Tommy Lee Jones, Sting, Sean Bean, Melanie Griffith! Wasn't expecting to see a single name I recognized at the start of this, but it turned out to be like a star-studded older counterpart to Nightcrawler or... something like that.

The world was alive in the eighties. And the details here too. The crash. The funnel of flame behind the policemen. The bridge at the back of the street still under construction - towering like an alien vessel above the brick and concrete. The 'do you take credit cards' intro... times were different then.

It's a jazzy, noire-like intimate romance/club type film, featuring a few eventful nights, a few heavy players, the lovebirds a couple of involuntary participants in their game... that's it.

The girl here really looked like Kristen Stewart btw. In her prime.

And just so you know The Krakow Jazz Ensemble - main soundtrack band - are/were an actual band. With a chaotic kind of jazz. They helped build up the atmosphere too. I loved the tone, and I loved the romantic focus.

This movie really sucked me in unexpectedly, but ended the same way as these movies usually do. A little inconclusive.

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all

A journalist takes his son with him to investigate pirate activity off the coast of Florida. But he gets stranded on a mysterious island - where he might not be alone.

Wonder where that broken down ferry really is. Wonder if islands like this really exist too...

The beginning gives you glimpses, but then you move to the city, and when suddenly Blair Maynard and his son Justin are in the grips of a group of pirates living on a remote island in The Bahamas you really aren't prepared for it. Some bits remind me of A Clockwork Orange, or Deer Hunter.

I've been thinking modern thrillers are getting a bit overly fucked up recently, but that's really only on the graphical side. On the psychological one the eighties were waaay ahead of their time. Pitting son and father against each other as reality becomes fiction - as if it's all a dream - or a nightmare rather, and it seems all they can do is abide by the new style of life they're provided...

It's a pretty different movie. Savage. And Michael Caine's great as always, though I'm not used to seeing him not old yet. Seems he's been in a bundle of classics, I just didn't recognize him earlier.

Critic's should've scored this one higher. It stands apart.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

(more…)

Been a while since I watched a movie that really let me escape the real world for a bit! But this one did it.

Reminds me of Smokin' Aces - the crazy hitman movie, and They Live. It's out of this world in the best possible way; in a way where it seems like it could still be in it. Up to a point.

It's a sensible kind of crazy. A spontaneous slice of life ride that takes you from the normal to the abnormal, and clues you in along the way. I wonder if the 'drink' was the first marker. What a ride it was after that.

It never gets dull. Never goes too fast either. The final few special effects might not have aged perfectly, and the stairway Uzi scene was a little sloppy, but most of it they do manage impressively well.

I love the character. I love the story. I love how personal it gets, and yet how nobody really stands for anyone. And I blame it on society. Or media. But not like this.

If you were expecting the typical love story with Marlene. If you were expecting a buddy tale. If you were expecting the typical action hero sequence. Or one with a twist to it - where the unexpected ones win. If you were expecting any of those things you were expecting wrong. You were expecting cliché. And if it's one thing I love it's a movie that moves as far from the norm as possible all the while remaining relatable and real, but maybe it's also about the elements. The car. The desert. The dust and grime and timeless type of ride it becomes when over.

The newer Repo Men was a whole other thing. A more mainstream thing. Good too but I wish they somehow went back to the classics as well. Made something like this again. But different. It'd be refreshing to see.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome

(more…)

You know who won World War II?

It wasn’t the generals, or the admirals.

It was the economists.

More tanks, planes, ships.

And all that spending lifted this entire nation out of poverty.

Freed the world from tyranny.

A big country needs big enemies.

The best enemy we ever had was the Soviet Union.

Our fear of them unified our people.

Gave us purpose.

The problem today, John, is half this country thinks the other half is its enemy.

Because they have no one else to fight.

(more…)

Cold. So cold. so confusing, too... but she wasn't the crazy one at all was she? She wasn't right? We know what happened before the end so we should believe that, but still, there's a doubt that gnaws...

I planned on starting this review with a 'this is probably what an abusive relationship feels like', but when it's over... I can't be sure after all.

It went further than I thought it would. I thought it would end the way it did, but not quite like that, not without at least an acknowledgment as to what he'd done. It doesn't make it any less scary that it never happened, if it didn't, though. Vague spoiler alert.

The invisibility effects are pretty impressive. I feel like they could've done more with the rain, but apart from that I'm not at all disappointed.

They might not have had the most professional villain demeanor always - he let her chase him a little too easily towards the end, the hospital scene was unexpectedly messy (why did he let them live? Didn't he want her to be deemed crazy any longer?), but it seemed necessary for the turn; for the revelation; for the revenge that followed.

But I think perfection dwindled a little there.

Really scary movie though. I appreciate the lack of jump scares too. You don't always see the threat, and that just makes it all feel so much darker.

It's the kind of movie that makes you look around the room a bit more than usual when you're done with it, especially if you watch this alone, in the dark of night, the rain falling outside, quietly, invisibly...

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

I watched a John Cena interview on Conan recently, and felt it was about time I looked up some more of his movies, but you know what? He hasn't been in any more!! Neither has Kate Beckinsale, though she's coming out with some new ones this year. But never mind her now. She's not in this one either.

As for Cena I managed to find this older movie in his meager repertoire where he plays a smoke diver (alternative firefighter that dives into smoke) and saves a trio of kids from a burning cabin... and then things get crazy.

Michael Keegan-Key is here too, and the ever so versatile John Leguizamo, and the giant Tyler Mane. With a short Dennis Haysbert cameo.

Unfortunately it's overplayed. Overacted. Overexaggerated to the point it's unfortunately not as good as it could be, and you get a bit annoyed with those kids... but it's still enjoyable. It's a family friendly kids movie with bonds and all. Leaves you warm. Leaves you happy after all.

The Cena shower scene too, lmao! Best bit right there.

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all