tisdag 31 december 2024

Carry-On

There is a tadition that keeps coming back every single year during the Christmas holiday online and that is the discussion:- Is the 1988 action classic Die Hard a Christmas movie or not? I swear i have seen this discusson go online for almost 20 years at least and this was before Facebook even existed where people discussed this on forum pages instead. In my personal opinion i would say it´s a Christmas classic even if you don´t get to see lots of snow or perhaps you don´t get to see lots of traditional Christmas food either. Die Hard may be one of the greatest action movies of all time honestly and there are so many things to appreciate about this film, no matter if you agree or disagree that this is a Christmas movie. First of all you have the character of John McClane played brilliant by action icon Bruce Willis who does a lot of really cool action scenes in this film, but i also love his sense of humour as he makes fun of the terrorists before killing as many as he can. You also have the brilliant performance from legendary actor Alan Rickman playing the terrorist leader Hans Gruber with his evil smile and sharp dialogue. There are also other fun side characters such as the sleaze bag Harrry Ellis ( played by actor Hart Bochhner ) who looks like Donald Trump Jr high on cocaine all the time. The action scenes from director John McTiernan are really fun and very effective as well. If you for some reason have not seen this film you simply have to, Die Hard is a true 80´s classic and should be bought on phsyical media. I do really enjoy both Die Hard 2 - Die Harder and Die Hard - With A Vengeance as well and i actually don´t mind Die Hard 4.0. But let´s not talk about the last Die Hard film from 2013 known as A Good Day To Die Hard, they never should have made it honestly. Speaking of similar films such as Die Hard a film called Carry-On was released on Netflix that seemed to be like Die Hard 2 with some differences of course. At least there were people online comparing this film to Die Hard 2 this definetely caught my attention. Also that this film stars Taron Egerton from the wonderful The Kingsman films, where i especially loved the first film. Knowing im a big fan of action films in general of course i had to check this film out. Is is possible that Carry-On is a future action classic or is this a Netflix film that no one will probably remember?

Ethan Kopek ( Aron Tegerton ), a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer at Los Angeles International Airport, has become cynical and unambitious after failing the police academy by concealing his father´s criminal history. On Christmas Eve, his pregnant girlfriend Nora Parisi ( Sofia Carson ), encourages him to reapply and pursue his dream. Instead, Ethan requests his supervisor, Phil Sarkowski ( Dean Norris ), assign him to manage the baggage-scanning lane, hoping to demonstrate his merit for a promotion. During the shift, Ethan receives an earbud, through which he is contacted by a ruthless mercenary, The Traveler ( Jason Bateman ), who orders him to let a specific carry-on case pass through the scanner, or Nora will be killed. At first Ethan think this is a joke until The Traveler proves his being serious. This is the beginning of a nightmare for Ethan, and if he makes one mistake his future family may be gone for good.

Even though i can understand why some people would be reminded of Die Hard 2 in certain scenes of Carry-On i can honestly say this film reminded me of a completely different film. How many of you remember the psychological thriller Phone Booth from 2002 by legendary director Joel Schumacher ( his best film after Falling Down in my opinion )? You could say that Carry-On follow a similar pattern as Phone Booth did, where one man were chosen to follow some rules or people would be killed if he leaves a phone booth. The difference in Carry-On is that the main character Ethan is told to let a bag through custody control and he is forced to make sure that happens. The psychological aspect of this story is actually the most interesting part of Carry-On, how far are you willing to go to make sure no innocent people will be killed for your mistake? Are you willing to take any chances at all just in case it could cause more damage? The performance from lead actor Taron Egerton is pretty solid and i do feel he handle his character Ethan well in this situation. I would also say he does a good job on his action scenes. The strongest acting performance is in my opinion Jason Bateman as the Traveler and i love his cocky attitude towards Ethan. I think this was the right approach for a villain who clearly is not stupid and knows how to play games with people. And Jason himself must have had fun playing this character since he seems to take his character seriously. It takes a little while before the action scenes themselves kicks in so don´t expect this to be a fast gripping action feast, but once Carry-On get onto the right track there are some fun moments to appreciate. In general i would say Carry-On manage to be entertaining enough for me to recommend this film, especially if you enjoy action thrillers in general. Director Jaume Collet-Serra ( who dircted the really fun shark action film The Shallows, worth checking out ) clearly know how to handle this genre well and use a whole airport effective to match the story and the characters. For a 2 hour action film i think Carry-On have enough power to please the Netflix audience. It may not be as good as The Kingsman but still deliver a good time, especially if you love Christmas related films. I don´t know about you but i definetely feel like spending a whole day at an airport thanks to Carry-On, that has to be a good sign right?

