This one was fascinating. I watched it with a buddy, at the movies, in a room that'd seat 512 people, yet we were probably no more than ten people in the room, tops...

I really hope we were just there at an odd time, or that this movie's been drawing in killer audiences until we watched it - cause it deserves more!

They had a cinema exclusive message at the start of the film too, with Gosling and the real director (I say real because... well you'll see) thanking the viewers and talking a bit about the film, all the while immaturely texting each other secret messages the audience could see, in a way where it was supposedly clear they were not really intended for us. I love it!

I've seen the message thing done on a couple movies last year, Sista Resan and Ett Sista Race in particular, and their directorial talks were great too, but this was even better. And this was international!

I hope they do more of those on other movies. It's a cool thing.

As for the actual movie?

Well it's a movie within a movie! Where they both script and film a movie in real time, all the while a nefarious scheme is a brewing in the background.
The main actor's mysteriously gone, and the stunt guy needs to get him back... and then when it's all over (more on that soon) we get some actual behind the scenes of 'behind the scenes' scenes in the movie itself!

There are so many layers to it all!

And they get creative with both the filming and the scripting.

They show the details they want you to see, but when it's over we see how they really saw it. Within the movie we see scenes both with and without CGI, as they're filming them, but really only as they are post production.
We just see what they want us to see, because it's all still a part of the movie, and what irony that Ryan Gosling - the guy who plays the stunt guy (the 'Fall Guy' - there are layers to that choice of title too) actually has a stunt guy do his stunts.

Then in the end Momoa - who has a history in stunts also - takes over the lead role, as an actual stunt guy who plays the lead role the lead role was a stunt double for!

I love the way it all connects, and builds. I love the fights, and the stunts, but even more so I love how wholesome and full-circle the story itself is!

It's exciting, witty, romantic, ruthless... with good music, with a fascinating glimpse of the craft behind the film within the film, and it pays homage to the most underappreciated working man there is in this world - the stunt guy! They get their time to shine too. Just you wait.

A hopeless romantic I may be, but this is just best way in the possible savage. Whatever that means.

The actors did a great job too. Respect.

You'd almost think Ryan was the stunt guy, and there's not a single person here who doesn't put on a good show when a situation calls for it.

I wonder if there's more to this that I'm still missing.

I wonder if some of the other actors were legit stunt performers too.

I wonder if there are layers beyond the layers I know and recognize; if I'm still just seeing what they want me to see. It's almost like The Matrix huh. But not really. But like Inception. But like you know what I'm saying right? Like with Jocko's merch (jockostore.com) there are layers to this shizzle.

I love the actual montage they have of stunts at the beginning of the film too. I recognized the Atomic Blonde, John Wick, Mr. Nobody and Fast & Furious scenes at least - probably more - I forget which others they included.

And I love what they did with the Baywatch stunt. How they actually got the actual cast to cameo at the end too, and though the focus is very very much on the stunt work itself (which btw is top tier - find yourself a montage of just all of those falls somewhere) they get in some fantastic visual effects too! Party scene. Very tastefully done I must say. :)

Though I wonder if the horse was real or no, I wonder if they combined SFX and VFX, I need more behind the scenes...

I love how certain glimpses of the (hopefully actual) script flash by during the intro too. Since I watched this in theatre I didn't have the opportunity to pause and read those, they flimmer and fade fast - but I definitely will some day!

I definitely will see this one again, no doubt about it.

It's in essence a rom com action movie that pays homage to that most noble profession related to film, and if you ever happen to read this you guys who somehow got involved with the making of this, you did such a good job. Not just in paying homage but in making one of the most wholesome and memorable movies I've seen in a long time.

I came home in a fantastic mood around midnight yesterday, and though I didn't get as much sleep as I needed that mood's still with me today.

Can't wait to revisit this again once it's out on other mediums, but I'm glad I caught it at the theatre too, with that exclusive message no less.

Stuff like this gives me hope cinema may live forever; that we someone manage to rekindle the appreciation of film that we used to have.

We watch movies sure, but the market's all too saturated now, the pace is all too high, everything looks great and yet somehow... I feel like we've been missing something when I see something like this.

This and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Real blockbusters. Real Hollywood. Or Bollywood - they're cool too. They do crazy stunts too. They still have the passion and dance with a fashion too.

I did hope there'd be some HK action footage included in that montage of homages the movie starts with, but I guess it does aim itself at a more American audience.

HK had the maybe craziest stunts of all though back in the day - and maybe still do. Thailand too. Indonesia. I'm probably missing a bundle. Keep on innovating y'all, and props on keeping the craft alive!

Appreciate this. This was amazing.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome

Supernatural horror, based on the eponymous online phenomenon, a ritual conducted in an elevator, in which players attempt to travel to another dimension using a set of rules that can be found online.

Contortionists have really become a thing huh? All scary movies use the same song and dance now - though admittedly it's a little scarier with this one!

They found a good elevator, they found a good cast, they have the story, they have the atmosphere, they have a catchy outro song after it's all over too - which I REALLY appreciate when it is. But the shock value's just... overplayed. I don't see horror movies the same way these days. When the threat is TOO perceptible it ruins the scare for me. Ghosts aren't real. Except when they are. Except when they really aren't there...

