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^ This exactly.
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Most new users don't bother reading our rules. Here's the one that is ignored almost immediately upon signup: DO NOT ASK FOR FANEDIT LINKS PUBLICLY. First, read the FAQ. Seriously. What you want is there. You can also send a message to the editor. If that doesn't work THEN post in the Trade & Request forum. Anywhere else and it will be deleted and an infraction will be issued.
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A few reviews
- Thread starter Vultural
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^ This exactly.
skyled
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I don't post reviews here very often but I'd like to post a few. One I rate extremely negative and the others I highly recommend if you feel like it's up your alley. I mostly borrow movies from my local library which has an extensive collection of all kinds of stuff.
First the negative:
Skinamarink (2022)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinamarink
The cover described this as if David Lynch directed Poltergeist. Instead, it was an outrageously boring movie. Extreme grain and poor lighting at strange angles. Distorted sound. Yawn. The plot is described as, "The film follows two children who wake up during the night to discover that they cannot find their father, and that the windows, doors, and other objects in their house are disappearing." What you really get is a static camera placed extremely low and aiming up towards a door jam and after a few minutes of distorted talking the door opens or whatever. Absolute tedium. I watched about 10 minutes of it and then started skipping forward. The whole movie was the same. I turned it off.
Now the positives:
Crimes of the Future (2022)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimes_of_the_Future_(2022_film)
David Cronenberg returns to directing and returns to body horror. Hurray!
The setup is in the near retro future, human infection and disease have been basically eliminated, but there is a strange rash of unexplained mutations including new mysterious organs spontaneously growing in people. Viggo Mortensen is a professional performance artist. His performance consists of growing new organs and having them surgically removed by his assistant Lea Seydoux in front of live audiences. Combine this with a band of mutants and conspiracies afoot and you have the movie.
Typical of Cronenberg movies, the plot is not extremely strong, but I would say it has more momentum than some of his work. It's really about what he has to say about society today though. There is a heavy amount of voyeurism at the performances, and everybody wants to be a famous artist. The mutants have to do with living with and adapting to pollution and toxic waste. I found it delightfully bizarre and interesting.
Infinity Pool (2023)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_Pool_(film)
David Cronenberg's son Brandon directs a new movie and it's just as strange and violent as you would expect. A writer and his wife travel to a resort in a foreign country which has some very strange laws and customs. A group of rich people at the resort have fun by exploiting these laws with gruesome results. Will the writer succumb too?
There's plenty of social commentary but it's never beat you over the head heavy. It's just presented so strangely that it's fascinating. I will say that there's a drug-filled orgy which while not overly gratuitous, does go on for far too long and felt unnecessary.
Wonder Egg Priority (2021)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Egg_Priority
This is a very strange anime show which has a very dark subject matter. The production of it is also very interesting, to the extent that I would say that if Terry Gilliam directed an anime, this is how it would turn out. Like many of his projects, the production was extremely troubled and the end result is far from perfect, but it's also unusual and fascinating. Sometimes that's more interesting than if it comes out flawless.
The plot is a middle school girl named Ai whose only friend commits suicide. In response, she becomes a shut in until she discovers an abandoned theme park which sells Wonder Eggs. When she falls asleep she enters a dream world and cracks the egg which grows into a girl who has also committed suicide. By fighting off the monstrous apparitions that are the manifestations of what drove the girl to commit suicide, Ai can bring them peace and possibly even bring them back to life. She buys numerous Wonder Eggs and rescues the egg girls in the hope that one of the eggs will eventually contain her dead friend. Along the way she meets 3 other girls that are in similar circumstances. They have all lost somebody to suicide and are trying to bring them back.
The production was very difficult because it was a new studio. They were constantly running up on deadlines and budget issues, to the point that they had to ask for animation volunteers to get the thing finished. The controversial subject matter instantly made the show a hot topic of discussion and early reviews were extremely positive but then turned negative towards the end. I felt that nearly all the interesting ideas came up towards the end though.
I'll hide the rest behind spoilers because there are both spoilers and because some stuff I bring up will also be controversial. The whole show is bound to be controversial though so consider this your trigger warning
First, the show is definitely not perfect, as I've said before. It has so many interesting ideas that are thrown out there but sadly not expanded upon. In a way, I think this can be a positive though because it spurs your own imagination to expand upon them in your own mind, probably in a way that the writers never would have though of. I think that nearly any time a show gets stuck in your brain, it's a good thing.
Here are some examples of ideas thrown out there but not expanded upon:
-When the girls fall asleep near each other, they enter a shared dream Inception style.
-Late in the show, it becomes clear that there are multiple parallel universes so that even if the girls succeed in rescuing their friends, they might be a parallel version and have no recollection of their other self
-Ai meets a parallel version of herself who had committed suicide
-It is revealed that the eggs only contain girls that committed suicide and this is rather offhandedly attributed to girls and boys being different. What is not expanded on is that, at least in the USA, girls are vastly more likely to feel depressed and suicidal, boys are vastly more likely to "successfully" commit suicide
-There is a transgender character that is one of the egg girls (female to male, but she only says this, she is presented as still female), having committed suicide. This aspect was heavily praised in the media as a sign of transgender representation that should be celebrated ecause Japan is rather hostile to LGBT issues (yuri and yaoi not withstanding). However, nobody seemed to notice that this transgender character did in fact commit suicide, which is extremely common amongst trangender individuals in general. I believe the statistic is something like 42% of transgenders commit suicide which is enormous. It didn't seem like the show was attempting to highlight this at all, she just happened to be another character that committed suicide. I would lump this in with my criticism of the movie Men (see here) in which woke representation accidentally backfires. It is also interesting that it is a female to male shown, which is about 75% of transgenders in the USA, but male to female are the ones that always get all the attention/criticism in the media. It's as if 3/4 are invisible. Maybe that's how they want it though. It used to be you didn't want anybody to know you had a sex change, like you had always been this way and it was a secret. Now it's a often treated as a status symbol to be bragged about.
I found the show absolutely fascinating and even though it was not entirely successful, it was thought provoking and stayed in my mind long after I finished it.
I'll post a review of 2 excellent romance shows soon. Stay tuned
First the negative:
Skinamarink (2022)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinamarink
The cover described this as if David Lynch directed Poltergeist. Instead, it was an outrageously boring movie. Extreme grain and poor lighting at strange angles. Distorted sound. Yawn. The plot is described as, "The film follows two children who wake up during the night to discover that they cannot find their father, and that the windows, doors, and other objects in their house are disappearing." What you really get is a static camera placed extremely low and aiming up towards a door jam and after a few minutes of distorted talking the door opens or whatever. Absolute tedium. I watched about 10 minutes of it and then started skipping forward. The whole movie was the same. I turned it off.
