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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated The Invisible Man (2020) in Movies
Sep 21, 2020
There are three things that are certain in life:
1. Death
2. Taxes
3. Leigh Whannell is the fucking *man*.
Just fantastic. Obviously very few films could ever hope to match the rampant badassery of Whannell's previous masterwork, 𝘜𝘱𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦 - but this is about as stellar as a follow-up as one could hope for. A constant guessing game with your eyes, something could be hiding in just about every corner - never stop looking, you could miss it right in plain sight. Melds horror, thriller, drama, and action in a way that is simply euphoric - especially after the decade-worst slump of movies we experienced in 2019. Does Jordan Peele better than Jordan Peele in every aspect except image-making, which only falls behind by a tad. Moss is - naturally - amazing, probably her best film performance in a career chock full of first-rate ones. And the themes are loud and clear without ever having to spoon feed or turn into a rote, mawkish Hallmark movie with the material. Starts small, methodically grows, then ends with a bang. A riot.
1. Death
2. Taxes
3. Leigh Whannell is the fucking *man*.
Just fantastic. Obviously very few films could ever hope to match the rampant badassery of Whannell's previous masterwork, 𝘜𝘱𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦 - but this is about as stellar as a follow-up as one could hope for. A constant guessing game with your eyes, something could be hiding in just about every corner - never stop looking, you could miss it right in plain sight. Melds horror, thriller, drama, and action in a way that is simply euphoric - especially after the decade-worst slump of movies we experienced in 2019. Does Jordan Peele better than Jordan Peele in every aspect except image-making, which only falls behind by a tad. Moss is - naturally - amazing, probably her best film performance in a career chock full of first-rate ones. And the themes are loud and clear without ever having to spoon feed or turn into a rote, mawkish Hallmark movie with the material. Starts small, methodically grows, then ends with a bang. A riot.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Journey To The West: Conquering the Demons (2014) in Movies
Sep 21, 2020
Transcendent. A purified gonzo spectacle with enough madcap panache to measure on the Richter scale. Stephen Chow really is the *fucking* man, like if Ang Lee in the early aughts did enough acid to choke out a small village. Like all of Chow's work, it's got it all: riveting emotion, uproarious comedy, zany action, stellar production, and less than zero visible self consciousness to speak on. Exactly what these movies oughta be - plays with space like a champ and stages itself like an old school cult classic with a heavy emphasis on rubberlike physicality and Rube Goldberg-esque setpieces brought lovingly into the modern era, then injected with numerous hallucinogens. A gigantic Buddha bitch slaps the entire planet in this (literally). Have some issues with underwriting in its core relationship, and a bit too loose of pacing near the end; but it whips itself into shape enough to hardly notice too much. Balances silly with serious really formidably. The tectonic, slapstick partner piece to the blood-gushing, limb-loathing 𝘕𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 𝘈𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯.
Bostonian916 (449 KP) rated Good Time (2017) in Movies
Sep 17, 2020
I have an unfair tendency to sometimes judge actors based on what they are known for early in their careers. I fully understand that this is a corrupt practice. But it is often an accurate representation. Sometimes, though, it is a grossly inaccurate representation. That is indeed the case with Robert Pattinson. I grossly misjudged him based on his early work and the fact that he worked on what I considered hollow projects. I was wrong. And I'm so thankful that I was. Now we are all blessed with the performances that Pattinson is capable of and we are all better for it.
Good Times is a CRAZY story by the Safdies (you may recognize the name from Adam Sandler sleeper Uncut Gems). Criminal underrating of the script writing and storytelling somehow prevented this movie from becoming the smash that it deserved to become. A24 has and continues to churn out quality, lower budget movies that are SOOOOO much better than they have any right to be and Good Times is another wonderful example of this.
Good Times is a CRAZY story by the Safdies (you may recognize the name from Adam Sandler sleeper Uncut Gems). Criminal underrating of the script writing and storytelling somehow prevented this movie from becoming the smash that it deserved to become. A24 has and continues to churn out quality, lower budget movies that are SOOOOO much better than they have any right to be and Good Times is another wonderful example of this.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Chopper (2001) in Movies
Sep 19, 2020 (Updated Nov 26, 2020)
Coincidentally have mostly the exact same issues with this as I do with 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘯 (rut in the middle, a bit too conservative with the weird style-heavy moments, etc.), but Eric Bana in this *smokes* Tom Hardy in that. Dude is a straight up machete, it's a crime that practically no films he's in let him use his natural accent because he thickens it up here to a riotous degree. While this does offer up a pretty complex portrait of a legit nuthouse-ready man who repeatedly wants something so bad until he finally gets it, it sadly doesn't offer up too much in the way of nuance as opposed to other crime movies of the genre. The two things it consistently has going for it are Bana's ripper performance and Dominik's sleazoid visual overload that resembles a seedy adult goods store past midnight meets intense vodka vision. Fortunately paired with the handful of honestly shocking moments, that does happen to be enough. Still feels slow even at 90 minutes, however.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Flatliners (2017) in Movies
Sep 19, 2020
Now I'm not saying this is all bullshit, but it's only a *generous* 5-10% non-bullshit. I'm not the first to say this nor will I be the last, but what was the point? Just as super-serious as the original with none of the fun camp, shorter but somehow feels centuries longer, and worst of all it looks roughly ten trillion times worse - dumping the artsy old-architectural/macabre feel for yet another lifeless medical aesthetic (only looking marginally better than some royalty-free tripe like 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘺). I think one of the horror things here actually succeeds more than the original and there's one or two different plot switches from that one too, but it loses all other points for turning such riotous and ethereal shlock into yet another substandard mainstream 'horror' snore. The literal only mildly intriguing thing this did was ditched to a deleted scene. What a drag, can't believe this even got the right to exist. This feels like one of the fake movies that people inside the real movie
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Luce (2019) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020 (Updated Nov 20, 2020)
Incendiary, confrontational filmmaking that doesn't pull a single punch but also has the foresight to not offer a single easy answer to its repertoire of timely themes and obscured ideologies. All that and it also manages to be one hell of a pulse-pounding thriller that almost solely consists of sprawling, uncomfortable dialogue exchanges fired one right after the other with minimal diversions. Feels like a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment. Every character is definable and every performance therein is fearless - that's all to say that this is undoubtedly the freshest take on small-minded suburbia we've had in seemingly forever; if ever there were a film for this current volatile period in American history where countless amounts of its long-standing racial injustices are being very justifiably put into question - this would be one them. On a personal preference, this also just happens to be just how I like my dramas: talky, deeply character-driven, morally ambiguous, gradually explosive, and very glossy aesthetic-wise. One of the best movies I've ever seen.
