That night in a dream he meets a mysterious young ghost named V, and while Hal doesn't grasp the connection between the two young woman, he begins to craft his next mystery novel which leads him to the truth. Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt is a heady mix of mood, atmosphere and ideas that is never quite as coherent as it should be. The greatest strength of the film is its atmosphere and Coppola does a great job using digital photography to his advantage, creating a beautiful aesthetic that transports the viewer into a fantasy world. What Coppola does with colors and atmosphere on such a low budget is impressive and should really be studied, punching up colors in a way that really hits the viewer dramatically in key dramatic scenes. For me, Twixt is a complex film about the writing process, capturing the inner demons and thoughts which must come to the surface in order to fully create something unique and compelling. Hal is a man that must confront his past in order to succeed, drawing inspiration from the darkness. While Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt is very complex and a little convoluted it's a film that deserves far more praise than it received, being a truly unique horror/ mystery film. 7/10 Tormented by his manipulated boss, his nagging mother, and deadbeat dad, Duncan's stress level has reached epic proportions. This forces Duncan to meet with a hypnotherapist who helps him discover that the cause of his unusual stomach pain is not anything normal for those suffering from a painful gastrointestinal reaction but the work of a small demon, who lives in his anus. Triggered by excessive anxiety, the demon forces his way out of Duncan's Anus hellbent on slaughtering those who have angered Duncan. Jacob Vaughn's Bad Milo is as strange a film as one could imagine given its synopsis, delivering a fun horror-comedy that is as unique as it is strange. Everything in Duncan's life is incredibly stressful, and the characters in Bad Milo are all extremely exaggerated versions of characters which most people can relate too. We're all familiar with over-demanding bosses or nagging mothers and Bad Milo uses these exaggerated versions to tell an oddly touching story about family and relationships. I don't think the film achieves all of its dramatic intentions but it works enough and is very entertaining if you like this sort of thing. Bad Milo is surprisingly violent and grotesque with the creature design being well done. Sure, Milo is somewhat cheesy looking but it really works for a horror/comedy, being frightening but also kinda cute. There are lots of good supporting characters throughout Bad Milo from Peter Stormare to Stephen Root but Patrick Warburton as Duncan's Boss really steals the film with his performance. Bad Milo is nothing groundbreaking but for the Horror/Comedy genre it's certainly a unique entry, being both fun and somewhat intelligent in it's parable about family. 6.5/10 Escaping her ultra-conservative upbringing, Linda discovers a world of freedom and self- expression when she falls in love with Chuck Traynor, a hustler-type of character. Soon after the two marry and Linda becomes an international sensation as the girl-next-door who has a natural talent for fellatio. Used by her greedy and mean- spirited husband, Linda becomes abused by the pornographic industry until she finally becomes strong enough to take control of her life. Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman's Lovelace is a by-the-numbers biographical film thats only real strength lies in Amanda Seyfried's strong performance. Right off the bat the film tries a little too hard to show how innocent Linda was from an early age, basically telegraphing her narrative to a degree that makes her character a one-dimensional victim rather than humanizing a woman who made mistakes but ultimately found redemption and triumph. It's a film that is far too interested in the narrative, not giving enough attention to dissecting Lovelace as a human-being. Chuck, her husband who is responsible for much of her dismay, is presented in a way that lacks all subtlety and nuance as his character goes from zero to full-blown psychopath in a matter a seconds. This is really the main problem with Lovelace in general, a film that goes through the motions, telling us the story of Linda Lovelace while never spending the time to capture the small details which define her as a living and breathing individual. 5/10 Christian is a young, calculating trust fund baby who keeps his funds intact by making low budget feature films in an effort to appease his father. On his latest project he discovers that his actress girlfriend,Tara, is having an affair with the lead actor, Ryan. A very controlling individual, Christian spirals out of control, engaging in a sinister game of deceit which soon escalates to bloody murder. From the opening scene of Paul Schrader's The Canyons it's clear that this is a Bret Easton Ellis screenplay. Every character in this film is incredibly selfish and fickle individuals whose actions are only for themselves. Christian is a character that is presented as a very cold person emotionally but yet the whole premise of the film revolves around him becoming sensitive and enraged when discovering of Tara's hidden affair. I guess the idea is Christian's loss of control over Tara is what drives him to murder but the film never takes the time necessary to fully develop this idea. Perhaps the main failure in achieving this lies in the suspect acting of the film with Lindsay Lohan, Nolan Gerard Funk, and James Deen all giving pretty sub-par performances (and that is being nice). Like much of Bret Easton Ellis' work the film captures the vapid, emptiness of Los Angeles culture where money, selfishness and greed are king. This is a predominant theme which probably comes off a little too heavy-handed (this is typical for Bret Easton Ellis). Paul Schrader does bring his A-game to the direction, with some nice brooding compositions that combined with a nice amount of high contrast lighting reallly aides in giving the film a unique feel and atmosphere. The Canyons is not nearly as bad as I was lead to believe and there is a good movie in here somewhere, but unfortunately Paul Schrader and company were unable to find it among the generic Easton Ellis-isms. 5/10 |
AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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