Now the positives:
Crimes of the Future (2022)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimes_of_the_Future_(2022_film)
David Cronenberg returns to directing and returns to body horror. Hurray!
The setup is in the near retro future, human infection and disease have been basically eliminated, but there is a strange rash of unexplained mutations including new mysterious organs spontaneously growing in people. Viggo Mortensen is a professional performance artist. His performance consists of growing new organs and having them surgically removed by his assistant Lea Seydoux in front of live audiences. Combine this with a band of mutants and conspiracies afoot and you have the movie.
Typical of Cronenberg movies, the plot is not extremely strong, but I would say it has more momentum than some of his work. It's really about what he has to say about society today though. There is a heavy amount of voyeurism at the performances, and everybody wants to be a famous artist. The mutants have to do with living with and adapting to pollution and toxic waste. I found it delightfully bizarre and interesting.
Infinity Pool (2023)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity_Pool_(film)
David Cronenberg's son Brandon directs a new movie and it's just as strange and violent as you would expect. A writer and his wife travel to a resort in a foreign country which has some very strange laws and customs. A group of rich people at the resort have fun by exploiting these laws with gruesome results. Will the writer succumb too?
There's plenty of social commentary but it's never beat you over the head heavy. It's just presented so strangely that it's fascinating. I will say that there's a drug-filled orgy which while not overly gratuitous, does go on for far too long and felt unnecessary.
Wonder Egg Priority (2021)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Egg_Priority
This is a very strange anime show which has a very dark subject matter. The production of it is also very interesting, to the extent that I would say that if Terry Gilliam directed an anime, this is how it would turn out. Like many of his projects, the production was extremely troubled and the end result is far from perfect, but it's also unusual and fascinating. Sometimes that's more interesting than if it comes out flawless.
The plot is a middle school girl named Ai whose only friend commits suicide. In response, she becomes a shut in until she discovers an abandoned theme park which sells Wonder Eggs. When she falls asleep she enters a dream world and cracks the egg which grows into a girl who has also committed suicide. By fighting off the monstrous apparitions that are the manifestations of what drove the girl to commit suicide, Ai can bring them peace and possibly even bring them back to life. She buys numerous Wonder Eggs and rescues the egg girls in the hope that one of the eggs will eventually contain her dead friend. Along the way she meets 3 other girls that are in similar circumstances. They have all lost somebody to suicide and are trying to bring them back.
The production was very difficult because it was a new studio. They were constantly running up on deadlines and budget issues, to the point that they had to ask for animation volunteers to get the thing finished. The controversial subject matter instantly made the show a hot topic of discussion and early reviews were extremely positive but then turned negative towards the end. I felt that nearly all the interesting ideas came up towards the end though.
I'll hide the rest behind spoilers because there are both spoilers and because some stuff I bring up will also be controversial. The whole show is bound to be controversial though so consider this your trigger warning
First, the show is definitely not perfect, as I've said before. It has so many interesting ideas that are thrown out there but sadly not expanded upon. In a way, I think this can be a positive though because it spurs your own imagination to expand upon them in your own mind, probably in a way that the writers never would have though of. I think that nearly any time a show gets stuck in your brain, it's a good thing.
Here are some examples of ideas thrown out there but not expanded upon:
-When the girls fall asleep near each other, they enter a shared dream Inception style.
-Late in the show, it becomes clear that there are multiple parallel universes so that even if the girls succeed in rescuing their friends, they might be a parallel version and have no recollection of their other self
-Ai meets a parallel version of herself who had committed suicide
-It is revealed that the eggs only contain girls that committed suicide and this is rather offhandedly attributed to girls and boys being different. What is not expanded on is that, at least in the USA, girls are vastly more likely to feel depressed and suicidal, boys are vastly more likely to "successfully" commit suicide
-There is a transgender character that is one of the egg girls (female to male, but she only says this, she is presented as still female), having committed suicide. This aspect was heavily praised in the media as a sign of transgender representation that should be celebrated ecause Japan is rather hostile to LGBT issues (yuri and yaoi not withstanding). However, nobody seemed to notice that this transgender character did in fact commit suicide, which is extremely common amongst trangender individuals in general. I believe the statistic is something like 42% of transgenders commit suicide which is enormous. It didn't seem like the show was attempting to highlight this at all, she just happened to be another character that committed suicide. I would lump this in with my criticism of the movie Men (see here) in which woke representation accidentally backfires. It is also interesting that it is a female to male shown, which is about 75% of transgenders in the USA, but male to female are the ones that always get all the attention/criticism in the media. It's as if 3/4 are invisible. Maybe that's how they want it though. It used to be you didn't want anybody to know you had a sex change, like you had always been this way and it was a secret. Now it's a often treated as a status symbol to be bragged about.
I found the show absolutely fascinating and even though it was not entirely successful, it was thought provoking and stayed in my mind long after I finished it.
I'll post a review of 2 excellent romance shows soon. Stay tuned
skyled
Well-known member
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As promised, 2 romance shows.
Hori-san to Miyamura-kun aka HoriMiya (Season 1, 2021)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hori-san_to_Miyamura-kun
A wonderful little high school romance anime. I think this is the only regular type romance anime I've ever seen apart from Toradora!, which I would also highly recommend. The only other romance anime shows I've seen are harem type such as Tenchi Muyo.
Horimiya started off as a web-manga which proved so popular that it got a physical release. It was then remade into another manga, a manga sequel, a still on-going OVA series, and this anime. It's easy to see why people enjoyed it so much.
Hori is a beautiful girl at school but at home she dresses down and spends most of her time taking care of her little brother. She doesn't want anybody to know about her true homely self. Miyamura looks like a nerdy loner and is always serious and always wears his full sport-coat uniform. In reality, he's not that good of a student and wears his uniform to hide his multiple tattoos. By chance, the two meet outside of school and show each other their true selves, and love slowly blossoms. The two main characters are charming and you absolutely buy that they could make it work, in spite of the doubters at their school. It's like every nerdy guy's wish fulfillment, but actually believable.
I do have some criticisms, but the show is so well done that I can easily forgive (most) of them.
-the editing seems rather haphazard at times, with transitions to new scenes that feel like you've skipped over a large chunk
-new side characters are introduced seemingly out of the blue. Some time is usually spent with them, sometimes an extensive amount of time. I don't have a problem with any of their stories, it just feels like their introductions are not handled well
-Miyamura's family owns a bakery and the show commits the unforgivable sin of showing plenty people of eating food, but not showing any baking footage. Unacceptable.