I love the play with lights, the humming, the numbers, the slow build, the red world. But then it just speeds up and loses me. Why they gotta do a good movie like that. This could've been... friggin' amazing.

It still is pretty solid horror.

The effects are good too.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Another patriotic American movie. Narrative a la Al Pacino, and politics... was what I thought initially.

It was a thorough one though - and narrated by John Cusack more than Al. Which might give you some hints about how things'd turn out in the movie.

It starts with a murder, and you think it's just a starting point, not as central a piece of the plot as it turns out to be. The corruption runs deep though. As do the feelings. The intrigue. The hazards and gambles of a government job - but also the glamor and high-talking that leads it all along...

I'm really not into politics in real life, but it's fascinating how captivated this movie kept me. The dialog, the characters... it's in the way they interact, and in what they say, more than what actually happens - even though there certainly is a lot of scandal and corruption a brewing too, in what starts off a seemingly simple murder case.

They speak so political I don't understand half of what they're saying, but I do love the way they say it. And I wonder what happened to the mayor, as well as the widow wife...

So there are certain loose ends, but it's an impressive movie, and ditto glimpse into City Hall N.Y.

It just may be the most realistic one they'll ever let you see.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Was reminded of this movie recently, and for some reason felt I had to see it again...

It's a post-apocalyptic science fiction Korean film based on the graphic French climate fiction novel Le Transperceneige, by Jacques Lob.

I'd like to read that book.

I didn't remember if the movie was horror or action - I recalled the insect scene strongly, but little else. I do remember it being sci-fi, and dystopian, a post-apocalyptic movie where the remnants of humankind are stuck on a nuclear-driven train...

Turns out it's way more action than horror. It's never horror. There's discomfort, and action, and philosophy, and love. Little else.

Everything goes in cycles. Even in the logo. The proper, sustainable balance... is a hallmark of the film. And what irony it is that in the end the chaotic nature of humanity derails it all. But even then, there is hope...

Chris Evans - who I thought was Scott Eastwood initially - is the main protagonist.

Tilda Swinton's there too, and Ed Harris, for a while.

You might also recognize Song Kang-ho, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Ko Asung, Alison Pill, the bald guy with the clear eyes, probably some others...

It really is a good movie. And the premise even more so than the film. It's about way more than the apocalypse. It's about the world. It's about us.

The special effects however did not age greatly, but everything else...

Great watch still.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

French movies hit different man. There's just something about them... and I'm not just saying that cause this one stars a bad-ass femme fatale cast that I really just enjoy seeing.

The blood's not perfect, the scripting's not perfect either, but the directing... the directing's special here, the settings, the faces, the places, the transitions... and the charm's on overload.

The sights make me want to move to France, and the unconventionally passionate sequences remind me that there's a world outside Hollywood too.

Like the naked fight scene. That was new. Wouldn't see that in an American movie! Would you? At least not with as revealing angles as you have here. A clothed woman fighting a naked man that is - it's been somewhat included in other films the other way around, like with the first Point Break with Keanu Reeves. Or wait was the girl there maybe just topless... that scene probably left an imprint more so because I watched it in school (the girls in class were a bit flustered about it) more than because it really was all out there. Other fully nude mainstream movie fights I cannot recall, I must have seen some, in Naked Weapon maybe...

Here it's a relatively buff naked black man fighting a petite (but pretty athletic) white girl no less though. Which was definitely new to me. Cultural diversity FTW. And what better to convey both the potential threat and the vulnerability of a man than with their being naked.

Of course would have been way more interesting were they both naked.

Anyway some stunts they don't really do justice, and the fights overall aren't amazingly complex or fluent, but some... some are real good. Real good. They get creative too. Not just with that one fight above.

The scripting though: I'm not 100% happy about that part.

Like did she just plan to leave Alex hanging a full four years? And how did Alex get off that roof in the first place? And the heist went way too easy - all complications considered - all things leading up to it too. Same with the final showdown. The Godmother... she deserved more.

The special-effects are heavy initially, and some scenes are a letdown, but it definitely wins me over along the way. Sexy and action-heavy as it is right from the start, and with plenty of intimacy and character bonding along the way. Though no full on high five I really love a movie like this.

Great watch.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

Norwegian movie. About an American family who moves to Norway, to a house... with a barn.

The utopian winter landscapes are a nice contrast to the horror, the soundtrack's top-notch, the sfx too, they have real moose, they have a real American family too it seems - at least a real American male in the lead - which provides a real culture crash - and the family's a charming one from the start. Reminds me a bit of the new Ghostbusters movie but... better. Well no. Not really. Just closer. Scandinavia too. It's cool.

The filmography's so damn clean too. So bright. So sharp. It's unconventional horror, with comedy, one that parodies both America and Norway on an appreciatively equal basis - Norway maybe most of the two. Just hope more people don't start moving to Scandinavia after this...

The special effects are not great, not always, but... what a great movie after all.

It's close to home. Love the location; the people in it.

I'm especially impressed with Townes Bunner - the kid, though the whole family's so wholesome. Martin Starr, Amrita Acharia, Zoe Winther-Hansen. They're all so different, but somehow such an obvious family after all. Maybe the differences are really what make them a family after all...

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle