Randal: "What the hell's your problem?"
Dante: "This life. Why do I have this life?"
Randal: "Have some chips, you'll feel better."
"I've been fooled into trying to satisfy people who could never be satisfied, but that's our culture, isn't it?"
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.
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."
The plot is not so original and the themes are perhaps better explored in other movies (like Shorta\Enforcement for example) but the action is marvellous and unique.
Best action film 2022 and one of the best action films ever.
Shame it was released on Netflix with its crappy picture and audio quality and not in theaters and on Bluray.
Jordan Peele is one of the last few directors capable of making films that entertain you but at the same time make you think.
Nope is a deeply meaningful blockbuster movie, it explores many themes: Nature vs Civilization, exploitation\domestication\spectacularization of animals, the obsession for fame and the art of Cinema itself.
Hollywood needs more movies like this. Movies that are able to attract the masses with spectacular action, special effects and simple but captivating stories which however talk about important themes and pose interesting questions.
Good:
-Outstanding allegory of the capitalistic system and US society
-Powerful and courageus social and political criticism.
-Oscar worthy performance of the protagonist Lupita Nyong'o
-Clever use of humour in an horror movie
-"I got five on it"
Bad
-Middle part is a game of cat and mouse that makes little sense. The tethered could have easily killed the protagonist's family in multiple occasions but they don't
-The underlying message and the society in which they (us) live are scary, the film itself not so much
Bluray Quote:
"When you point a finger at someone else, you have three pointing back at you."
The dangers of tolerance
-Why are you doing this?
-Because you let me
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
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.
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.
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."
"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.
"He’s just fishing. Not even he knows what he’ll catch. He just threw out the bait, and your daughter took it. That’s all it was."
One of the best fighting movies of all time.
Boyka deserves a place in the pantheon of action heroes and Scott Adkins is one of the greatest martial artists.
"Yo dawg i heard you like zombie movies so i put a zombie movie in a zombie movie in a zombie movie"
Good:
-Metacinema at its finest
-Masterful direction, the opening long take is superb
-The second part is clever and funny
Bad:
-This film is half horror, half comedy. They could have added another layer to the story if real zombies showed up at the end to close the circle (horror-comedy-horror).
Bluray quote:
"PUM!"
Good:
-Astounding action. Direction, cinematography, sound effects and all the technical aspects of this film are extraordinary
-Realism. In an era in when even dialogues between characters are shot in front of a green screen, the fact that they decided to shoot this film in the air, with real planes doing real maneuvers and to put the actors inside a real cockpit must be praised
-Tom Cruise. The film is basically a celebration of the actor and his acting\action skills
Bad:
-More a remake than a sequel. There is little of original in this film.
-The non-action scenes. A lot of them are bad copies of what we already seen in the first movie. The themes are also recycled from the first film but explored in a worse way.
-Actors (Tom Cruise aside of course). An ill and mute Val Kilmer has still twice the charisma of all the new actors they introduced as pilots.
-Romance. Forced and compared to the love story between Maverick and Charlie in the first film terrible.
-Why didn't they call back Kelly McGillis? For a film that focus a lot on nostalgia, her absence is a serious shortcoming.
DVD Quote:
Rooster: "I saved your life!"
Maverick: "I saved your life! That's the whole point!"
"Sex is the invention of a very clever venereal disease"
Shivers is David Cronenberg's first feature film and in it we find all the themes thoroughly explored in his filmography.
-Sex, the consequences of the liberation of this instinct or its repression
-The body, its oddities and its conflicting relationship with the mind: does the mind control the body or is it the opposite?
-Technology, science and how they can affect the human body and mind
Shivers is horror at its finest because it uses the genre to investigate interesting themes and pose unsettling questions.
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)
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"
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.
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
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.
Clever parody of the youtuber's world and the found footage horror genre. Homage to Raimi's Evil Dead saga. Extremely funny and quite scary.
Finally Marvel makes a good movie (Guardians franchise aside), great cinematography inspired by German expressionist cinema (even the protagonist looks a bit like Conrad Veidt), good direction, fascinating characters.
It's a pity it is too short, it should have been at least 30 minutes longer, expecially because the rushed finale.
Hope to see another movie directed by Michael Giacchino with these characters