I want to make special note of one of the random side characters that is introduced who I felt could have been one of the most interesting characters in the show. She's a younger classman that happens to live next door to Miyamura but they didn't know it. It is strongly suggested that her brother committed suicide some time in the past. She goes to Miyamura's and they eat some cake but she only appears one other time. I wanted to see more of her.
There is a second season out called Horimiya: The Missing Pieces which adapts some stories from the manga that didn't make it into the first season. I haven't seen it yet, but I will absolutely watch it when I have the chance.
Extraordinary You (2019)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_You
This is a K-drama and it's the first one I've ever seen. I absolutely loved it, with a few minor criticisms.
Dan-oh is a beautiful high school girl that goes to a premier academy. She's rich, popular, and she's engaged to a handsome boy that she's had a crush on since they were little kids. Unfortunately, he doesn't much care for her, and she has a serious heart condition. She starts having strange blackouts where hours or even days pass by in an instant. It's not her heart, rather she discovers that she's actually a character in a comic book. She doesn't believe it at first, but slowly begins to accept it because she figures that given her backstory, she must be the main character. Then she finds out she's only a minor character who is expected to die soon from her heart condition. When she finds out that the comic is still being written and some scenes are still only rough drafts, she joins with several other characters to change the story, change her fate, and maybe find love in the process.
I found this at my library and was instantly struck by the box art. I then read the description, which is pretty much the above, and knew I had to see it. I'm a big fan of metafiction so this was definitely appealing to me. It's charming and fun. You root for the heroes and boo the villains. It has plenty of fun with various K-drama tropes, which I am not familiar with, but I think anybody that's seen some teen comedy movies can easily pick up on them. From what I can tell (having not seen it), she show heavily riffs on the anime series Boys Over Flowers for the "main characters" of the comic [Boys Over Flowers has also been made into a K-drama], but it's not necessary to have seen that either.
There is a rather minor character that gets introduced towards the end of the show, and she ends up being very interesting. I wish she had more screen time and was given more to say, because even with her very limited screen time, her character was great.
My main criticisms of the show:
-it gets rather repetitive during the middle section and feels like it's spinning its wheels for a while
-the amazing cover art is not representative of the art style in the show unfortunately. There are a few minor oddities to represent the "undrawn" parts of the comic, but nothing like the cover art.
I found myself imagining how my own personal remake would expand upon what is already presented. There's so much room for crazy ideas, and even too many ideas or crazy contradictory ideas could be thrown in with the excuse that the first idea was just a rough draft, and the second is the final draft.
-characters that have been reused by the author either start worshiping him as a god, or cursing him and committing suicide over and over, Groundhog Day style
-introduce a character that acts as a serial killer, knowing that the murdered characters will be resurrected again by the time of their next scene
-crazy art style. The cover art reminded me of the drama scenes from Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. A highly theatrical and non-real representation of the undrawn parts of the comic could be surreal, very visually engaging, and distinctive. Possibly even a Wes Anderson deliberate artificiality could work. Instead they're presented here as almost normal.
Like my review above of Wonder Egg Priority, this show had me thinking about it and my own imaginary version of it long after it was over.
Here is some of the promo art which piqued my interest initially:
Hori-san to Miyamura-kun aka HoriMiya (Season 1, 2021)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hori-san_to_Miyamura-kun
A wonderful little high school romance anime. I think this is the only regular type romance anime I've ever seen apart from Toradora!, which I would also highly recommend. The only other romance anime shows I've seen are harem type such as Tenchi Muyo.
Horimiya started off as a web-manga which proved so popular that it got a physical release. It was then remade into another manga, a manga sequel, a still on-going OVA series, and this anime. It's easy to see why people enjoyed it so much.
Hori is a beautiful girl at school but at home she dresses down and spends most of her time taking care of her little brother. She doesn't want anybody to know about her true homely self. Miyamura looks like a nerdy loner and is always serious and always wears his full sport-coat uniform. In reality, he's not that good of a student and wears his uniform to hide his multiple tattoos. By chance, the two meet outside of school and show each other their true selves, and love slowly blossoms. The two main characters are charming and you absolutely buy that they could make it work, in spite of the doubters at their school. It's like every nerdy guy's wish fulfillment, but actually believable.
I do have some criticisms, but the show is so well done that I can easily forgive (most) of them.
-the editing seems rather haphazard at times, with transitions to new scenes that feel like you've skipped over a large chunk
-new side characters are introduced seemingly out of the blue. Some time is usually spent with them, sometimes an extensive amount of time. I don't have a problem with any of their stories, it just feels like their introductions are not handled well
-Miyamura's family owns a bakery and the show commits the unforgivable sin of showing plenty people of eating food, but not showing any baking footage. Unacceptable.
I want to make special note of one of the random side characters that is introduced who I felt could have been one of the most interesting characters in the show. She's a younger classman that happens to live next door to Miyamura but they didn't know it. It is strongly suggested that her brother committed suicide some time in the past. She goes to Miyamura's and they eat some cake but she only appears one other time. I wanted to see more of her.
There is a second season out called Horimiya: The Missing Pieces which adapts some stories from the manga that didn't make it into the first season. I haven't seen it yet, but I will absolutely watch it when I have the chance.
Extraordinary You (2019)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_You
This is a K-drama and it's the first one I've ever seen. I absolutely loved it, with a few minor criticisms.
Dan-oh is a beautiful high school girl that goes to a premier academy. She's rich, popular, and she's engaged to a handsome boy that she's had a crush on since they were little kids. Unfortunately, he doesn't much care for her, and she has a serious heart condition. She starts having strange blackouts where hours or even days pass by in an instant. It's not her heart, rather she discovers that she's actually a character in a comic book. She doesn't believe it at first, but slowly begins to accept it because she figures that given her backstory, she must be the main character. Then she finds out she's only a minor character who is expected to die soon from her heart condition. When she finds out that the comic is still being written and some scenes are still only rough drafts, she joins with several other characters to change the story, change her fate, and maybe find love in the process.
I found this at my library and was instantly struck by the box art. I then read the description, which is pretty much the above, and knew I had to see it. I'm a big fan of metafiction so this was definitely appealing to me. It's charming and fun. You root for the heroes and boo the villains. It has plenty of fun with various K-drama tropes, which I am not familiar with, but I think anybody that's seen some teen comedy movies can easily pick up on them. From what I can tell (having not seen it), she show heavily riffs on the anime series Boys Over Flowers for the "main characters" of the comic [Boys Over Flowers has also been made into a K-drama], but it's not necessary to have seen that either.
