The dangers of tolerance
-Why are you doing this?
-Because you let me
"I've been fooled into trying to satisfy people who could never be satisfied, but that's our culture, isn't it?"
Keep calm and:
Dara dam dara dam dara dam dam
Dara dam dara dam dara dam dam
Dara dam dara dam dara dam dam
Dam daradam dam dam
Finest demonstration of how having the best cast is useless if you don't have a compelling story to tell and most of all you don't know how to tell it.
The best thing about this movie is the atmosphere. Chloe Okuno manages to portrait perfectly the isolation, loneliness and anxiety of a girl haunted by a stalker in a foreign city with no one to believe or help her. The plot is really simple, the film is not scary in the typical horror way, but direction, cinematography and setting makes this movie worth watching. The only real flaw i found about this film is the ending. Forced and unrealistic.
Bluray Quote
"Maybe he is staring at the woman who is staring at him" (Julia's boyfriend)
I loved the way this film manages to talk in an original way about very serious and dramatic themes such as diversity, shame, social isolation and loneliness.
It could have been a boring psychological drama, but instead the director manages to use different genres, like dark comedy and horror, to make the film smart and funny at the same time. It also portrays a believable, complex and original protagonist, thanks to the sensational acting performance of Angela Bettis too.
I would have chosen "Somebody" by Depeche Mode as end scene and credits song, i think it perfectly represents how May feels (and how i feel sometimes)
This is very different from the first.
Terrifier was a really scary and disturbing slasher, Terrifier 2 is a funny and grotesque splatter comedy.
Art the Clown is also a very different character than in the previous films. In Terrifier he was pure evil and didn't inspire any sympathy, in this sequel he's so funny i'm almost rooting for him.
Even the gore is so over the top and cartoonish that it hardly inspires disgust anymore.
I mean this is a good movie, it's funny, the practical effects are excellent, it has the hottest "final girl" i've ever seen in a slasher film (Lauren LaVera dressed as Valkyrie = Perfection) and a great 80s synthwave soundtrack but this doesn't look like a real sequel to me and i liked the first one more.
I'm glad Damien Leone said that for the third film he intends to go back to the sick atmosphere of the first and make it even scarier.
“It’s so dumb, it’s brilliant!”
"No it's just dumb"
Weak satire, shallow characters, stupid comedy, convoluted plot that only serves to hide an obvious culprit, awful ending.
A huge step back from Knives Out, no wonder this one is produced by Netflix.
Great visuals and production design, poor story with lots of illogical or unexplained things and a disappointing ending.
Little Cronenbergs growing up. It could have been a great film if the Finnish director had explained the film's metaphor in a more ambiguous and veiled way.
7 out of 10 but the fact that it's a metaphorical body horror film and the use of a giant animatronic bird instead of the cgi pushes me to add another point to the rating.
"Christmas Bloody Christmas" is an highly enjoyable film, expecially if you, like me, love 80s movies, neon photography, blood and gory action but is very derivative and a "more of the same" in the filmography of Joe Begos.
I believe Begos peaked with "Bliss" and we wouldn't get another film like that, or better, because he wants to stay in his 80s action\sci-fi\horror comfort zone.
This is not necessarily a bad thing for me because i can take hundreds of films like this one and VFW and still like them all, but the question of what he might do if he steps out of his comfort zone remains unanswered.
Good:
-Gotham is amazing. The set design is perfect and portrays the captivating gothic city in a cartoony but plausible way. Same for cinematography and direction. (I recommend to buy the remastered bluray, it is a pleasure for the eye)
-Joker and Nicholson's performance. So good and in the second part so exuberant that it overshadow Batman and every other aspect of the film
-Iconic costumes and vehicles
-Great music score
Bad:
-This is a film more about Joker than Batman.
Batman is a poorly developed character in this film. He's always between being a caricature (like Joker) or a serious character but he doesn't shine in any aspect.
-Vicky Vale\Kim Basinger could have been an interesting character (like a dark lady for example, since this film has a noir vibe) instead it is simply a damsel in distress used only to provide a (weak) love story and a means to explore Batman psychology, failing to do so.
Bluray quote:
"You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?" - Joker
Noir exotic melodrama with great direction, cinematography and impressive performance by Bette Davis.