Rating: DDD

fredag 27 december 2024

Phil Herman´s Unearthed

I remember back in the early 90´s at the VHS rental store Videomix i used to discover all kinds of horror VHS films that i have never heard of. At least not when it came to certain horror films that were clearly made on a lower budget, i would usually rent the most interesting titles if the films looked like fun. I can still remember some of the VHS covers of these films and they looked wonderful. For example it was here i discovered John Carpenter´s anthology horror comedy Body Bags, where legendary director Tobe Hooper worked on this film as well. This film didn´t get a cinema release across Sweden so landed on VHS instead. Body Bags tell 3 very different stories and i personally feel that each story have something for true fans of anthology horror to enjoy and i have to say the casting of this anthology horror film is great. Not only do you get John Carpenter as the presenter The Coroner but you also have legendary actors such as Stacey Keach, David Warner, Robert Carradine, Sam Raimi, Peter Jason, Alex Datcher, Debbie Harry, Roger Corman and of course Mark Hamill himself. Incredible cast and i feel that they all give their characters something special in this film. Over the years i have returned to Body Bags after it was released on blu ray on Shout! Factory and i think it still holds up to this day. Speaking of horror anthology films we could probably discuss for hours on what our favourites are and i personally love both Creepshow and Creepshow 2. I try to look at lower budget anthology films as well such as the 2016 anthology horror film known as Holidays. A film that tried to tell different stories regarding the most beloved holidays that we celebrate every year. Worth checking out if you have not seen it and should be easy to find for a good price on DVD. Recently i got an oppurtunity to sit down and watch a new horror anthology film called Phil Herman´s Unearthed. Since i am a big fan of anthology horror in general of course i was curious to see what this film would bring to the table. Is this one of the better films of this genre this year or did it not deliver as much as i was hoping it would?

4 different stories told by several different directors in an anthology horror film presented by the mysterious Doom ( Christopher Kahler ) where no secrets will be hidden anymore. This is the moment each story will tell exactly what happened to different people under different circumstances.

As with most anthology horror films it is very important to be able to tell different stories and try to make each story interesting or at least fun to watch, depending on what kind of horror anthology you are making. In the case of Phil Herman´s Unearthed i would have to say this film susprised me quite a bit. I have seen other films from director Phil Herman in the past and i have to say this might be his most serious film so far. Just the fact that this film actually tries to give us characters that you remember is a good sign, since in some anthology horror films it´s easy to forget characters unless you make an effort to make us care. The first story is a perfect example called The Ties That Bind. I wouldn´t call this a horror story but rather a criminal story surrounding a missing woman. What really works in this story is the great chemistry between actors Joseph Martin Jauch as Detective Hermand and Lillian Lamour as Detective Grier. Every scene where they have dialogue together is where this segment gets more interesting as they investigate this case. This doesn´t mean the other characters in this story are bad in any way, but the screen chemistry that Detective Hermand and Detective Grier carry with them is exactly what this story needed. The next story is called Look Towards The Sky and is basically an alien abduction story and you might think this will be predictable. Actually there are a few surprising details but the best part is actually the abduction scenes. The third story called Clean House starts off like a silent movie but turns into an exorcist segment where the demon actually knock down the priest with a bible, this specific scene was actually fun to watch. The last story called Highway Rivalry is where the real horror kicks in with some brutal violence and practical make up effects as well. If i had to choose what story i didn´t feel as connected with compares to others i would say that Clean House is the segment i felt could have been stronger. The presenter of each story known as Doom is a fun performance from actor Christopher Kahler who looks like he walked out dead from a wrestling grave. Phil Herman´s Unearthed manage to tell very different stories and make this anthology horror film feel unique in the sense that the diversity among these stories are so far away from each other. I personally feel this was a really good idea for a film such as this. I also have to mention how much i appreciate the serious tone that director Phil Herman  approach in this film, i would love to see him do something more similar in the future and see what he might be able to do with the right script. Phil Herman´s Unearthed is a feastful treat for true fans of the anthology horror scene and clearly show that this genre is still filled with passion for telling stories, no matter what kind of horror fan you are.