There is a rather minor character that gets introduced towards the end of the show, and she ends up being very interesting. I wish she had more screen time and was given more to say, because even with her very limited screen time, her character was great.
My main criticisms of the show:
-it gets rather repetitive during the middle section and feels like it's spinning its wheels for a while
-the amazing cover art is not representative of the art style in the show unfortunately. There are a few minor oddities to represent the "undrawn" parts of the comic, but nothing like the cover art.
I found myself imagining how my own personal remake would expand upon what is already presented. There's so much room for crazy ideas, and even too many ideas or crazy contradictory ideas could be thrown in with the excuse that the first idea was just a rough draft, and the second is the final draft.
-characters that have been reused by the author either start worshiping him as a god, or cursing him and committing suicide over and over, Groundhog Day style
-introduce a character that acts as a serial killer, knowing that the murdered characters will be resurrected again by the time of their next scene
-crazy art style. The cover art reminded me of the drama scenes from Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. A highly theatrical and non-real representation of the undrawn parts of the comic could be surreal, very visually engaging, and distinctive. Possibly even a Wes Anderson deliberate artificiality could work. Instead they're presented here as almost normal.
Like my review above of Wonder Egg Priority, this show had me thinking about it and my own imaginary version of it long after it was over.
Here is some of the promo art which piqued my interest initially:
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Prospect Glass Aventine
A Fanedit by @futon88
I had never seen this movie when I purchased it to preview this edit. I went in ice cold.
Science Fiction is a world in which anything can happen. There is a fine line in which a Science Fiction film is required to walk in order to connect with its audience.
If its too far beyond the realm of possibility, you lose your innate idea of what could be, and if you go in the opposite direction, you find yourself in situations which don’t intrigue an audience and you are in danger of losing the fantastical element.
Prospect Glass Aventine is a sci-fi Western that recognizes that humanity is nothing more than a virus.
The horizon has been captured and enslaved. We have observed earth from every possible angle. No matter how far away from our planet we get, we look back and see just another rock.
Cee has spent a lifetime traversing space half-heartedly and her father Damon is a disgruntled everyman who is exhausted. He needs a real pay day so he makes a deal to go to an isolated toxic moon to mine precious gems. Fortunately, this requires a particular skill set that he possesses.
Father and daughter find themselves in a forest that rejects their presence. The air is toxic and unbreathable. Everything around them is a threat to their lives. Familial dreams turn into nightmares when you consider the other derelict humans present. Get rich quick schemes are always reflections of the depths that humans will happily descend for their piece of the pie.
Enter Ezra. A snake that wears a pleasant smile despite his fangs.
That's all I will spoil.
The movie is good but it would have been a better if the story had been concise and not cluttered with the existential questions it raised throughout. Fortunately, Futon has edited the movie in such a way that it didn’t all hit you at once.
Too much information holds the feel of the movie back and doesn’t let it rise to its true potential. Futon has expertly edited the movie in such a way that it flows more expediently.
The film already looked good, immersing the viewer in a deep space world in which they are to believe they are a part. This is where Futon really pulled out all of the stops. The moon is gorgeous. Futon has color corrected this movie magnificently.
I highly recommend this edit. If not for its beauty, then for its strong story that you can dissect for hours.
Excellent Work! A fanedit masterpiece!
A Fanedit by @futon88
I had never seen this movie when I purchased it to preview this edit. I went in ice cold.
Science Fiction is a world in which anything can happen. There is a fine line in which a Science Fiction film is required to walk in order to connect with its audience.
If its too far beyond the realm of possibility, you lose your innate idea of what could be, and if you go in the opposite direction, you find yourself in situations which don’t intrigue an audience and you are in danger of losing the fantastical element.
Prospect Glass Aventine is a sci-fi Western that recognizes that humanity is nothing more than a virus.
The horizon has been captured and enslaved. We have observed earth from every possible angle. No matter how far away from our planet we get, we look back and see just another rock.
Cee has spent a lifetime traversing space half-heartedly and her father Damon is a disgruntled everyman who is exhausted. He needs a real pay day so he makes a deal to go to an isolated toxic moon to mine precious gems. Fortunately, this requires a particular skill set that he possesses.
Father and daughter find themselves in a forest that rejects their presence. The air is toxic and unbreathable. Everything around them is a threat to their lives. Familial dreams turn into nightmares when you consider the other derelict humans present. Get rich quick schemes are always reflections of the depths that humans will happily descend for their piece of the pie.
Enter Ezra. A snake that wears a pleasant smile despite his fangs.
That's all I will spoil.
The movie is good but it would have been a better if the story had been concise and not cluttered with the existential questions it raised throughout. Fortunately, Futon has edited the movie in such a way that it didn’t all hit you at once.
Too much information holds the feel of the movie back and doesn’t let it rise to its true potential. Futon has expertly edited the movie in such a way that it flows more expediently.
The film already looked good, immersing the viewer in a deep space world in which they are to believe they are a part. This is where Futon really pulled out all of the stops. The moon is gorgeous. Futon has color corrected this movie magnificently.
I highly recommend this edit. If not for its beauty, then for its strong story that you can dissect for hours.
Excellent Work! A fanedit masterpiece!
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The Reckoning (2023)
It feels like this was way less controversial than it had been built up to be (having been kept on the shelf for at least a year). The BBC seemed to do as little as possible to promote something they perhaps wished they hadn't made and the expected lambasting of the BBC by the conservative press was muted because the drama made it perfectly clear how complicit the conservative government and the royal family were in the Jimmy Saville scandal. It's a shame because it's a powerful 4-hour drama, getting the tone of the disturbing subject matter just right. Steve Coogan disappeared into the Saville role, perfectly recreating the public persona and then making the private monster really intimidating.
It feels like this was way less controversial than it had been built up to be (having been kept on the shelf for at least a year). The BBC seemed to do as little as possible to promote something they perhaps wished they hadn't made and the expected lambasting of the BBC by the conservative press was muted because the drama made it perfectly clear how complicit the conservative government and the royal family were in the Jimmy Saville scandal. It's a shame because it's a powerful 4-hour drama, getting the tone of the disturbing subject matter just right. Steve Coogan disappeared into the Saville role, perfectly recreating the public persona and then making the private monster really intimidating.
skyled
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Liz and the Blue Bird (2018)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_and_the_Blue_Bird
A lovely little anime movie by the same director as the lovely A Silent Voice (2016), a movie I was mostly very positive about, although mnkykungfu wasn't as impressed.
