Sunday, 16 July 2017
The Void (2016)
Shortly after delivering a patient to an understaffed hospital, a police officer experiences strange and violent occurrences seemingly linked to a group of mysterious hooded figures.
An over-the-top gorefest made by cineastes who know what they're going and do it well, and their love for the respective 80s classics is obvious; that the plot is incoherent and nonsensical, won't bother hardcore fans of the genre.
Saturday, 15 July 2017
M (1931)
When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
One of the few true masterpieces in cinema history, meticulously made in all departments, every single take in itself an expressionistic work of art; as a clairvoyant social (and political) melodrama it stills grips even today, and Peter Lorre's performance is arguably one of the greatest of all time.
Halliwell***: "An unmistakable classic whose oddities are hardly worth criticizing, this is part social melodrama and part satire, but entirely unforgettable, with most of its sequences brilliantly staged."
Maltin****: "Harrowing melodrama...Riveting and frighteningly contemporary; cinematically dazzling, especially for an early talkie. Lorre's performance is unforgettable."
O.J.: Made in America (2016)
A chronicle of the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson, whose high-profile murder trial exposed the extent of American racial tensions, revealing a fractured and divided nation.
Grand-scale documentary doesn't bring up any new facts, but its enormous revelatory power is in putting it all together and into full context not only with its period, but with today's U.S.A. and its unresolved racial and social conflicts as well.
Friday, 14 July 2017
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
A rejected military soldier transforms into Captain America after taking a dose of a "Super-Soldier serum", but being Captain America comes at a price as he attempts to take down a war monger and a terrorist organization.
Fairly entertaining comic-book adaptation with some good period detail; thankfully, the original's unflattering patriotism is toned down, and the villain is not the Third Reich itself, but a renegade madman Über-Nazi.
Maltin**1/2: "First half of this period piece is good fun, but story loses its thrust and doesn't even provide an honest ending. Evans is quite good in the title role; visual effects turn him into a puny version of himself for the early scenes."
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