(ph: Peter Basch)
Wednesday 30 September 2020
Heart of Darkness (1993)
A trading company manager travels up an African river to find a missing outpost head and discovers the depth of evil in humanity's soul.
Good, but somewhat too literate adaptation of Joseph Conrad's novel is nevertheless visually imaginative and features competent performances by Roth and Malkovich.
Tuesday 29 September 2020
Monday 28 September 2020
After Life (2019)
After Tony's wife dies unexpectedly, his nice-guy persona is altered into an impulsive, devil-may-care attitude; taking his old world by storm.
Off-kilter comedy series with a wicked sense of humour that eventually evolves into a rather redeeming exploration of grief and healing.
Hotel Artemis (2018)
Set in riot-torn, near-future Los Angeles, 'Hotel Artemis' follows the Nurse, who runs a secret, members-only emergency room for criminals.
Good, original sci-fi drama entertains with an usual plot, great cast and some exciting action sequences.
A Star Is Born (2018)
A musician helps a young singer find fame as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.
Excellently produced and directed musical melodrama with good music and extraordinary performances throughout, but, all in all, it is simply an old-fashioned tearjerker.
Sunday 27 September 2020
Time Without Pity (1957)
The day before a man is to be executed, his alcoholic father shows up to try to prove his innocence.
Saturday 26 September 2020
The Front (2010)
A detective in a Boston suburb is assigned by his female district attorney to reopen an old murder case, which throws his life into grave peril.
Mediocre TV crime mystery has a convoluted plot full of holes and the star cast is not quite as involved as one would hope for.
El hoyo (2019)
A vertical prison with one cell per level. Two people per cell. One only food platform and two minutes per day to feed from up to down. An endless nightmare trapped in The Hole.
Surreal, dystopian tale makes the best of its intriguing premise with some surprising twist and shocks and a mysterious ending.
Friday 25 September 2020
Ant Head (2018)
A short video featuring my friends the ants along with cheese, etc. and one-and-a-half tracks from the Thought Gang album.
Minimalist and appropriately weird music video for some music of David Lynch's band Thought Gang; obviously intended as advertisement for their album and less so as a work of art.
Thursday 24 September 2020
Fire (PoZar) (2020)
Fire, given by a mysterious figure, creates a hole in the world through which something terrible enters and leaves the world burned and overrun by strange insect figures.
Surreal, nightmarish tale of an apocalypse with no shine of hope; a David Lynch miniature masterpiece enhanced by Marek Zebrowski's expressionistic score.
Sam Whiskey (1969)
A widow hires an ex-gambler to retrieve gold bars from a sunken river boat in Colorado and discreetly return them to the Federal Mint, from where they had been stolen by her dead husband.
Good-natured, but sloppily handled Western comedy is mainly focused on its star, but has not much more to offer.
Halliwell (no star): "Easy-going but rather slackly handled Western."
Maltin**: "Modestly mounted, uninteresting Western wasting talents of good cast...For Western aficionados and Reynolds addicts only."
Sunday 20 September 2020
I Am Wrath (2016)
A man is out for justice after a group of corrupt police officers are unable to catch his wife's killer.
Mediocre actioner oscillates as revenge drama, buddy story and political thriller without deciding what it really wants to be; despite the star cast it very much has the feel of an 80s B-movie.
Saturday 19 September 2020
Little Women (2019)
Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women, each determined to live life on her own terms.
Lively, beautifully set and photographed, excellently cast adaptation of the classic and beloved novel; however, the non-linear telling of the tale diminishes the impact of the romances and tragedies and seems to assume the audience already has full knowledge of the story.
Friday 18 September 2020
Creep (2014)
A young videographer answers an online ad for a one-day job in a remote town to record the last messages of a dying man. When he notices the man's odd behavior, he starts to question his intentions.
Effective, low-budget found footage horror drama makes the best from its premise and limited resources and achieves an atmosphere of unease and fear and a truly shocking ending.
Terrifier (2016)
On Halloween night, a young woman finds herself as the obsession of a sadistic murderer known as Art the Clown.
Full-throttle and unapologetic homage to the 80s slasher genre fully achieves what it wants to convey; quite entertaining for fans of the genre.
Tuesday 15 September 2020
Masoch (1980)
The 19th century German novelist Leopold von Sacher-Masoch marries a beautiful lower-class woman, and insists that she dominates him in the relationship, which becomes that of mistress and slave.
Sunday 13 September 2020
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
Four African-American vets battle the forces of man and nature when they return to Vietnam seeking the remains of their fallen Squad Leader and the gold fortune he helped them hide.
The full Spike Lee Joint experience: a wildly divergent (in quality and plot coherence) adventure tale with multi-faceted allusions, both cinematic and political, and with a distinct political message for our current time; a bumpy but utterly watchable odyssey.
Jane Bond Meets Octopussy (1986)
Agent 0069 battles the evil Octopussy, who plans to use a scientist's sex laser to take over the world.
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