This one is a very quiet and spare movie about two high school girls in the school orchestra who find that they are slowly growing apart. They are set to play a duet based on a fairy tale, Liz and the Blue Bird, but find that they cannot play in sync because of the growing feelings of disconnect between the two of them. Interspersed are scenes from the fairy tale and how the two girls relate to the characters in the fairy tale and their changing feelings about each other and their future after high school. Certain scenes are very emotional but handled in a very subtle way. It's definitely a movie that rewards paying attention to the little details and seemingly throw-away lines. In particular, one of the characters declines to go to get tea with some other girls, telling them, "Maybe next time." When a different character later says the same line in a different context, your mind instantly re-contextualizes how it was said the first time and what kind of reaction it must have caused, even if it was only hinted at. Subtle gestures, body language, and the especially the use of and playing of music are handled so precisely that the attentive viewer will be richly rewarded. If you're in the mood for something very subdued but extremely satisfying, I highly recommend it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liz_and_the_Blue_Bird
A lovely little anime movie by the same director as the lovely A Silent Voice (2016), a movie I was mostly very positive about, although mnkykungfu wasn't as impressed.
This one is a very quiet and spare movie about two high school girls in the school orchestra who find that they are slowly growing apart. They are set to play a duet based on a fairy tale, Liz and the Blue Bird, but find that they cannot play in sync because of the growing feelings of disconnect between the two of them. Interspersed are scenes from the fairy tale and how the two girls relate to the characters in the fairy tale and their changing feelings about each other and their future after high school. Certain scenes are very emotional but handled in a very subtle way. It's definitely a movie that rewards paying attention to the little details and seemingly throw-away lines. In particular, one of the characters declines to go to get tea with some other girls, telling them, "Maybe next time." When a different character later says the same line in a different context, your mind instantly re-contextualizes how it was said the first time and what kind of reaction it must have caused, even if it was only hinted at. Subtle gestures, body language, and the especially the use of and playing of music are handled so precisely that the attentive viewer will be richly rewarded. If you're in the mood for something very subdued but extremely satisfying, I highly recommend it.
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I'm very interested in Naoko Yamada's series Heike Monogatari. The Heike/Genji high medieval period is really interesting, but not depicted in animation to the same extent that it was written and painted about. Anime loves the Warring States period or the Tokugawa Shogunate. If you continue your Yamada journey, maybe you can give this a shot and report back. It's 11 episodes and done.
skyled
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Just checked. My library has it on bluray. I'll borrow it this weekend for sure. Thanks for the tip
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Boiling Point (2021)
The ingenious (genuine) one-shot film works just as well on the second viewing when you know about all the disasters that are going happen because if you weren't expecting this to end in disaster you weren't paying attention to the nerve shredding downward trajectory. I re-watched it as a refresher for the new 4-part BBC TV continuation.
Boiling Point (2023)
This unexpected BBC TV continuation of the 2021 'Boiling Point' film eases you in to the new format with a 10-minute one-shot sequence. I was initially very disappointed when this is completely dropped after the title sequence for a standard pattern of modern documentary-esque hand-helds and quick cuts. However, I very soon realised that although that artifice was gone, everything else that made the film so thrilling and emotionally powerful was still here in spades, in fact even more so. The extra four hours gives you so much more time to grow to love this group of troubled characters. I think an unfortunate consequence of this not be a real time, one night, one shot play, is that it can feel like a soap opera, although a soap on the highest possible creative level. You can readily accept a series of unfortunate and improbable events unfolding "live" in front of your eyes but when the same frequency of misfortunes are separated by cuts in space and time, they can feel much less credible. I think they were having fun with the viewer in the last episode by presenting a huge pristine wedding cake that you have been conditioned to think can only end up on the floor of this kitchen. I need a second series now please! Service!
The ingenious (genuine) one-shot film works just as well on the second viewing when you know about all the disasters that are going happen because if you weren't expecting this to end in disaster you weren't paying attention to the nerve shredding downward trajectory. I re-watched it as a refresher for the new 4-part BBC TV continuation.
Boiling Point (2023)
This unexpected BBC TV continuation of the 2021 'Boiling Point' film eases you in to the new format with a 10-minute one-shot sequence. I was initially very disappointed when this is completely dropped after the title sequence for a standard pattern of modern documentary-esque hand-helds and quick cuts. However, I very soon realised that although that artifice was gone, everything else that made the film so thrilling and emotionally powerful was still here in spades, in fact even more so. The extra four hours gives you so much more time to grow to love this group of troubled characters. I think an unfortunate consequence of this not be a real time, one night, one shot play, is that it can feel like a soap opera, although a soap on the highest possible creative level. You can readily accept a series of unfortunate and improbable events unfolding "live" in front of your eyes but when the same frequency of misfortunes are separated by cuts in space and time, they can feel much less credible. I think they were having fun with the viewer in the last episode by presenting a huge pristine wedding cake that you have been conditioned to think can only end up on the floor of this kitchen. I need a second series now please! Service!
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Finally ticking off the only two Scorsese features I've never seen... before watching his latest opus.
Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967)
For a student film (which is what this started as I believe) this is mighty impressive but for Martin Scorsese's first effort it's one for completists only. Scorsese has always had French New Wave flourishes to his style along with tricks of his own but here it's a straight up Jean-Luc Godard tribute, without much of Scorsese's later distinctive voice. There is a great montage cut to The Door's 'The End', more than a decade before Francis Ford Coppola used it in 'Apocalypse Now'. That bit felt Scorsese, using period pop/rock music the way he does in things like 'Goodfellas'. The Italian meat-stuffed bread that Scorsese's mum is shown baking/serving in the opening scene is the bit that will stick in my mind. Even in 16mm black and white you could smell how good it was! Droooool.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
The last of three early Martin Scorsese pictures that don't seem to get talked about as much as his famous later works but unlike the other two "learning the ropes" films, 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore' was made just after his breakthrough 'Mean Streets'. It's a really terrific, abrasively funny, bittersweet drama built around Ellen Burstyn's layered performance but also her sparky chemistry with unlikely friend Diane Ladd and charming Kris Kristofferson. But most especially with child actor Alfred Lutter as her wise-ass son, their banter is hilarious. Jodie Foster has a brief but memorable role, which is also a hoot, a year before working with Scorsese again on 'Taxi Driver'. The Glam-Rock and Country jukebox soundtrack still sounds great. If people are looking for overlooked gems in Scorsese's extensive filmography they should look here a lot quicker than I did.
