The Towering Inferno (1974) – Review

Review The Towering Inferno
2017 Blindspot films

When I picked out The Towering Inferno as a blindspot movie for this year, I didn’t know yet that this quote from Steve McQueen at the end of the movie, more than 40 years later, still is relevant with the events in Grenfell Tower earlier this year in the back of your mind. “You know, we were lucky tonight. Body count’s less than 200. You know, one of these days, you’re gonna kill 10,000 in one of these firetraps, and I’m gonna keep eating smoke and bringing out bodies until somebody asks us… how to build them.”

When the World Trade Center was being during the seventies it inspired a number of writers (Richard Martin Stern, Thomas N. Scortia en Frank M. Robinson) to write stories about the dangers of such high buildings in case of fire. It resulted in the books “The Tower” and “The Glass Inferno”. After the success of the disaster movie The Poseidon Adventure the studios wanted to make other ones and started looking for material they could adapt. Warner Bros bought the rights for The Tower, 20th Century Fox for The Glass Inferno. This would mean both studios would be releasing their own version of basically the same story. The studios decided to negotiate though, which resulted in the first cooperation between two big studios and the movie was filled with famous actors of the time, including Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Fred Astaire and Richard Chamberlain. Continue reading

Top Knot Detective (2016) – Review

Recensie Top Knot Detective
Ronin Suirai Tantei, also known as Top Knot Detective outside Japan is a TV show from the eighties, starring Takashi Takamoto. Besides that he also wrote and directed it. In this documentary several people are interviewed who were involved with the show together with old VHS-video of the show, of which the originals have been destroyed by the production company because of controversy surrounding Takamoto. Or at least that’s what this movie wants you to believe. Continue reading

Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower (2017) – Review

recensie Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower

After seeing the Netflix documentary Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower there is only one question you’ll ask yourself: What have I accomplished in my life? At the age of just 14 Joshua Wong started Scholarism, an activist pro democracy student group. He would eventually get tens of thousands of people on their feet who were al interested in hearing what he’d have to say in his battle against one of the most powerful countries in the world: China. Continue reading

The Keepers (2017) – Review

Review The Keepers

When you start watching the first episode of the Netflix original series The Keepers, you get the idea that this is a series which is all about the unsolved murder of Cathy Cesnik, a nun who was a teacher at a catholic school in Baltimore. It paints a picture of who she was, how she saw life and what she meant to others. She disappeared unexpectedly, her deserted car was found near her house and finally her body was found in a deserted location during winter. Two older women have made it their main priority to solve this murder case as they feel the police hasn’t done enough. When you watch the other episodes you realize that much more was going on, which means there are more victims than just Cathy Cesnik. Continue reading

Rakka (2017) – Short film review

Review Rakka

In 2009 director Neill Blomkamp managed to impress the world with his District 9. With an estimated budget of “only” 30 million he managed to make a science fiction film with lots of special effects, which got Hollywood interested. The next two movies he made, Elysium and Chappie (both of which I enjoyed) generally weren’t received as positvely. A while ago Blomkamp announced he would be starting Oats Studios, with which he’ll make short experimental films. The first one is the alien invasion short Rakka, which is available through YouTube. Continue reading

Wonder Woman (2017) – Review

Recensie Wonder Woman

While Marvel Studios keeps making record-breaking movies with their superhero movies, their biggest competitor (DC) can’t seem to hit the same highs. After Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy their titles have almost all received negative scores on Rotten Tomatoes and their attempt at creating their own DC Cinematic Universe seem to fail. Although Wonder Woman (played by Gal Gadot) appeared in Batman v Superman, it was time to show her origin story. Is this the movie with which DC finally succeeds in creating something which is generally loved? Continue reading

Manchester by the Sea (2016) – Review

Review Manchester by the Sea
For years Casey Affleck didn’t get as much attention as his brother Ben. Unfairly though, because in various roles he proved that he is an actor worth watching (just this of his role in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). With this movie his talent was rewarded, as he received the Oscar for best male performance. Is it just him who is good, or is this movie top-notch as well? Continue reading

The New Adventures of Aladin (2015) – Review

Review The New Adventures of Aladin
The number of VOD-platforms keeps growing, which sometimes can make it difficult to make a choice as not every service offers the same content. Still it can sometimes be worth looking around and recently I was asked if I was interested in seeing The New Adventures of Aladin, which is available through Walk This Way (a platform which focusses on European productions). It is a new version of the well-known story, but with some modern influences. Continue reading