"A curiously unique take on a traditional adventure chase film, Apocalypto is Gibson at his finest crafting a well immersed story that manages to make you invested in characters so different from the usual reality of the modern world.
Set at the end of the Mayan reign, the film follows members of a peaceful jungle tribe who are brutally assaulted and captured by other Mayans who wish to use them as ritual sacrifice to keep the masses at bay.
The slow build up showing us our protagonist's family and values as well as his interactions and camaraderie with the other males of his tribe never feels clunky or by the numbers; instead it's a fluid escalation that makes you care when they are captured - we share in the horror and awe as they are paraded through the chaotic Mayan city to a death with no meaning.
It's intense stuff, reinforced by an excellent mix of acting, set design, editing, sound mixing, and pacing.
The final act of the hunters becoming the hunted is a satisfying, foreshadowed crescendo that finishes with a well-earned payoff and completed character arc"
- 8/10
Tuesday 28 August 2018
Tuesday 21 August 2018
#186 - Cropsey [doc] (2010)
"Taking inspiration from the bogeyman folklore they were told and shared as children, this documentary follows two filmmakers delving into the disturbing case of Andre Rand, a man charged with kidnapping of children and blamed for several disappearances, although never fully charged with murder.
The documentary attempts to trace the origin of Rand and his history in working in mental health facilities, along with how he used to live in makeshift camps in the woods and the stories that followed during the uproar of his trial.
Numerous people involved in trying to find the missing children, ranging from police, detectives and the general public, talk from the probable to the outrageous - here are tales of homeless networks he worked with to pass children around for satanic rituals, to stories he believed the mentally ill shouldn't be alive and he was doing them a favour; some even think he was innocent, and that the real killer is still out there after framing him.
It's sinister stuff and plays like a true horror story, perhaps the most horrific aspect being that this is grim reality. Powerfully sinister watching"
- 7/10
The documentary attempts to trace the origin of Rand and his history in working in mental health facilities, along with how he used to live in makeshift camps in the woods and the stories that followed during the uproar of his trial.
Numerous people involved in trying to find the missing children, ranging from police, detectives and the general public, talk from the probable to the outrageous - here are tales of homeless networks he worked with to pass children around for satanic rituals, to stories he believed the mentally ill shouldn't be alive and he was doing them a favour; some even think he was innocent, and that the real killer is still out there after framing him.
It's sinister stuff and plays like a true horror story, perhaps the most horrific aspect being that this is grim reality. Powerfully sinister watching"
- 7/10
Sunday 19 August 2018
#185 - Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (2015)
"More an insight into the man than the singer, the better parts of the film work as a character study before the fame as we learn about Cobain's troubled childhood and emotional insecurities.
The telling of the tales is done in a way that is styled beyond the talking head documentary thematic - through doodles, sketches, hand-written lyrics and animation.
It captures an almost nightmarish quality of detachment from reality, a feeling that seems to come through as a primary motive behind much of Cobain's actions, at least from what we are told and shown.
There is a fantastic animated segment with Cobain narrating some disturbing moments from his teen years that accumulates in an attempted suicide via train - how much is true or not is lost in an unreliable narrator, but it plays almost like a short story itself and is utterly gripping.
The second half is mostly his relationship with Courtney Love, told mainly through home video footage. This feels more emotionally manipulative than the first half as we see the destructive aftermath of heroin addiction and ends the film on a sour note"
- 6/10
The telling of the tales is done in a way that is styled beyond the talking head documentary thematic - through doodles, sketches, hand-written lyrics and animation.
It captures an almost nightmarish quality of detachment from reality, a feeling that seems to come through as a primary motive behind much of Cobain's actions, at least from what we are told and shown.
There is a fantastic animated segment with Cobain narrating some disturbing moments from his teen years that accumulates in an attempted suicide via train - how much is true or not is lost in an unreliable narrator, but it plays almost like a short story itself and is utterly gripping.
The second half is mostly his relationship with Courtney Love, told mainly through home video footage. This feels more emotionally manipulative than the first half as we see the destructive aftermath of heroin addiction and ends the film on a sour note"
- 6/10
#184 - The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
"Drowning in an ever flowing fountain of unflinching dark comedy, Scorsese unleashes a complete and total assault on the senses through this wickedly provocative and unashamedly over the top decimation of exuberant excess.
Based on the autobiography of morally contemptuous stock broker Jordan Belfort, this unflinching drama grabs you by the neck from the get go and keeps a firm grip for three solid hours.
The unregulated chaos veers almost into sensory overload territory, yet under the keen veteran eye of Scorsese there is method in the madness as we follow the ever increasing antics of Belfort and his friends as the stakes and gluttony only increase as time goes by.
It's hard to make such a repugnant character a sympathetic one, but Dicaprio is wonderfully over the top and clearly reveling in the borderline absurdity of how exaggerated his performances allows.
He is wickedly comedic and bounces off Jonah Hill fantastically - every scene is peppered with some form of visual or verbal interaction that immediately grabs you; there is never a dull interlude despite the lengthy runtime.
Strap in for a wild ride"
- 8.5/10
Based on the autobiography of morally contemptuous stock broker Jordan Belfort, this unflinching drama grabs you by the neck from the get go and keeps a firm grip for three solid hours.
The unregulated chaos veers almost into sensory overload territory, yet under the keen veteran eye of Scorsese there is method in the madness as we follow the ever increasing antics of Belfort and his friends as the stakes and gluttony only increase as time goes by.
