Pure action flick, just like The Raid or John Wick with a female protagonist and a medieval setting. Fun to watch if you like movies focused almost exclusively on action and combat choreographies.
Not as good as the titles mentioned above of course but still worth watching.
"A sadist never understands why others aren't enjoying his sadism as much as he is"
Entertaining movie that steals a lot from other videogames and films, from Wolfenstein to Ingrorious Basterds.
Nothing special or unforgettable, but it's fun to watch, mostly for the action, vivid photography, and great special effects
If Deliverance and Platoon had a son this would be Southern Comfort.
Nice noir film that expresses well the fears of infiltration of Nazi criminals in the respectable American society of that time.
Good cinematography, good pace and enjoyable performaces of Robinson and Welles.
Most interesting is the character of Mary, the unsuspecting wife of nazi general Frank Kindler who is torn between standing up for her husband or working with the police to arrest him.
I think a remake that explores the theme of the fascination of evil even more courageously without the constraints of the moral code of that time would be interesting.
Good:
-Torture, butchery, cannibalism and all the bloody shit you shamefully like. A lot of memorable scenes of this sort in the second part of the film.
-The part when they discover the cult in the darkness of the abandoned police station is terrifying
-The evil dwarf leader of the satanic cult. Really unique and iconic character
Bad:
-The plot doesn't make sense, and the fact that this could only be Arda's dream doesn't justify its inconsistency.
I read there are a lot of references to Turkish traditions. Frogs, keys, goat headed females are interesting but i wish the director had built a comprehensible plot with all these scary elements.
Bluray Quote:
"Hell is not a place you go to. You carry Hell with you at all times. You carry it inside you." - Baba
Good:
-Excellent action, as spectacular as the previous movie but since this movie is focused on an international prison fight tournament there is much more action than the second one.
-Boyka steps up as the protagonist and he is more furious than ever (great perfomance by Scott Adkins)
-The other fighters are convincing and well distinguished. Each one of them has his own features and his own combat style and this makes the fights entertaining and unpredictable.
-The main villain Dolor is a real a.hole
-The ending
Bad:
-The plot is shallow and predictable. It's the reason because i think this film despite the outstanding action is slightly worse than the previous one.
-The buddy relationship between Boyka and Turbo doesn't work so well and the scenes that are supposed to be funny are actually not.
Bluray Quote:
"God has given me a gift. Only one. I am the most complete fighter in the world" - Yuri Boyka
Allegorical tale about the complicated relationship between man and woman that leads to toxic masculinity and physical and psychological violence towards women.
The setting of the English countryside is ecstatic as the setting of a fairy tale but like every fairy tale there are monsters here too.
In this film the monsters are all men, all with the same face, all with the same hostile and sexist behavior towards Harper.
The "nice guy" landholder who always expects something in return, the adolescent who threatens and offends, the sexually repressed priest who blames women for all human suffering, the psychopathic stalker.
They are nothing more than the mirror of Harper's husband who committed suicide and layed the blame on her because she asked the divorce.
They all represent the same type of toxic, possessive, and narcissistic male.
The final sequence shows in pure body horror style the self-referentiality, the narcissism, the petticism and the weakness of the typical man of the patriarchal society. Deep down he is a deeply insecure man who desperately wants to be loved by women unconditionally.
It is a good film that could have been even better if the metaphors had not been so explicit (and often cheap) and if they had outlined the protagonist better. The photography is splendid and the ending is also memorable in its rawness.
Bluray Quote:
"James, what is it that you want from me?"
"Your love"
"Fake it until you ... go insane and start swallowing needles and batteries"
Hunter (played beautifully by Haley Bennet) is a kind hearted and naive young girl who tries to be the perfect wife, in return she receives the indifference and oppression of her husband and family.
In response to this gaslighting situation, she begins to rebel by swallowing dangerous objects.
Swallow is a psychological horror where terror and violence are sneaky and mean. The film perfectly manages to put us in the role of the protagonist, we feel weak and helpless and we suffer with her the psychological violence inflicted on her by her family members. The other characters, from the husband, to the in-laws, to the psychologist, even if they never lift a finger on her, are a collection of monstrous characters.
Swallow is a very interesting film, never boring, well directed and photographed.
Highly recommended, expecially if you enjoyed movies like Gaslight with Ingrid Bergman, The Invisible Man (2020) or the more recent Men by Alex Garland.
Great visuals and production design, poor story with lots of illogical or unexplained things and a disappointing ending.
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"
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.
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).
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.
Interesting theme and characters but the direction is too simple (it looks like a tv movie sometimes), the plot predictable and the social criticism too basic.
"Good Time" is a very similar film but it is much better because it has creativity, unpredictability and more depth.
