The thing about going on holiday and long flights, is that there usually is a big selection of movies available to watch. Of course you have the big blockbusters, but also titles you’ve never heard of before. Unconfessional was one of those titles I found underneath the Korean movies section. And as you can’t quickly check IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes while flying to see if it’s worth watching, it gave me the feeling of visiting a rental store and picking a movie purely based on it’s picture and a short description. Continue reading
Category Archives: Violence
Do the Right Thing (1989) – Review
“Do the right thing”, it is so easy to say, but it is not always easy to make the right choices in your life. There are setbacks which make it hard to make a decision, people who do not share your opinion or oppose you or you may not have what you need to achieve a goal. To occasionally make a choice that you know, deep down, is not the best in the long term, but still yielding results is tempting. But even in a situation where emotions rise, it is a challenge not to go along with it, to keep thinking. What this can lead if this doesn’t happen is something which Spike Lee shows in Do The Right Thing. Continue reading
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920) – Review
After seeing the horror classic Nosferatu last year, I was curious about watching another classic that was often mentioned, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. A film from 1920 that stands out because the sets look very contrived, with sharp corners and spaces that look strange. A film that is therefore less realistic than other films of the time. The story itself is just as strange. It is about Caligari, who wants to show his “Somnabulist” at the local fair. A man, Cesare, who has been sleeping for 23 years. With his long body and sunken eyes, he has a striking appearance. Two friends, Francis and Alan, visit his presentation and when Caligari tells them that Cesare can answer any question, Alan asks when he will die. Cesare says that that will be the next morning, which ultimately turns out to be correct. Francis suspects Caligari or his Cesare of his death and tries to find out the truth. Continue reading
Thelma & Louise (1991) – Review
It is actually bizarre that it has taken me this long to see this 1991 film. It is a very famous title, which until recently I had never taken the time to see it. Something I should have done much earlier. This film, directed by Ridley Scott, not only works well, but also made me think of a different time when films could only be shot on film. A time when projection in the cinema was still analogue and you could see if a movie had already been screened before. Not that I would want that in the cinemas again, but it evoked a bit of nostalgia. Continue reading
Firebase (2017) – Short film review
Fans of director Neil Blomkamp have been in for a treat this year. With his new Oats Studio he has released various shorts this year (most around the 20-minute mark), which visually are on the same level as the big blockbusters. The first one was Rakka and the second he released was this one, Firebase. A story which is set in 1970, during the Vietnam war. The army has to face something supernatural. Continue reading
2:22 (2017) – Review
“A picture is worth a thousand words”, which also is the case with movie posters. When this movie was playing in the cinemas over here I regularly saw the one made for this movie and it’s a bad one. It’s a poster which really doesn’t seel the movie. Firstly the design looks like something made by a fan who cut out the heads of the main characters and after that didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about a font and applying inner and outer shadows in Photoshop. It’s also a very dark poster, which isn’t pleasing to the eyes. The clock shows the same time as the title of the film, but what that means isn’t clear. Basically a poster which doesn’t make you want to see the film, which at least looks a lot better than its promotional material. Continue reading
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) – Review
If someone asked you to name some long running movie franchises, Resident Evil probably wouldn’t be one you’d think of. Still this movie series started in 2002 and this one is the sixth installment. Despite the fact that these movies didn’t receive many positive review, it managed to appeal to a specific audience and still made more than its production budget back. So The Resident Evil movies might not be well-regarded, but they are known for action, horror elements and of course Milla Jovovich as the protagonist. Like the title already makes clear, this is the last movie in the series (even though a reboot has already been announced). Continue reading
A Kind of Murder (2016) – Review
When you watch as many movies as I do, there are sometimes titles which you really don’t want a review about. Movies which are nice to watch and can be good, but of which you really don’t want to be too critical (or simply don’t have much to say about). And it sometimes happens that I decide not to write about such a film, despite it deserving some attention. A Kind of Murder is a movie which does a lot of things right, but which at the same time isn’t one everyone should see. Continue reading
Okja (2017) – Recensie
Okja, by South Korean director Bong Joon Ho, can be compared to a baby chimpanzee which grows up in two hours. At the start it is cute and you feel at ease letting it play with your children. But if you allow it to stay with them in those two hours it will cause some very shocking moments. In this case the movie itself isn’t about a primate, but about a specially bred superpig which could mean a lot of profit for a big multinational company. Continue reading
Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – Review
When you take a look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe there are some characters who are used more often for comedy than others. The Hulk is often comic relief, usually physical stuff (just think of him slamming Loki back and forth), but if you take a look at the other super heroes it’s Thor who is also the source for a lot of jokes. In the first movie he was a fish out of water who stood out because he talked differently and didn’t know how everything on earth worked. But also in the other Marvel movies a lot of comedy came from him. So it was great news to hear that Taika Waititi would be directing Ragnarok. Hunt for the Wilderpeople and What We Do in the Shadows were extremely funny and Boy was also a very good movie. But as we’ve seen in the past with Edgar Wright and Antman, there is always a risk that the comedy a director wants to bring doesn’t align with the ideas the studio has. Fortunately Waititi has been able to finish the movie and keep his brand of humour intact. Continue reading