Rating: DDD                                                                                                                                                        

söndag 22 december 2024

20 Years Anniversary Review Of Saw

Horror franchises have been around for a very long time in Hollywood and it seems some of them will never end as long as there is an audience for each film. To be able to keep a franchise alive you need a character that especially made a powerful impact on the audience. A perfect example of one horror franchise that still continue to this day is the horror franchise known as Dracula. I have seen the 1931 film verison of Dracula, a film adaptation of Bram Stoker´s classic book Dracula and even if this is not my favourite film in this horror franchise i think is well made and especially a wonderful acting performance from legendary actor Bela Lugosi. I personally feel that the Dracula legacy really got respect when legendary actor Christoper Lee stepped into the role as Cound Dracula in the 1958 horror film Dracula. A must see if you especially love vampire films and Christopher Lee portayed Dracula in 10 different films, where 7 of them was for the classic British company Hammer Film Productions. If i have to choose a Dracula film that i personally feel is one of my all time favourites i would have to choose the 1992 horror film Bram Stoker´s Dracula from legendary director Francis Ford Coppola. This film have everything you could wish for, especially if you are a big Dracula fan like myself. There are of course other Dracula films we could talk about but let us more forward to more modern times and talk about a franchise that started back in 2004. High School Musical might be your first guess even though that film was released in 2006? Hopefully not because we are actually talking about the horror film known as Saw from director James Wan. I still remember the very first time i witnessed Saw in cinema in the city of Gothenburgh and it was quite a different experience from any other horror film at that time. It was a huge hit worldwide and of course we got a lot of sequels over the years. I have seen every film in this franchise and i can honestly say i am a big fan. Since this year is a 20 years anniversary of the very first Saw film i decided that this would do a 20 years anniversary review of Saw and see if i still appreciate it or if i have changed my mind over the years. Is this still a very solid horror film or have this film aged more and lost some of the cinema magic along the way?

Adam ( Leigh Whannell ), a photographer, awakens in a dilapidated bathtub with his ankle chained to a pipe. Across the room is oncologist Dr. Lawrence Gordon ( Cary Elwes ), and between them is the corpse of an apparent victim holding a revolver and a microcassette recorder. Both men find a tape in their pockts, and Adam retrieves the recorder. Each tape is recorded with an unknown voice of a man named Jigsaw ( Tobin Bell ). They must follow the rules of their tapes, or Adam will be killed or Dr. Gordon´s wife will be murdered. The game is about to begin.

When a horror film released 20 years ago works better than most horror films released in modern days you know this is no ordinary release. Saw is not only more original than most horror films in the last 20 years it also have a very interesting concept. How would you react if you were trapped knowing you could die unless you follow the rules and play the game correctly? It may not sound original when you read this but once you see how complicated each game is and what you have to do to survive you soon realise this is far more tricky than you ever would have imagined. Each trap is constructed very detailed and the level of creativity in each room can clearly be seen. I especially appreciate the creepy doll Billy who looks like Nikki Sixx after a hidden cocaine birthday party gone terribly wrong. And that unique doll design match perfectly to the character and is exactly what this film needed to give a strong powerful impact of pure evil. The character of Jigsaw ( played by legendary actor Tobin Bell ) is also a strong reason why this film is so effective. Even if we don´t get to see the character of Jigsaw all the time we do get to hear his voice and Tobin Bell does a fantastic job delivering a voice that you will never forget. The police investigation run by Detective David Tapp ( played by legendary actor Danny Glover ) works really well with the plot and i have to say since i have seen plenty of police investigations in many films, in Saw they really do this on a much more effective level than most ordinary police films. Danny Glover does what he knows best and that is to portrait a police officer that have gone through more than most people could handle. Legendary actor Cary Elwes proves as always that he is one of his generation´s finest actors and deliver his character Dr. Lawrence Gordon in a stylish and exquisite way. The horror scenes in general are very effective and you can tell director James Wan have a vision how to use many different infuences of horror and combine it together to make Saw feel unique and far more intelligent than most big studio horror releases. Im not surprised at all why the Saw franchise have survived as long as it have in the horror community and Saw proved how you start a franchise in the best possible way. Not only a future horror classic but a film that may show future generations why you don´t need a big budget to make quality horror. Saw is definetely a must watch especially on physical media, unless you prefer watching streaming.