It's hard to make such a repugnant character a sympathetic one, but Dicaprio is wonderfully over the top and clearly reveling in the borderline absurdity of how exaggerated his performances allows.
He is wickedly comedic and bounces off Jonah Hill fantastically - every scene is peppered with some form of visual or verbal interaction that immediately grabs you; there is never a dull interlude despite the lengthy runtime.
Strap in for a wild ride"
- 8.5/10
Monday 13 August 2018
#183 - Ant-man and the Wasp (2018)
"After the heavy heights of Infinity War, Marvel wisely dial up the screwball and physical comedy with this sequel that wasn't really needed but manages to be surprisingly enjoyable.
This film has more comedic hits instead of misses with some well thought, witty scenes that zip past in a pace that juggles the comedy vessel it mainly is with the a story that will have a weight to keep people interested.
It's a hard balancing act and the see-saw often gets grounded down one end too much. The antagonist, Ghost, has a superbly enigmatic entrance that makes you want to know who and what this is, but then the film blurts out its exposition in an astonishingly lazy and mundane way as an entire arc is squashed into a five minute monologue - even the film realises it and tries to distract with an off-the-wall ringtone interruption to try and make light of the cliched villain dialogue, but it's not fooling anyone.
Ultimately, this is a light-hearted entry into a franchise approaching its darkest hour, and it manages its task to entertain with aplomb"
- 6/10
This film has more comedic hits instead of misses with some well thought, witty scenes that zip past in a pace that juggles the comedy vessel it mainly is with the a story that will have a weight to keep people interested.
It's a hard balancing act and the see-saw often gets grounded down one end too much. The antagonist, Ghost, has a superbly enigmatic entrance that makes you want to know who and what this is, but then the film blurts out its exposition in an astonishingly lazy and mundane way as an entire arc is squashed into a five minute monologue - even the film realises it and tries to distract with an off-the-wall ringtone interruption to try and make light of the cliched villain dialogue, but it's not fooling anyone.
Ultimately, this is a light-hearted entry into a franchise approaching its darkest hour, and it manages its task to entertain with aplomb"
- 6/10
Wednesday 8 August 2018
#182 - Los Bastardos (2008)
"It begins strongly with long, achingly slow takes showing us the day in the life of two undocumented Mexican day labourors as they struggle to find work.
The first half delves into a blend of mumblecore, slow burning scenes of stark and often deliberately drawn out banality that are more like snippets pulled randomly from a day regardless of what or what does not happen.
This approach, if you can get past it, works well at fleshing our two protagonists into people that feel like those you could bump into on the street - there is no deliberate tugging at heartstrings for easy sympathy, nor cheap, fetishising of poor falseness.
If this had continued and the explosive finale had been ten minutes this could have been something special. Instead, like Jekyll and Hyde, the second half changes into an unorthodox home invasion - slowly you stop caring as the scenes unfurl.
That being said, this does have one of the best crescendos I have seen in a long time. It's unfortunate the second half had to muddy the waters the first half set up"
- 5.5/10
The first half delves into a blend of mumblecore, slow burning scenes of stark and often deliberately drawn out banality that are more like snippets pulled randomly from a day regardless of what or what does not happen.
This approach, if you can get past it, works well at fleshing our two protagonists into people that feel like those you could bump into on the street - there is no deliberate tugging at heartstrings for easy sympathy, nor cheap, fetishising of poor falseness.
If this had continued and the explosive finale had been ten minutes this could have been something special. Instead, like Jekyll and Hyde, the second half changes into an unorthodox home invasion - slowly you stop caring as the scenes unfurl.
That being said, this does have one of the best crescendos I have seen in a long time. It's unfortunate the second half had to muddy the waters the first half set up"
- 5.5/10
Wednesday 1 August 2018
#181 - Waltz with Bashir (2008)
"An extraordinary animated documentary, centered around horrific real world events, Waltz with Bashir flows through its narrative and revelations in a dream like state coasting from a lucid serenity to brash nightmare.
We follow a man who fought in the IDF trying to regain his lost memories of his involvement in the invasion of Beirut and the subsequent massacres that were perpetrated on the Palestinian people in Sabra and Shatila.
The animation is a unique blend of adobe flash and traditional animation. Hard shadows and angular, haunted faces of the war memories play out like a drug induced, sleep-derived trip.
The majority of the film is themed around the potential of, consciously or unconsciously, forgetting memories that harbor guilt. This is hard subject matter, and one of the films strengths is its unwillingness to potentially skirt or avoid the grim reality of what occurred - there is no glamourisation or sympathy begging, simply facts that simmer to the surface as each memory is rediscovered.
It is this unflinching look at a horrible time in world history that makes the viewing so compelling"
- 8.5/10
We follow a man who fought in the IDF trying to regain his lost memories of his involvement in the invasion of Beirut and the subsequent massacres that were perpetrated on the Palestinian people in Sabra and Shatila.
The animation is a unique blend of adobe flash and traditional animation. Hard shadows and angular, haunted faces of the war memories play out like a drug induced, sleep-derived trip.
The majority of the film is themed around the potential of, consciously or unconsciously, forgetting memories that harbor guilt. This is hard subject matter, and one of the films strengths is its unwillingness to potentially skirt or avoid the grim reality of what occurred - there is no glamourisation or sympathy begging, simply facts that simmer to the surface as each memory is rediscovered.
It is this unflinching look at a horrible time in world history that makes the viewing so compelling"
- 8.5/10
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