#147 - Dr Easy [short] (2013)

"Dr Easy is a medical android sent to help a wounded man with a gun who is holed up in a building surrounded by armed police. Dr Easy can sense fear and seems to have infinite access to all points of the mans life from his ex-wife to his income, all used to both give us information and try to calm the man down, who does speak due to a gunshot wound of the mouth.

The monotone speech of the robot stating 'do not end it, think of you son' is both darkly comical and horrifying, the disconnect from humanity no more evident than in that moment.

Yet it does hint at care - a call to not send in the police due to his current state and a lingering final shot of the robot, still and silent in almost quiet reflection and regret is both telling and pondering"

- 7/10 

#146 - American Experience: The Race Underground [doc] (2017)

"An enthralling story of imagination. It's almost inconceivable to hear about people that thought electricity was a scary and unsustainable idea, but this shows how hard it was to pass ideas for an underground system that is beyond the thoughts of the time - an underground system of soot and coughing passengers. 

More than a story about how it happened it's more about the ideas that made it happen. We follow the story of someone who  wanted to push a radical idea of transport and eventually made it a reality, one we now see as a normality but at the time was pure idealism, and its fantastical to see, a scientific imagination that could not be realised until people finally put imagination to the science, a real human explosion of ideas.

  A worthy watch of anyone fascinated with the history of how what is banal to us became reality"


- 7/10 

#145 - Into the Inferno [doc] (2016)

"Whilst technically a documentary, it's hard to watch anything by Herzog without seeing every person interviewed an extension of himself and his psyche.

This documentary concerns humans relationship with volcanoes, both scientific and spiritual, through numerous snippets of stories spanning the globe. The switching between the volcanoes as science and as myth works well as we appreciate how all people cannot help but be humbled by the unending ferocity of mother nature in its most primal state. 

The sweeping shots of magma flows, eruptions and scorching heat clouds are awe-inspiring; some truly breathtaking cinematography makes the volcanoes a character throughout. From the extinct to the active they are brought to life as primordial giants through both the imagery and the tales. 

All of this narrated by Herzog with some truly funny deadpan lines in his wonderful inflections, an almost theatrical performance with the volcano as stage"


- 7.5/10

#144 - The Bad Batch (2017)

"With its eternal desert setting coupled with an unsettling and visceral beginning, it's easy to see why people might want to switch off within the first fifteen minutes. However, to do so would be missing out on a cinematic experience that is both compelling and frustrating in equal measures. 

The story meanders through a dream-like world of apocalyptic survivors, the small details engaging. So much of the characteristics of the people we follow is shown subtly in stark contrast to the crudely blunt imagery of the world they reside in - dirty, muscled cannibals and emaciated wanderers sift through rusted homes and neon lights. 

The middle of the film lags and becomes almost stagnant before pushing to a finale that leaves you curious and annoyed - it often feels like we only caught a snippet of the full story here, and that what makes it work"


- 6/10

 

#143 - Blackfish [doc] (2013)

"A harrowing but important watch, Blackfish highlights both the plight of Orcas in captivity as well as the more insidious work ethics of Seaworld-like marine parks that put profit over the safety of their own workers. 

Told mainly through interviews with ex animal trainers, we learn the opinions of those that actually experienced years of working with the creatures and contemplate how little we truly know about these intelligent creatures and the morals behind locking them in pool for entertainment. 

There is also a focus on the spin of the propaganda machine when it comes to injuries and deaths that these marine parks churn out, trying to pin blame on experienced trainers rather than the complex nature of such an imposing and obviously frustrated creature. 

By the end we're left in somber reflection if such places should still be allowed to exist today" 


- 8/10

#142 - Through Fire She Walks [short[ (2017)

"With no actual lines spoken, this short is a beautifully framed one. The opening scenes in black white, particularly the very first with a solider during the first world war leaning on cracked trees, are like vintage photographs. 

The story is simple: the solder sees a German shouting over the hunched form of someone digging. He shoots the German, and finds an enigmatic gas mask attired figure. He protects the figure as more soldiers appear, lots of close shots and cross-hair POV give a sense of immediate danger and claustrophobia, all to a discordant and unnerving piano score. 

There are lots of lingering scenes that let you stew in the moment, especially the finale, which has a shot of the soldier with us unsure on the fate of the woman he faces, the anxiousness for a reveal kept to the final shot" 


- 7/10 

#141 - Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey [doc] (2011)

"Genuinely sincere and heartwarming without devolving into eye-rolling saccharine, this is an uplifting story of a man following his dreams against the herd of expectation, backed with the love and support of his family.

More than just a case study of hard work and passion, it's a fascinating insight into the history of sesame street, the muppets, and  the people behind the scenes involved in them. 