Better than the first movie.
Fights, drama and humour are well balanced in this sequel compared to the original in which there was few action and more drama.
Plot is more articulated and original, thanks to the setting too (the russian prison is way more interesting than the generic US prison of the first film)
Characters are way better, more interesting and charismatic. Maybe Chambers is portrayed too much as a good guy in this sequel, and the morality is less blurred and more defined, with Chambers as the innocent victim who fights for a good cause and Bokya and the russian mob as the evil guys. Also the ending is too sentimental for an action film.
Some memorable scenes, like the one with Chambers outside in the snow.
Fights are great with good choreographies and direction. The only flaw is the shortness of the final fight, i would have preferred a longer and suspanseful duel.
Very enjoyable old school action movie.
Fast paced, with plenty of car chases, shootings, ambushes etc that keep you entertained during the 2 hours of film. Fun stereotyped characters and a perfect and believable role of semi-retired sheriff for the 65 yeard old Arnold Schwarzenegger.
BLURAY Quote:
Gabriel Cortez: "Hell, 12000 Mexicans come across every day, you shoudn't mind if one goes back"
Sheriff Ray Owens: "You make us immigrants look bad"
Good:
-This film is a pleasure for the eye. Locations, set design, costumes and cinematography are top notch. It's an immersive and fascinating canvas of that historical period. Although not so historically accurate, for example the town where they shot the film is not Pescia in Tuscany (where Benedetta Carlini really lived) but Bevagna in Umbria.
-Acting is very good, expecially the protagonist, Virginie (not so virgin) Efira
-Hot naked nuns get laid (this is the other reason why the film is a pleasure for the eye lol)
Bad:
-Too grotesque. This film sometimes seems an historical drama about serious themes as religion, sexuality, repression etc.. other times seems a porn parody written by Brazzers.
-The story is inconsistent and confusing. I have the impression it was just an excuse for the director to make controversial, sexually provocative scenes to shock the audience and covertly mock christianity.
DVD Quote (spoiler)
"She used a wooden figure of the Blessed Virgin to penetrate the sex of Benedetta and make her to crisis
[Priest smash the table] Crimen Nefastum"
Good:
-Violence and gore in this film are absolutely exceptional. In quantity and quality. A lot of memorable scenes for cruelty and originality
-Disgusting, disturbing, very very offensive but extremely amusing
-No CGI but good old special effects, with props, makeup, and a lot of fake (?) blood
-A collection of really evil nazi puppets that do the worst things to people who do not deserve it (which is the essence of the horror genre)
-A lot of black humour
-Interesting characters in their own oddity. Not only the main characters but even casual victims of the killing have characteristic traits that makes them unique (a line they say, a physical feature etc)
-Opening titles (the comic style is great)
Bad:
-There is more plot in the opening titles than in the entire movie.
The story is very simple, this can be a good thing because it allows the movie to be focused on the killings, but a bit more development would have added suspance and depth to the movie.
-Open ending (and we don't know when and if they will make a sequel)
If you liked the violence in this movie i recommend checking out S. Craig Zahler filmography. Bone Tomhawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99, Dragged Actoss Concrete are great movies.
DVD quote:
"Cuddly Bear don't wanna hurt nobody, even a hater, but Mrs. Cuddly Bear wants herself a new hi-def TV.
Cuddly Bear's got principles, but he also got priorities."
Not enought.
Monsters, practical effects, cinematography (in some shots) are perfect but the plot is too much derivative and confusing. It's like the screenwriters had no idea on how to develop an original plot and threw some random references from Carpenter (The Thing, Assault on Precinct 13, Prince of Darkness), Fulci and Lovecraft.
Furthermore the actors suck, expecially the protagonist who looks like the bad copy of Aaron Paul\Jesse Pinkman (and his name is Aaron Poole lol).
I'm giving 3 stars because there aren't many movies about cultists, tentacled monsters, and entities from other dimensions, but still there's better out there, like The Empty Man, Baskin, Event Horizon, and Underwater.
It's a good movie but I would have preferred if the narrator hadn't been so present. The voiceover is interesting and full of memorable quotes but in movies it's better when things are shown rather than told.
I hope they will do a remake with darker and noir tones and no narrator.
It would be a perfect subject for directors like Michael Mann or Denis Villeneuve.