Probably the only Scorsese film they turned into a sitcom (with some of the same actors):
Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967)
For a student film (which is what this started as I believe) this is mighty impressive but for Martin Scorsese's first effort it's one for completists only. Scorsese has always had French New Wave flourishes to his style along with tricks of his own but here it's a straight up Jean-Luc Godard tribute, without much of Scorsese's later distinctive voice. There is a great montage cut to The Door's 'The End', more than a decade before Francis Ford Coppola used it in 'Apocalypse Now'. That bit felt Scorsese, using period pop/rock music the way he does in things like 'Goodfellas'. The Italian meat-stuffed bread that Scorsese's mum is shown baking/serving in the opening scene is the bit that will stick in my mind. Even in 16mm black and white you could smell how good it was! Droooool.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
The last of three early Martin Scorsese pictures that don't seem to get talked about as much as his famous later works but unlike the other two "learning the ropes" films, 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore' was made just after his breakthrough 'Mean Streets'. It's a really terrific, abrasively funny, bittersweet drama built around Ellen Burstyn's layered performance but also her sparky chemistry with unlikely friend Diane Ladd and charming Kris Kristofferson. But most especially with child actor Alfred Lutter as her wise-ass son, their banter is hilarious. Jodie Foster has a brief but memorable role, which is also a hoot, a year before working with Scorsese again on 'Taxi Driver'. The Glam-Rock and Country jukebox soundtrack still sounds great. If people are looking for overlooked gems in Scorsese's extensive filmography they should look here a lot quicker than I did.
Probably the only Scorsese film they turned into a sitcom (with some of the same actors):
Moe_Syzlak
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It’s weird but I’ve seen Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, but I either didn’t know or forgot it was a Scorsese film. I also saw it probably almost 40 years ago.
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Cop Land (1997)
I rented this on VHS from the shop at the end of my street in the late 90s. Judging by the insanely high calibre cast list on the box, I thought it was guaranteed to be the greatest movie ever made, so I was predictably underwhelmed when it wasn't. A Sylvester Stallone vehicle that was patently designed to remind people that "Oh yeah this 90s action-movie goof used to get nominated for Oscars". It easily succeeds on that front because Stallone gives a brilliant, subtle, subdued performance that shines next to icons like Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta. If you didn't get that Director/Writer James Mangold was trying to ape Martin Scorsese from the long Steadicam shot through a club with red gels, then you'd know it from the cast. It's like they brought up a long list of all the actors who had worked with Scorsese and picked from that. There is also a lot of Spike Lee, 'The Sopranos' and 'The Wire' associated talent in here too. Howard Shore delivers one of his classy and atmospheric 'The Silence of the Lambs' style scores. 'Cop Land' has an obvious Noir flavour to it but I only realised at the end that it's very much a Western. The main problem is structural, the detective mystery aspect of the plot only begins 25-minutes before the credits role and it's electric from then on. During the preceding 75-minutes we passively watch the story being shown to us with nothing left unrevealed, as Stallone's quiet Sheriff inertly watches it with us. The phrase "less than the some of it's parts" is one that comes easily to mind with 'Cop Land' but those parts are so strong that still adds up to a fine film.
I rented this on VHS from the shop at the end of my street in the late 90s. Judging by the insanely high calibre cast list on the box, I thought it was guaranteed to be the greatest movie ever made, so I was predictably underwhelmed when it wasn't. A Sylvester Stallone vehicle that was patently designed to remind people that "Oh yeah this 90s action-movie goof used to get nominated for Oscars". It easily succeeds on that front because Stallone gives a brilliant, subtle, subdued performance that shines next to icons like Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta. If you didn't get that Director/Writer James Mangold was trying to ape Martin Scorsese from the long Steadicam shot through a club with red gels, then you'd know it from the cast. It's like they brought up a long list of all the actors who had worked with Scorsese and picked from that. There is also a lot of Spike Lee, 'The Sopranos' and 'The Wire' associated talent in here too. Howard Shore delivers one of his classy and atmospheric 'The Silence of the Lambs' style scores. 'Cop Land' has an obvious Noir flavour to it but I only realised at the end that it's very much a Western. The main problem is structural, the detective mystery aspect of the plot only begins 25-minutes before the credits role and it's electric from then on. During the preceding 75-minutes we passively watch the story being shown to us with nothing left unrevealed, as Stallone's quiet Sheriff inertly watches it with us. The phrase "less than the some of it's parts" is one that comes easily to mind with 'Cop Land' but those parts are so strong that still adds up to a fine film.
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Guns Akimbo (2019)
It sounds like an insanely fun idea on paper but the film has such an unremitting contempt for all of humanity (and it's audience) and a ceaseless level of cacophonous noise that's just exhausting, boring and not funny once. I'd lost patience with it long before the final straw at 27-minutes in when Daniel Radcliffe's main character is alone with a sympathetic person to which he could explain the predicament he's in but he doesn't. Surely the whole point of the concept is "what could you do and not do with guns bolted to your hands?" so it's very strange to have several scenes and moments where the character puts his hands in his pockets in the hopes that the viewer will forget the guns are there because the script doesn't want to deal with what should be happening e.g. "oh my god the "wrong man" character is helpless as he's being threatened by people with guns, if only he had some gu... wait a minute!" The Director/writer seems too busy thinking about how he can inject the next shot with more shallow style and more coloured gels that make everything look the same.
It sounds like an insanely fun idea on paper but the film has such an unremitting contempt for all of humanity (and it's audience) and a ceaseless level of cacophonous noise that's just exhausting, boring and not funny once. I'd lost patience with it long before the final straw at 27-minutes in when Daniel Radcliffe's main character is alone with a sympathetic person to which he could explain the predicament he's in but he doesn't. Surely the whole point of the concept is "what could you do and not do with guns bolted to your hands?" so it's very strange to have several scenes and moments where the character puts his hands in his pockets in the hopes that the viewer will forget the guns are there because the script doesn't want to deal with what should be happening e.g. "oh my god the "wrong man" character is helpless as he's being threatened by people with guns, if only he had some gu... wait a minute!" The Director/writer seems too busy thinking about how he can inject the next shot with more shallow style and more coloured gels that make everything look the same.
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Naked (1993)
I would have thoroughly enjoyed David Thewlis' Johnny being outrageous and ranting on about life, philosophy and literature and making sarcastic comments non-stop for the full 2-hours, in a 'Withnail & I' / Randal from 'Clerks' type of way. But the smattering of misogynist sexual violence (sometimes by Johnny) and Jeremy the almost ridiculously nasty Thatcherite rapist "antagonist", to be rather unpleasant. There's probably a straight black-comedy edit in here with that all trimmed out and it's just Johnny wondering around annoying people and talking b*llocks.