We follow Kevin Clash from his humble performances in his backyard to children, to local tv, to working on huge films such as Labyrinth. Clash's unbridled joy in the work he does is an infectious dose of enthusiasm that will bring a smile to even the most pessimistic of watcher. 

The message of Elmo being created around the central emotion of love and that being his anchor between himself and the puppet is particularly striking"


- 8.5/10

#140 - 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

"A tensely wrought thriller focusing on three people in a bunker as, according to the owner, it's protecting them from an apocalypse that has occurred on the surface. The slow seeping of character as the film progresses is masterful, the uneasiness elevated through snippets of information that is released through organic storytelling as opposed to stilted exposition. 

John Goodman is exceptional as the softly spoken but looming figure of Howard, his quietly measured cadence evolves the role into a Jekyll and Hyde criss-cross between sympathetic father figure and suspicious stranger. Bouncing off him is the equally good Winstead as Michelle, wary at every moment, never quite succumbing to the allure of the 'rescuer' as she slowly pieces together a more insidious motive.

The final fifteen minutes is a genre bending nosedrive, a frantic, shaky antithesis of what fell before underground"


- 8/10

#139 - Emelie (2016)

"I will always be happy with horror that eschews predictable jump scares for a more insidious terror, one built of character, tension, and unease. That is the case with the first two thirds of this home invasion film as we follow a babysitter looking after three children for the night. 

The performances are good, surprisingly so from the children considering how much they are featured, our titular character putting in a wonderfully restrained piece that is slowly leaked scene by scene. As things gradually grow more and more peculiar the tension mounts well, the almost surreal snippets of what she does to make the children uncomfortable debased and fascinating. 

Alas, whilst the reveal is tragic, it does not evolve from that, instead degenerating into rather standard slasher fare, the uniquely squirmable scenes prior replaced with a vanilla third act"


- 6/10 

#138 - The Guest (2014)

"Rides a perfected blend of thriller and dark comedy with the confidence to know when to indulge in either in restrained or ludicrous dollops. Everything about this screams of director and writer's trust in every aspect of the film. 

The pacing is perfect, the editing and cinematography wonderful. The setting feel deliberately generic, as if this could happen anywhere. Never mentioning the year also works; this could be an eighties, nineties or even later film. 

There is a pic'n'mix feel to the styles of music, costume, and mannerisms that eludes the essence of any particular zeitgeist, and it works so well in giving the film a strangely eerie and dream like feel at times, as if it were almost the nightmarish dreams of the parents mourning over the loss of a son at war - a gripping, unique film"


- 8.5/10

#137 - Cargo (2017)

"Based on a short (reviewed #114), Cargo is a zombie film set in Australia an unspecified amount of time after an outbreak. A family try to survive in this character driven, slow burner of a story. Like most of of the best zombie films this uses then more as a device to explore themes of power, racism, and family.

There's good performances in this, Freeman especially, but the plot feels a bit muddled with several areas that should have been trimmed or cut completely, and a bit too much scattershot scene jumping, almost as if they were worried if they didn't have some form of conventional antagonist people would get bored. 

Once Freeman gets bit the tension picks up, but it's hard not to feel a stronger first act would have elevated this to a stronger piece"


- 6.5/10

#136 - Apocalypse Now Now [short] (2017)

"It's hard to really review this proof of concept short that is Apocalypse Now Now, as it feels like a 5 minute snippet from a completed film. The story is set in South Africa where our sixteen year old protagonist has hired a drunken, drug fulled paranormal bounty hunter to help him track down his presumed kidnapped girlfriend. Oh, and our protagonist has killed people, apparently. 

The setting of South Africa mixed with supernatural is an interesting one, the delivery of deadpan swearing in that accent works so well and even these brief back and forths between the two characters is funny and engaging. A tense encounter with an electrical elemental monster is brilliant, the effects solid, the creature design unique. If this becomes a feature film I will be watching it as soon as possible" 


- 7.5/10

#135 - Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (2018)

"There comes a point in any loved film series where, no matter how fond your memories are, you need to have the courage to take it out the back and put it down. Unfortunately for us, Tremors 6 exists with all the grace and poise of a damaged puppet with half its strings slashed.

Loveable Burt Gummer is back shooting graboids and shouting at people in stilted and mainly unfunny dialogue, only this time it's in Canada! Landlocked at a research facility surrounded by mountains and a conveniently broken plane, the film is a rehash of the original without any semblance of good plotting, pacing, acting, or tension.

There are a few fun moments and self aware winking, but this feels like a bad fan script that someone green lit whilst drunkenly remembering the first"


- 3/10

#134 - Revenge (2017)

"What sets this apart from the myriad of nasty rape revenge films is an acute attention to detail rather than a quick cash in. The cinematography is delightful, the desert setting dripping with a hazy, dusty anxiety that encapsulates the feeling of isolation and barren despair the protagonist feels. 