In short Good Time is a brave film while the only thing that's brave in Emily the Criminal it's the protagonist.
Good:
-Ving Rhames character and performance. A real a-hole. The only reason to follow the film until the end is to see if his ass gets beaten.
-The juxtaposition between the two boxers. Snipes, quiet and decent guy who is in prison for having commited a crime in a burst of jealousy and Rhames, arrogant, evil guy incarcerated for rape.
-The final fight. Full of action and suspance
Bad:
-A waste of good actors. The plot and the characters (except for Rhames) are weak for a film that has Wesley Snipes, Peter Falk, Wes Studi, Michael Rooker in the credits
-The direction is bad and this is surprising considering this film is directed by Walter Hill. It often looks like a tv movie or a mtv video clip, chaotic fast editing and cheap hip-hop music make things worse.
Bluray Quote:
"I'am not an athlete, i'm a gladiator. People play baseball, nobody plays boxing" - Iceman
Pro:
-Good halloween atmosphere
-the 3 iconic masks and the unforgettable Silver Shamrock commercial
-Very good soundtrack and effects
-Charismatic protagonist and villain
-Critic to consumerism
Cons:
-The title (this should have been a standalone movie or the beginning of a new antologic saga)
-The Plot. The fundamental idea is good but the story is full of plot holes and wtf moments (Robots and snakes, come on...)
If you like 80s sci-fi\horror movies you'll like this film.
It is full of references to a lot of classics of that era (Close Encounters, Friday the 13, The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers etc...), it's not a great film but it is not as bad as the ratings say, it's not boring, there's plenty of gory action and there are some wtf moments that make you laugh.
A mix between REC and The Descent but poorly written.
The setting is great, the real Paris catacombs are amazing and the idea of a group of people trapped in there and their only escape is to dig deeper is brilliant. The decision to shoot it in the found footage format is nailed and the camera work is good. Too bad the characters are lame and the story is inconsistent and stupid.
Someone should hire a real screenwriter and make a remake of this.
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.
Good concept, mediocre development.
A lazy, unfaithful husband seeks redemption by building a house in an abandoned, haunted old brothel.
With these premises I was expecting a horror movie about a haunted house with a sexual/erotic touch but for 2/3 of the film there is no sexual tension or tension whatsoever. Just marbles rolling on the floor, broken pipes and sperm leaking from power outlets...
Luckily the last 30 minutes lift the film from very bad to mediocre, and the director manages to show that he has a little of Sam Raimi's talent (the film is clearly inspired by his works) by filming one or two funny and scary scenes. But it's too late
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.
“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.
Disappointing debut for great action director John McTiernan.
The problem here is not the direction, the actors, the cinematography etc.. the problem is the story.
It may not be a coincidence that this is the only film written by McTiernan in his entire filmography.
The story is confusing, there are many interesting elements but they are poorly developed and combined even worse.
In my opionin the film should have stuck to the story of the anthropologist who discovers a tribe of urban savages in Los Angeles. Instead the film adds a lot of random horror stuff like haunted houses, ghosts, nuns, which turns the plot in a nonsensical mess.
Everything wrong with this movie:
-It takes itself too seriously. The introspective narrative voice, the coming of age drama, the constant references to religion are shallow.
These things are not enough to make a "The Road" with a vampiric background
-The plot and the world in which the film is set are full of inconsistencies. At the beginning, the narrator tells us that the situation is desperate and those who have decided to stay together in cities and villages have not survived. A little later they enter a fairly populated city where everyone gets along well and there are also enough resources for everyone...
The protagonist tells us that, however, he doesn't want to stay because his destiny is the street and vampire hunting... later on in the film they load up their car with all kinds of people (a nun, pregnant women, a man that could have been bitten by a vampire, who could slow them down and hamper them in their hunt for vampires) to go towards New Heaven which is supposed to symbolize a return in the civilized world...
-Vampires in this movie are retarded zombies. At one point a character is left alone at night without weapons in the midst of a herd of 6-7 vampires, he comes out unharmed (we don't know how since the director doesn't show us anything) . Also the scene of the vampire trap with a bloody teddy bear is hilarious.
-The main villains of this film are a clichè group of religious fanatics that have no purpose at all except create chaos, rape nuns and kill the protagonist of the film.
-The final fight is ridiculous, an highlight of the film solved in 2 minutes.
In summary this is a zombie movie without what that makes zombie movies great (the desperate fight for resources and survival, the collapse of trust between people, the selfishness of humankind in desperate situations, the fear that anyone could have been bitten and turn to a zombie/vampire at any moment, the presence of an ubiquitous fearful and implacable enemy etc..)
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.
Trite plot, annoying dialogues, chaotic cgi action, waste of good actors. Well done Russo bros...