Rating: DDDD

måndag 16 december 2024

The Demon Disorder

I am a huge fan of physical copies of films and i always will be. It all started back in the very early 90´s when i started to buy VHS films. I would look for different titles and check in diffrent video stores if they had something different than the usual rental store. Movieline was of course my favourite movie store in the city of Gothenburgh ( they had several thousands of VHS films for sale ) and this was the store where i usually would pick up especially horror films. I remember that it was in Movieline i found my copy of the horror film Zombie Nosh, a low budget zombie movie that used a lot of practical make up effects and was actually a fun watch. It was also at Movieline i got my very first VHS copy of the 1986 horror comedy Night Of The Creeps where slugs from outer space take over human bodies and turn people into zombies. I would highly recommend both films no matter if you get them on DVD or blu ray. but if you get Zombie Nosh released from Vinegar Syndrome you do get some nice special features included. As you probably could imagine after the VHS era ended i collected DVD´s instead and continued to support physical copies. Even until this day i do support films and especially from distribution companis like Studio S Entertainment, Njutafilms, Arrow Video, Vinegar Syndrome, 88 Films, Second Sight Films, Umbrella Entertainment and many more. I mentioned Umbrella Entertainment which is a distribution company from Australia who release older ( and new films ) filled with special features that you won´t find on any ordinary DVD releases from the past. I have bought several of their releases such as Fire In The Sky, Things To Do In Denver When You´re Dead and The Mothman Prophecies with Richard Gere. Each month they release new titles so i try to stay updated on what´s coming out. This autumn i picked up a blu ray copy of the Australian horror film The Demon Disorder released by Umbrella Entertainment. This film seemed to have an interesting plot plus i am a fan of Australian films in general so i was quite interested in what this film would bring to the table. Is this the horror film to watch this upcoming Christmas weekend or is this not as good as i was hoping it would be?

Graham Reilly ( Christian Willis ) is running his own workshop in the middle of nowhere in the Australian landscape, ever since he left his family´s farm after his father George Reilly ( John Noble ) passed away from an illness and seemed to be possessed by an evil entity. His brother Jake Reilly ( Dirk Hunter ) unexpectedly shows up at Graham´s business asking him to come back home. It seems that the past is catching up on this family and they need to deal with it now.

If you may remember the body horror films of legendary director David Cronenberg such as the 1977 horror classic Rabid, i can without a doubt say that The Demon Disorder is clearly inspired by the films of this masterful director. The Demon Disorder doesn´t focus on what´s trending or not in this world, this feels like a respectful throwback to the body horror films we love from the past. There are several details i feel they have managed to do well in this film so let us begin talking about the practical make up effects. You can tell that they really did a lot of work on this film creating flesh creatures as well as some kind of demonic figure all done practical with so many wonderful details. And i really love that they actually made an effort to make this a practical special effects film, like they are actually shooting something that seems alive and only using a little bit of CGI effects. The transformation of the demonic creature coming out of a human body and turning into a beast is not only one of the better practical make up effects i have seen this year but it also shows the level of creativity we don´t get to see very often these days. Another positive thing about The Demon Disorder is how this film tries to tell the story how brothers try to reunite to deal with their past. I feel that actors Christian Willis and Dirk Hunter both put on great acting performances as the battling brothers where you can tell they are both struggling with how their ill father George ( who is played by legendary actor John Noble ) behaving very strange and dangerously attacking his sons. The horror scenes in general are quite effective and i do feel that there is a certain atmosphere in this film that matches the dark story of this struggling family. If i wanted to find flaws with this film i probably could if i wanted to, but why even try when i think this is a well made directorial full feature film from director Steven Boyle ( who have done practical make up effcts for many years in several well known films ). I would love to see Steven Boyle to continue making body horror films and see if he can build further into this universe because he is clearly the future in this specific genre with the level of creativity he have in his mind. The Demon Disorder is without a doubt one of the more interesting horror releases this year for trying to bring back a genre that seems to be fading away. Definetely worth buying on physical media from Umbrella Entertainment and especially if you are a big fan of director David Cronenberg´s earlier work.