The camera work is adventurous, flicking from long single takes, extreme close ups, and wide establishing shots.The practical  effects are intense, with some truly squeamish shots that are not for the faint-hearted, the blood almost becoming its own character at times such is the effect on the story. 

Layered throughout is a dose of jet black comedy, a release from what could have been an overtly harrowing and sadistic film, the confidence in the director splicing between these elements testament to the films strengths"


- 8/10

#133 - The Road (2009)

"A truly crushing experience of trying to keep hope when there seems to be none. The story telling is rich, the world a stark colour palette of grey and browns that feels as if it's absorbed the life out of everything, leaving only empty shells. 

The violence is strong but minimal, the few instances reminding us just how vicious the world has become. The entire experience seems to be about faith in humanity, the main character is always seesawing between the balance of hope for his son and mistrust of others, a harrowing scene with a thief makes you question if his humanity is finally gone. 

Haunting, dark, and utterly absorbing, this film bathes in the horror of humans but is also a wonderful case for how hope will always linger with some"


- 8.5/10

#132 - Killer Legends [documentary] (2014)

The documentary covers four different urban legends and looks into the where the origins may have become, delving into actual crimes which sort of match the stories.

The problem here is this film isn't sure what it wants to be - purely informative, interesting investigation into urban legend history, or ghost story style dramatised exaggerations and speculative 'hooks'. Often the team will be looking into places where murders happened in the middle of the night for no reason other than 'spooky' and will end up meandering from their own original point, that  into bizarrely acting like they could be solving cold cases. 

It's a shame because the idea is brilliant, bogged down by the creators pessimism for the general audience in being able to stay interested in pure information rather than faux melodrama. 


- 5/10

#131 - Spring Breakers (2016)

"Definitely divisive, it's an intriguing slice of social criticism and black comedy. It's absurdities are glorious, the vapid, repeated dialogue a comment on the single-minded nature of the 'yolo' youth culture.

 Everything about this is a delightful exaggeration, the women constantly in bikinis even when in a courtroom, the men chiseled pecs or leering at the feminine figure - the male gaze is so explicit it's a character in its own right, panning up and down the leads at every chance it has. 

There are so many interesting shots and filming decisions such as maze-like plotting and lingering scenes that make you feel like you're watching a dream at times; indeed the main character at one points states their trip is a 'break from reality' - an apt summary for the whole film" 


- 7/10

#130 - Taxi Driver (1976)

Pulsing with an energy and life, it's a breathtaking triumph that captures the gaze and mind from the very first scene. Like a fever dream, scenes shift to and fro, tidal like, flitting between the neon signs of night to the shimmering heat wave days. 

Travis is a fascinating character, his mannerisms and speech detached from most others, as if plucked from another world and dropped into the throbbing mess of New York he grows to despise. 

The sleaze of the night scenes clings to the skin without ever feeling like a cheap, exploitation flick, it is a deliberate and pronounced grime that shows instead of tells - we absorb the imagery and understand more of how Travis sees the world without a word often having to be said"


 - 9/10

#129 - Gateway [short] (2011)

"A non linear sci-fi thriller, gateway jumps between scenes of a smashed, bloodied lab that our protagonist wakes up to. Unsure what has happened, the smeared blood surroundings contrasts the jumps between time to the pristine and clinical whites of the lab before. 

We follow the story of a machine that could save people from death, which descends into our protagonist deliberately poisoning his assistant to test it on a human, and it works, the assistant saying he had spent years in a tranquil heaven even though only minutes had passed! 

It slowly dawns that the frantic, horrific scenes in the broken lab with a twisted and crying protagonist is in fact his own personal hell as he is testing the machine on himself - an inventive, and stark finish" 


 - 6/10

#128 - Take Down (2016)

"Starts with potential as a 'young adults learn the error of their ways through working together' drama but suddenly veers into an action film with hostage takers blundering their way into the lush, rocky island setting with all the tact of a drunken elephant, decimating the pacing and feel of the film instantaneously. 

From here it devolves into a tired super blend of battle royale, hunger games, and other such ilk, the young adult suddenly perfect shooters with bow and arrows and expert trap makers after only ten days in the wild previously. 

To their credit, most of the acting from the main characters is decent and makes us care to a small degree of the stakes, however it's not enough to save the damp, floundering second half"


- 4/10

#127 - It Follows (2014)

"Highlights just how lazy conventional horror relies on cheap noise jumps and startle tactics in place of creating a deep running dread, which actually affects you. 

The film drips of confidence in the story and manner of terror it creates, the ominous music to accompany something as simplistic as 'it' walking, forever slowly and steadily towards its quarry, creates a deeply unsettling atmosphere that builds and builds as we try to understand just what faces our protagonists. 

