Every year there are only a few films in which there are shots that amaze me. Moments where I wonder how they are made or that overwhelms me visually (but that might be a subject for a separate article). When you watch a lot of movies it’s much more difficult to get wowed and you hope to see inventive imagery that feel fresh/new. Initially, I had no idea that Upgrade would be a title that had such characteristics. It starts as a fairly average science fiction story, but from the moment above I could not wait to see what else the film had in store. Continue reading
Category Archives: Action
The Meg (2018) – Review
If it wasn’t clear before, the moment Jason Statham (playing an expert in saving people from the deepest parts of the ocean) swims towards an enormous prehistoric shark singing Dory’s “Just keep swimming”, you know that this is a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. And it shouldn’t, because this is a monster movie that has a ridiculous idea behind it. A billionaire has invested a lot of money to find out if the Marianas trench is even deeper than we thought. The first mission doesn’t go as planned and Jonas Taylor (Statham) is called to save the people from the bottom of the ocean. There they find the biggest shark that ever lived, a megalodon, which escapes from the deep and starts terrorizing people. It’s up to Taylor and the group he is working to kill it. Continue reading
Skyscraper (2018) – Review
We all feel a need to categorize the movies we see. It makes it easy to compare them to other in the (sub)genre and at the same time display our knowledge of the movie landscape. In most reviews I read about Dwayne Johnson‘s new movie Skyscraper (which is about a security analyst who has to save his family out of a burning tower taken over by some evil guys) it was compared to Die Hard and The Towering Inferno. But I don’t think you should make the comparison as those movies were quite different. The Towering Inferno was a disaster movie which happened to be about a fire in a high rise building. Die Hard was an action movie like this one, but a lot more realistic and believable. It’s better to not make the comparison and look at this movie for what it is: A summer blockbuster movie which wants to entertain its viewers by giving them a thrill ride. Continue reading
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) – Review
On this year’s blindspot movies list I had added two eighties movies, which both had to do something with aliens. I decided to check out The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension first. There is something about movies from the eighties which I really appreciate which isn’t only because it is the era in which I grew up. The movies from that time have a certain feel and CGI wasn’t a big thing yet, which would mean a lot more creativity to realize some ideas. Because of that some things feel a lot more real and actually have weight as things were physical. This is also the case here. Continue reading
The Villainess (2017) – Review
As soon as you start watching The Villainess, it immediately becomes very clear that this is a tough as nails action movie. You witness a fight which is best described as a mix between the first person view of Hardcore Henry and the famous hall fight in Old Boy. It’s tightly choreographed and extremely violent. Just like Park Chan-Wook’s classic this movie (originally called Ak-Nyeo) is also South Korean. It’s been directed by Byung-gil Jung. Continue reading
Gods of Egypt (2016) – Review
When I announced my list of blindspot movies for 2018, I got the most reactions (both here and on my Dutch site) about why I added Gods of Egypt. Why would I want to see this film? Some told me it’s a movie you want to switch off after 20 minutes. Of course I knew about the criticism the movie got, but that made me even more curious. So it was the first movie I watched on that list. Did I start out right? Continue reading
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) – Review
The promotion of new movies has become very predictable. Months in advance you can see the first set photos, followed by teasers, different trailer versions and the stars appearing in talk shows near the release. I basically ignore all of it and find it an extremely tiring way to promote a product and create hype. Earlier this year Netflix proved it could be different with this film. It was originally called The God Particle and was delayed. During the Superbowl commercials Netflix premiered the trailer and also announced it would be available immediately after the game. A marketing strategy which I would love more companies using. Continue reading
Darkland (2017) – Review
The revenge film. It’s a simple concept, which can be executed in various ways. It can be raw and violent (Death Wish) or more subtle (The Invisible Guest. There is so much to choose from (including the Park Chan-wook revenge trilogy). This Danish film chooses for a simple approach, which of course can work effectively Continue reading
Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) – Review
Up till now most people I talked to about upcoming Star Wars movies, responded that they were looking forward to them. That changed when it came to Solo: A Star Wars Story. Personally I never had a huge connection with Star Wars (only watching them for the first time on VHS in my late teens) but I have been enjoying most of them (forgetting about the first three prequels), so to me this would just be something along the same lines as Rogue One only this time with a character we already know.
Of course Han Solo is one of the most iconic characters in history and maybe that’s the reason people were hesitant about a film looking at his backstory. As we’ve seen with for example Alien: Covenant, sometimes you don’t want answers to some questions. I personally didn’t need an explanation how the Xenomorphs came into being. They should remain a mystery as that just adds to the legend of a character. Some people had the same idea about Solo. But the film is now here so we can find out if this is a film that should have been made and if it indeed demystifies the legend that is the man who did shoot first. Continue reading
Deadpool 2 (2018) – Review
When Deadpool came out in 2016 it was a breath of fresh air amongst the overload of superhero movies. The formula of them was well-known and for some people the fatigue started to creep up. It was a film that wasn’t what you were expecting. It managed to shock, not take itself seriously and make fun of a lot of things, including other superhero movies. I had a blast watching it and was looking forward to the sequel. Would it be possible to follow the original up with something just as fresh? Continue reading