Rating: DDD

torsdag 12 december 2024

Hijack ´93

Through history we have seen a lot of examples of terrorist groups or criminal organisantions who have taken control over flights across the world. Each case is of course mostly different from each other, it doesn´t always have to be about money only but for other political reasons as well. In some cases it has not always ended badly but there are cases where unfortunately people were killed. In some cases it wasn´t a terrorist group either but a mad person who actually hijacked an airplane for a completely different reason than anyone would have expected. There are so many flight hijackings we could talk about so i decided to pick one famous criminal case that took place back in February 22, 1974 at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. This specific day American hijacker known as Samuel Byck attempted to hijack a plane flying out from Baltimore-Washington International Airport, intending to crash into the White House in the hopes of killing President Richard Nixon. This case is actually quite interesting because it didn´t look like the ordinary plane hijacking we have seen in the past. Of course there have been President assassinations and attempted ones but this specific day February 22 in 1974 will forever go down in history as a failed attempt to kill the President. If you have not heard this story before and want to know what happened to Samuel Byck he actually killed himself after he was wounded by a bullet from a police officer. There is actually a great drama film based on this case and the life of Samuel Byck in the 2004 drama film The Assassination Of Richard Nixon from director Niels Mueller, and legendary actor Sean Penn plays the character Sam Bicke ( inspired by the character Samuel Byck ). It´s a well made film with great acting performances and you do get a sense of why Sam was determined to kill Richard Nixon. If you can´t find the film on streaming it´s worth renting on VOD or picking up cheap on DVD. Speaking of flight hijacking i recently sat down to watch a Netflix film called Hijack ´93 based on a true criminal hijack story that happened in Nigeria in October 1993. Im always fascinated in films based on true stories and this seemed to be something i might enjoy. Is the Netflix film Flight ´93 a must see this Christmas weekend or should you watch something better on streaming instead?

Criminal leader Mallan Jerry ( Sam Dede ) is planning to hijack a plane full of tourists as he hand pick 4 men who will make this mission successfull. This is an attempt to make a change for the country, since this group are oppose towards the country´s government. The next couple of days will be a fight for survival but also very risky where there is no guarantee everyone will make it out alive.

I enjoy looking at films that comes from a country where i have not seen many films at all such as Nigeria, This was actually one of the reasons why i were looking forward to see Hijack ´93 knowing this film is based on a true story from Nigeria. On paper this film seems to have what i need, a hijack story and telling a historical moment from the people who witnessed this horrible day. Unfotunately for being a film released on Netflix there are several issues with Hijack ´93. First of all the acting in general is not that good from most of the actors, except for the hijackers themselves. For example the hostage inside the airplane does strange things while the hijackers give them orders, such as a man wawing in the air screaming:- Land the plane, and he have armed hijackers pointing guns on everyone. Now, who would do that in real life when you know they could shoot you right away? I don´t know if that detail happened in real life or not, but it´s actually a quite funny scene and im not supposed to be laughing and yet it´s impossible not to laugh at a scene like that. The editing of this film is hillarious sometimes, especially when the plane lands and military soldiers go towards the plane in spinning scenes that looks like it was filmed on a drone gone drunk. Remember, this is supposed to be a serious hijacking film and i am not supposed to be laughing. I am not going to say that this film is completely terrible, there are a few moments where the terrorists actually try and make an effort to make the hijacking scenes more effective and for a short while the film does get better. But with so many other problems surrounding this film that doesn´t help the final product. Hijack ´93 ends up being one of the most bizarre flight hijacking films i have seen so far. If they really wanted to capture the audience attention they should probably have made more effort into the hijacking scenes plus hired more professional actors as well. There is an interesting story to be told in Hijack ´93 but it´s actually sad to see director Robert Peters throw away so much potential that this story have and made a very forgettable film. I can´t recommend Flight ´93 unfortunately and i would rather recommend the 1996 action thriller Executive Decision where legendary actor David Suchet is brilliant as a hijacking terrorist. A much better choice if you want to watch a similar film.