This could so easily have been laughably terrible in the wrong hands but the scripting and pacing is excellent, the characters empathetic and the mental breakdowns believable, a film that leaves lots to consider and ponder just what the creeping evil really is - a delightful gem in the horror genre"

- 8.5/10

 

#126 - Darc (2018)

"A by the numbers revenge thriller that hints at the potential for greater things sporadically throughout the run time, but flips between the intriguing and the infuriating. 

This is a film trying to be a mixture of slick, over edited thriller and dark, gritty revenge, never quite keeping a firm grasp on either. Our protagonist is a one note shape of a man that doesn't quite have the acting chops to exude a contemplating confidence instead of static boredom. 

There is a duplicity to the entirety of it that never quite focuses into a straight line, the quality in every aspect mish-mashed scene to scene, as if some were first takes. Worth a watch if you can get over the tonal and quality shifts peppered throughout"


- 5.5/10

#125 - The Marine 5: Battleground (2017)

"The most surprising aspect of this fifth installment in the bargain bin action series is that it's not a complete write off. Wrestler 'the Miz' is competent in his performance and  there are some genuinely fun moments. The rest, however, is pure straight-to-video schlock. 

Set mostly in a multi floored car park at night (yes, I'm serious) an ex-marine turned paramedic gets involved when a biker gang chase down a man who killed their leader. Most of the script makes no sense with characters having contradicting behavior scene to scene for the sake of snappy one liners, all mixed in with a gratuitous body count, despite the escalation making absolutely no sense. 

Worth watching only if you're a so bad it's good action film connoisseur" 


- 3.5/10

#124 - Money Monster (2016)

"Starts promising but soon delves into a stodgy, plodding action piece that has struggles to keep up with its own plot contrivances. In a film with so much invested on the bomb controlling everything, the worry of danger diminishes as every minute passes, the tense beginning devolving into farce, especially once we leave the studio. 

Clooney is decent here and it's a shame this cocky, arrogant character is wasted as it's one of his better performances in recent years, his slimy uttering in the first act are believable and ground the film in a character that could go somewhere interesting - alas not so much. His transformation to caring about the 'normal guy' is sloppy, mundane and mechanical - just like the film as a whole"


- 5/10

#123 - Season of the Witch (2011)

"Everything about this film feels like it was created by someone in the midst of a fever dream that forgot what they were originally doing. The opening is pure schlock before a rotating showcase of crusade battles that is needlessly long and kills any 'tension' the opening may have provided to some people. 

The dialogue sounds like it was translated into something else then back into English, the fact Cage and Perlman are deadpanning most of the film makes it even duller - this feels like a contract obligation, nothing more.

 Propping up this slow, tedious mess is some truly awful CGI, even with it trying to be hidden in dark forests and shadowy crevices, more like ps2 graphics then a 40 million budget"


- 3/10

#122 - Capsules [short] (2017)

"Told entirely to a somber piano score with no words that we can hear, capsules tells the story of a world where people can only experience emotions through prescribed pills.

One day a couple want to take there relationship to the next level by taking 'love' pills. What follows is a melancholic journey into the effects slowly dulling in one of them, the saturated and glowing oranges of the drug high dissipating into dour grey and smudgy realism as the effects dull. 

As the desperation to keep the feeling leads to more and more of the drug being ingested, the other partner unaware of the emotional struggles of the other, we are led to a sad but uplifting ending of personal understanding" 


- 7/10

#121 - Toonocalypse [short] (2016)

"Found footage creature feature is a trope well trodden, however when the creatures are animated cartoon aliens with adorable faces that make cute noises -  that's something a bit different. 

This short film set in a world where enigmatic spaceships hover above Earth before deploying a multitude of small, cuddly alien creatures that act as a hybrid of pet and friend, is a gloriously imaginative twist on a story told so many times before. As we follow the video diaries of our protagonist, one year on these cute aliens are not cute anymore, morphing into giant beasts. 

The blend of live action and cartoon is excellent, the style of vibrant colour and sharp edges a fantastic opposite to the live action softness"


- 7/10

#120 - The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)

"A languid concept is brought to life by Jackson and Reynolds who hold the screen whenever they are in shot, elevating what is often stodgy and unwieldy dialogue into convincing and often funny back and forths intercut with action aplenty. This film zips by at a fairly brisk pace, the third act basically  one long chase scene through the streets and rivers of Amsterdam.

However, this does not distract enough from a complete tonal dissonance in the films characters and main plot - why this silly action comedy had to have the very real concept of a brutal dictator standing trial for massacring civilians is anyone's guess and is exceptionally jarring compared to the rest of the films  body-count action fest"


- 6/10