A generic killer with a generic knife tries to kill generic young people during the covid lockdown for no apparent reason.
A reason that when revealed turns the film from an ordinary and boring slasher to crap.
Prey is the Assassin's Creed formula applied to Predator.
Same concept and structure, different protagonist and century.
So instead of a group of mercenaries in a tropical forest in the 90s we have an Indian girl in 18th century America.
The main difference is the emancipation story (from prey to predator) of the protagonist, but it is lalso the biggest flaw, because it sounds corny and cringe since the protagonist wants to become a warrior only because the tribe think she coudn't (It's not very mature to base your actions on what the others think of you).
Luckily action, cinematography, production and creature design (except the cgi animals) are good and the movie is fun to watch but for the next episodes of the franchise i hope they won't do "Predator vs The Roman Empire", "Predator on the Pyramids" or "Predator at the Crusades" lol
There is some movie in this jumpscare
Imagine if a sequel of Predator was directed by the guy who told vagina jokes in the first film. That character was useless for the development of the plot and was the weakest in combat compared to the other mercenaries, his only quality was make people laugh with his silly jokes.
The Predator is directed by the actor who played that guy and it is exactly like that character.
The plot is weak, the action is not good enough but the comedy is good (if you like black humour and silly jokes). I give 6\10 only for this, because the jokes are funny and the soldiers likeable but actually this is the worst film of the franchise (i've not watched Prey yet though).
Way better than the previous one. This sequel is more focused on action and gore, i expecially liked the shorts "A Ride in the Park" and "Safe Haven", they have good stories (the idea behind the first is brilliant) and most of all they are masterfully directed.
Indeed they are directed respectively by Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) and Timo Tjahjanto-Gareth Evans (The Raid), masters of their craft.
Randal: "What the hell's your problem?"
Dante: "This life. Why do I have this life?"
Randal: "Have some chips, you'll feel better."
The first short is great (Amateur Night), the others range from mediocre to bad.
"The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger" has invented the "computer screen horror genre" but there are much better films shot in this way (for example Host 2020).
The story that links all the shorts together is crap, it's also supposed to be one vhs tape but the action is obviously shot by multiple cameras and some of them are clearly digital cameras. Furthermore the first story is recorded by a pair of spy glasses, why they are seeing it on a vhs tape?
I have the impression that this was a fun and innovative take on the horror genre in 2012, but it hasn't aged so well now.
This Predator sequel moves the setting from the tropical to the urban jungle. The idea of putting the Predator into a conflict between criminal gangs and the LAPD and an internal conflict between the police and the FBI works fairly well.
Even the protagonist and the characters, although they are stereotypes of the 80-90s action-crime genre, are fun to watch.
The action of course isn't on par with the previous film but it's still good, and there are some remarkable scenes like the gunfire at the beginning and the predator's assault at the mob boss apartment.
What doesn't work so well is the Predator.
The psychological characterization of the alien is completely wrong. The predator of the first film was interesting because he was a super-technological and intelligent hunter who stalked his prey and killed it silently, but here the Predator is described more like the classic Hollywood monster, that is physically stronger but dumber than humans. An example is the metro scene, an attack that doesn't make sense. There's even a scene in which he climbs a skyscraper and yells at the top, the King Kong reference is clear.
Even the physical aspect is much worse than the previous film, here the predator is disproportionate, he has a head that is too large compared to the body and he is massive and clumsy in its movements. Finally the idea of making the mouth look like a vagina (and of having the protagonist make fun of it) is absurd. The predator should inspire fear and terror, not hilarity.
Timeless classic, one of the best action movies ever made.
A year later John McTiernan did another masterpiece (probabily "the" masterpiece of the action genre): Die Hard.
"I couldn't help admiring him. He was so wise. He had a deep knowledge born of a lifetime spent in the wilds. He was goodhearted, generous minded. He could think of a man he'd never met, and that he probably would never meet."
A film more actual than ever, in times of war and ecological destruction, if we continue on this path Amba will come for the human species too.
Never a film title was more apt.
This film is definitely wild, sexy, full of passion and with over the top memorable characters.
Bluray quote:
"This is a snakeskin jacket! And for me it's a symbol of my individuality, and my belief... in personal freedom."