24 Frames (2017)
Abbas Kiarostami's final experiment, a 2-hour film composed of 24 tableau frames of varying lengths in which only subtle actions occur, mostly birds flying and snow falling. I imagine if you invested your whole conscious into absorbing every tiny changing detail of each frame it could be rewarding but it bored me to tears from frame 1, so I only half paid attention, which resulted in me being more bored, then paying even less attention, until I was more or less just doing other activities with it on in the background by the end. This is an all or nothing film experience.
I would have thoroughly enjoyed David Thewlis' Johnny being outrageous and ranting on about life, philosophy and literature and making sarcastic comments non-stop for the full 2-hours, in a 'Withnail & I' / Randal from 'Clerks' type of way. But the smattering of misogynist sexual violence (sometimes by Johnny) and Jeremy the almost ridiculously nasty Thatcherite rapist "antagonist", to be rather unpleasant. There's probably a straight black-comedy edit in here with that all trimmed out and it's just Johnny wondering around annoying people and talking b*llocks.
24 Frames (2017)
Abbas Kiarostami's final experiment, a 2-hour film composed of 24 tableau frames of varying lengths in which only subtle actions occur, mostly birds flying and snow falling. I imagine if you invested your whole conscious into absorbing every tiny changing detail of each frame it could be rewarding but it bored me to tears from frame 1, so I only half paid attention, which resulted in me being more bored, then paying even less attention, until I was more or less just doing other activities with it on in the background by the end. This is an all or nothing film experience.
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Reminds me of Koyaanisqatsi.
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Mild spoilers for the Scorsese chooses to film the end...
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
It didn't feel anything like 3.5-hrs but it didn't fly past either. The horror of knowing this is all true adds a lot to the drama, even without the superb acting from all involved. Let's have Lily Gladstone in everything from now on please Hollywood. The recently late Robbie Robertson's brooding guitar score gives the atmosphere extra menace. The rather indulgent 1930s radio style "true-crime podcast" post-script was so jarring and visually distracting that I missed almost all of the exposition it was supposed to impart.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
It didn't feel anything like 3.5-hrs but it didn't fly past either. The horror of knowing this is all true adds a lot to the drama, even without the superb acting from all involved. Let's have Lily Gladstone in everything from now on please Hollywood. The recently late Robbie Robertson's brooding guitar score gives the atmosphere extra menace. The rather indulgent 1930s radio style "true-crime podcast" post-script was so jarring and visually distracting that I missed almost all of the exposition it was supposed to impart.
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You've got to watch these in a double bill...
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)
Even those that rate this much higher than the other prequel seem to say it's meh. Then again Exorcist creator William Peter Blatty admired it and it's directed by the usually terrific Paul Schrader, with Cinematography by the great Vittorio Storaro and stars Stellan Skarsgard. I was pleasantly surprised. If you thought "Wow that mysterious prologue to the Exorcist in the desert, with archaeology, demonic statues and rabid dogs, was the best bit. I wish the whole movie had been that!" then you're in for a treat, if you're looking for lots of vomit spewing exorcism mayhem then you'll hate it. It's got a slow burn build up in tension and an interesting exploration of the line between the everyday internal evils of humanity and the external demonic evil force that is unleashed. The buried temple is very cool looking, the final John Ford influenced shot of Merrin walking off into the mist and towards his destiny is brilliant but the few CGI shots are astonishingly bad. No doubt due to the laughably tiny budget Schrader was given for post production, once the studio decided to actually allow him to release it.
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
'Exorcist: The Beginning' is only worth watching as a fascinating bizarro version of 'Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist'. I can think of plenty of examples where a director got fired and another finished/altered the film but to 100% finish shooting a film with one director, take one look at it, hire another guy and then reshoot the entire thing again, with the same story, some of the same cast and the same sets most be almost unique? When the studio shelved Paul Schrader's far superior prequel, replacement Director Renny Harlin certainly delivered on their note for more gore. The scene where a child is torn apart by hyenas goes on and on. He also includes a big remake of the exorcism scene from the first movie which I'm sure pleased the executives. Sadly it's not scary at all, since Harlin concentrates almost exclusively on dramatising the supposed mortal threat to Father Merrin, the one character who we 100% know survives this prequel, not only unharmed but with his faith restored. In Harlin's "remake" everything is dumber and more cliched, so it's not a subtle internalised exploration of Merrin's loss of faith, he's just got stubble, drinks shots and mumbles. The only bit that made me feel something was when Stellan Skarsgard's fallen priest makes a desperate prayer before his final battle with the demon but that's probably just because he's a damn fine actor. The CGI is almost as bad as in Schrader's version but not because of his comically small post-production budget, it's because Harlin insists on using early 2000s CGI in every scene. To be fair to the film I think I did fall asleep for about 20-minutes in the middle but as I didn't seem to have missed anything important to the plot I carried on.
Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)
Even those that rate this much higher than the other prequel seem to say it's meh. Then again Exorcist creator William Peter Blatty admired it and it's directed by the usually terrific Paul Schrader, with Cinematography by the great Vittorio Storaro and stars Stellan Skarsgard. I was pleasantly surprised. If you thought "Wow that mysterious prologue to the Exorcist in the desert, with archaeology, demonic statues and rabid dogs, was the best bit. I wish the whole movie had been that!" then you're in for a treat, if you're looking for lots of vomit spewing exorcism mayhem then you'll hate it. It's got a slow burn build up in tension and an interesting exploration of the line between the everyday internal evils of humanity and the external demonic evil force that is unleashed. The buried temple is very cool looking, the final John Ford influenced shot of Merrin walking off into the mist and towards his destiny is brilliant but the few CGI shots are astonishingly bad. No doubt due to the laughably tiny budget Schrader was given for post production, once the studio decided to actually allow him to release it.
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
'Exorcist: The Beginning' is only worth watching as a fascinating bizarro version of 'Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist'. I can think of plenty of examples where a director got fired and another finished/altered the film but to 100% finish shooting a film with one director, take one look at it, hire another guy and then reshoot the entire thing again, with the same story, some of the same cast and the same sets most be almost unique? When the studio shelved Paul Schrader's far superior prequel, replacement Director Renny Harlin certainly delivered on their note for more gore. The scene where a child is torn apart by hyenas goes on and on. He also includes a big remake of the exorcism scene from the first movie which I'm sure pleased the executives. Sadly it's not scary at all, since Harlin concentrates almost exclusively on dramatising the supposed mortal threat to Father Merrin, the one character who we 100% know survives this prequel, not only unharmed but with his faith restored. In Harlin's "remake" everything is dumber and more cliched, so it's not a subtle internalised exploration of Merrin's loss of faith, he's just got stubble, drinks shots and mumbles. The only bit that made me feel something was when Stellan Skarsgard's fallen priest makes a desperate prayer before his final battle with the demon but that's probably just because he's a damn fine actor. The CGI is almost as bad as in Schrader's version but not because of his comically small post-production budget, it's because Harlin insists on using early 2000s CGI in every scene. To be fair to the film I think I did fall asleep for about 20-minutes in the middle but as I didn't seem to have missed anything important to the plot I carried on.