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Searching (2018) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
The movie is in the same format as the unfriended movies, it takes place entirely through social media.
At the beginning we see a montage of clips and photos from the Kim family's life where we learn that the mum (pam) passes away from cancer. Fast forward a few years later and Margot - pam and David's daughter- is all grown up and everything seems to be going fine, that is until Margot goes missing.
David starts frantically searching on social media only to discover he didn't know Margot as much as he thought he did, and finds out some unusual information about her.
For a one time watch I did enjoy this movie, it shows how things can develop online from parent blaming to people pretending to be the missing persons friend, and writing 'heartfelt' messages. It also shows the hidden dangers of the online community such as how easy it is to obtain information. It was very gripping and kept me glued right to the twist at the end which I was not at expecting.
At the beginning we see a montage of clips and photos from the Kim family's life where we learn that the mum (pam) passes away from cancer. Fast forward a few years later and Margot - pam and David's daughter- is all grown up and everything seems to be going fine, that is until Margot goes missing.
David starts frantically searching on social media only to discover he didn't know Margot as much as he thought he did, and finds out some unusual information about her.
For a one time watch I did enjoy this movie, it shows how things can develop online from parent blaming to people pretending to be the missing persons friend, and writing 'heartfelt' messages. It also shows the hidden dangers of the online community such as how easy it is to obtain information. It was very gripping and kept me glued right to the twist at the end which I was not at expecting.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Pulse (Kairo) (2001) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
Spine-chilling, fucking exceptional horror. For all intents and purposes, this is the scariest (horror) movie I've ever seen - I couldn't walk around in my own house the same after watching this. Could be personal preference, but this just captures that eerie sense of merging humans and ghosts *just* so to where it's deeply, deeply unsettling. The deliberate lack of any cues as to when the horror is happening, and the vaguely creepy gestural stuff (i.e. moving your arms a little weird, slightly stumbling [almost intentionally so] when you walk) as opposed to outright demon-esque actions makes this feel more real, akin to something like those disturbing LiveLeak types of videos - binding the void between scary movies and snuff films. And this is all not even to mention the emotionally hefty themes and crackerjack dialogue which subvert this even more beyond the pack. Stumbles ever so slightly in its final fifteen or so minutes, but otherwise the work of a genius if you can get past the aged analog about the internet being this mysterious new entity.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
Consider me charmed, as far as 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳/𝘕𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢 ripoffs go - you could do a whole lot worse. Story is intermittently intriguing but way too slight for what this wants to be, with lore and creature design *this* vivid it needed to be way more fleshed out. But I also recognize that if this were made today, they would have needlessly stretched out and sterilized this one-movie story into five distended cash grabs - er, I mean - 'movies' until any sense of purpose and enjoyability becomes unrecognizable, so I abstain. I'd much rather this have become a franchise as opposed to 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴, firstly because Freddie Highmore can actually act (he's awesome here in both roles) whereas Eddie Redmayne is perhaps the only Oscar nominee who's never given a good performance. Looks absolutely dazzling, and the voice acting is A-class - just a really fun time all-around. Simple but effective, and I haven't even mentioned how many goblins get gruesomely murdered/dismembered/burned/eaten alive/melted/stabbed/ran over in this.
Lenard (726 KP) rated The Auschwitz Report (2021) in Movies
Jan 27, 2021
People would say there are enough movies about the Holocaust, but this film is different. In 1944, two Slovak Jewish scribes escaped from Auschwitz to safety. They "worked" for the Nazis keeping careful records for the camp. When they met with the Resistance and with the Red Cross, neither organization could believe that the stories they told were true. Meanwhile, back in Auschwitz, the inmates at Barrack 9 withstood months of torture protecting the escapees.
A great movie overall. Two things stood out. One scene at the camp: After spending the night standing outside in the cold, Nazis force the captures to perform their daily work. As the captures walk off, three bodies are seen: one leaning against the wall of the barrack, one in a fetal position on the ground, and the last knelt over, a powerful image of torture. The second happens during the credits when voices from the modern day propagate hate against "the others" showing how the Holocaust continues even as some deny it.
A great movie overall. Two things stood out. One scene at the camp: After spending the night standing outside in the cold, Nazis force the captures to perform their daily work. As the captures walk off, three bodies are seen: one leaning against the wall of the barrack, one in a fetal position on the ground, and the last knelt over, a powerful image of torture. The second happens during the credits when voices from the modern day propagate hate against "the others" showing how the Holocaust continues even as some deny it.