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I did watch all the Exorcist films about a decade back, actually starting with the 2004 prequel. I'm not sure if I'd ever seen The Exorcist all the way through (and certainly hadn't as an adult) so I didn't face the typical prequel "I know where this is going" problems. Instead I faced "I don't care about these characters or this dumb dialogue or this stupid story" problems. It was horrible, and I got no thrill out of seeing the Father pop up "again" in the later film.
I circled back after watching all the other movies to watch the uh, re-prequel? Yeah, basically felt like it was marginally better. It fixes some of the 2004 film's problems, but then has all new problems. And basically, it's just a crappy, crappy script. The good parts you highlight are right on the money, but I just felt in 2004 like there were the Indiana Jones films, the Mummy films, Stargate, and any number of older movies to get my "cool relics in the desert" fix. I just have found every single film in the series really dire except the original.
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The Wrestler (2008)
Still by a vast distance the best film Darren Aronofsky has made. I appreciate when he makes mad metaphysical things like 'Mother!' but his real forte is making insightful grounded things like 'The Wrestler', which take you through the emotional wringer. I love the way he has a character reference the infamous flagellation scenes from 'The Passion of the Christ' in a way that's like Aronofsky breaking the 4th wall and telling us upfront "in case you're wondering if this could be seen as Christ allegory, then you're right, that's exactly what I'm doing!" before soon showing Randy's back covered with numerous bleeding wounds. This is the role Mickey Rourke was born to play, or rather he has lived the life required to be this real. When I first saw this at the cinema I'd been heavily getting into Guns N' Roses, so at the end, as soon as the first note of 'Sweet Child o' Mine' plays, I teared up because I knew what lyrics were coming and how they mirrored the film's title character. I think what makes the film hit so hard is that only us the audience share in how hard Randy is trying to fix his life and see how emotionally fragile he is inside, despite the exterior punishment he subjects himself too. Props to Todd Barry for playing the most hissably awful boss.
Still by a vast distance the best film Darren Aronofsky has made. I appreciate when he makes mad metaphysical things like 'Mother!' but his real forte is making insightful grounded things like 'The Wrestler', which take you through the emotional wringer. I love the way he has a character reference the infamous flagellation scenes from 'The Passion of the Christ' in a way that's like Aronofsky breaking the 4th wall and telling us upfront "in case you're wondering if this could be seen as Christ allegory, then you're right, that's exactly what I'm doing!" before soon showing Randy's back covered with numerous bleeding wounds. This is the role Mickey Rourke was born to play, or rather he has lived the life required to be this real. When I first saw this at the cinema I'd been heavily getting into Guns N' Roses, so at the end, as soon as the first note of 'Sweet Child o' Mine' plays, I teared up because I knew what lyrics were coming and how they mirrored the film's title character. I think what makes the film hit so hard is that only us the audience share in how hard Randy is trying to fix his life and see how emotionally fragile he is inside, despite the exterior punishment he subjects himself too. Props to Todd Barry for playing the most hissably awful boss.
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Man on Fire (2004)
Ridley Scott has occasionally made a masterpiece but I'd rather pick a random film from the hat of his late brother Tony. You're almost guaranteed to find a quality entertaining action movie and 'Man on Fire' is no exception. It's got some flaws but having Denzel Washington delivering the kind of performance that wins Best Actor Oscars in the kind of slightly trashy violent thriller that would never even be nominated for anything is a real bonus. It's unusual in this type of revenge thriller that the whole first hour is dedicated to just letting us hang with the two characters and see their relationship develop, before a shot is ever fired. 10-year old Dakota Fanning is adorable, it's easy to believe she could melt the heart of Denzel's abrasive, alcoholic, suicidal bodyguard. I was totally oblivious to the Christ imagery right up to the ending on the bridge. That layer of meaning makes this worth a re-watch. I love these kind of genre films, what I call "Irrational Unstoppable Vengeance Quest Movies".
This part of the review has some plot spoilers...
The insanely chaotic "music video" stylised editing might irritate some viewers, but it's clearly a bold deliberate artistic choice. I didn't like it but could respect it for trying something different. Overall, the soaring highs of 'Man on Fire' are easily enough to overshadow the flaws.
Ridley Scott has occasionally made a masterpiece but I'd rather pick a random film from the hat of his late brother Tony. You're almost guaranteed to find a quality entertaining action movie and 'Man on Fire' is no exception. It's got some flaws but having Denzel Washington delivering the kind of performance that wins Best Actor Oscars in the kind of slightly trashy violent thriller that would never even be nominated for anything is a real bonus. It's unusual in this type of revenge thriller that the whole first hour is dedicated to just letting us hang with the two characters and see their relationship develop, before a shot is ever fired. 10-year old Dakota Fanning is adorable, it's easy to believe she could melt the heart of Denzel's abrasive, alcoholic, suicidal bodyguard. I was totally oblivious to the Christ imagery right up to the ending on the bridge. That layer of meaning makes this worth a re-watch. I love these kind of genre films, what I call "Irrational Unstoppable Vengeance Quest Movies".
This part of the review has some plot spoilers...
The big flaw is the choice to make the little girl being killed the instigator for Denzel's violent revenge rampage, instead of simply having him on a quest to rescue her (like in 'Taken') but to later have the twist be she's really alive. It's not something that can be done successfully in a movie. If something happens a film will show it, so if something isn't shown, we know it didn't happen. We're told she died but are given no visual proof of it having happened. But then if I had believed for a single second that the girl was really dead, the sudden shift from her sad and horrible death to a load of fun action montages would be tonally misjudged. Also the 2nd ending twist about her father being in on the kidnapping is obvious well before the abduction even happens. So you say he's got chronic money troubles? Well I'm sure that piece of information has no bearing on the other plot element about millions in insurance money!
The insanely chaotic "music video" stylised editing might irritate some viewers, but it's clearly a bold deliberate artistic choice. I didn't like it but could respect it for trying something different. Overall, the soaring highs of 'Man on Fire' are easily enough to overshadow the flaws.