Rating: DD

söndag 8 december 2024

Starve Acre

You know sometimes when you hear about a certain film from film critics where basically most of them critically acclaim a film or at least agree that you should see it? A film that most people might have heard about while others have no idea what you are talking about? You might think this must be director Richard Keller´s cult classic Donnie Darko i am talking about from 2001. And i can tell you right now that this is a completely different film on a much smaller budget. A film that may not be mentioned that often anymore unfortunately, perhaps because it is considered to be unknown in certain parts in this world since it wasn´t released theatrically everywhere. We are talking about the 2013 British dark comedy horror film known as A Field In England from director Ben Wheatley. I remember back in 2013 when i was hearing a lot of positive words regarding this film, especially from British film critics who loved that this was quite a different film experience taking place during the Civil War in 17th-century England. There are several reasons why this is such a great film and let me begin by saying i love that this film is filmed in black and white. It gives the film a completely different look and there are some quite funny scenes in this film as well, proving once more British comedy is usually more funny than the Americans. The fact that the horror elements works well in this film combined with comedy just makes this film more entertaining. The acting is top quality from the whole cast and i would highly recommend everyone to watch A Field In England if you want a different film experience, no matter if you rent the film on VOD or buy a physical copy. Speaking of British films there is one film this year i have been waiting to see simply called Starve Acre, a folk horror film from director Daniel Kokotaljo ( i really enjoyed his full feature directorial debut film Apostasy from 2017 ). I am a big fan of British horror in general so i try to check out the most interesting titles and Starve Acre caught my attention right after i saw the trailer. I decided to get the UK blu ray release of this film to see, is this possibly one of the better movie releases this year in general or is Starve Acre not as good as you might expect?

Richard ( Matt Smith ), an archaeologist, and his wife, Jules ( Morfydd Clark ), lives with their son Owen ( Arhtur Shaw ), who claims he have been hearing some whistling sounds. So Richard starts to investigate mythic folklore about an ancient folk tree on his land. During his investigations, a dark and sinister force pursues his home.

I really love when a film grabs you by the neck and makes you feel like you don´t want the hand to let you go, and this is exactly what Starve Acre does from beginning to the end. This is such a dark, sad but really fascinating film dealing with the loss of a child. How do you as parents to a child deal with the grief, the anger inside knowing your child is no longer with you and there is nothing you can do about it? Only a parent who have lost a child can only understand how painful this must be and how you try to go on in life. This film manage to capture the emotional hell parents in this horrible tragedy have to go through, where nothing has no meaning anymore. Of course a lot of these emotions and facial expressions are brought to us in a very powerful and realistic performances by lead actors Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark as the parents Richard and Juliette. The beautiful folklore influences in this film matches perfectly into the very effective horror story that we are presented with. As we find out that Richard´s father was not only a mentally unstable man we also see how deeply rooted he was in a reigious cult. It is amost like the British landscape is filled with death wherever you go, as if it is a perfect environment for eternal suffering. There are several details that make Starve Acre such a unique film experience with everything from excellent camera work, the grieving tone that the whole film perfectly shape surrounding the main characters and the disturbing past of British history that grows deeply underneath your skin. I also feel that the cinematography from Adam Scarth is really detailed filled with passion. Director Daniel Kokotajlo proves once more why he is the future of independent cinema with another exquisite film that will easily land on my list of best films of 2024. Starve Acre show that there is still hope for quality films and i am really looking forward to the next script that Daniel Kokotaljo lay his hands on. This is without a doubt a must buy in your film collection and a film to show future film students how a quality film should look like.

Rating: DDDD

onsdag 4 december 2024

The Critic

Let´s go back to the year of 1993 when i was 16 years old. This was the year when i got interested in movie reviews through the movie review TV show known as Ronnys Rullar with Swedish film critic Ronny Svensson on Channel 5. Every single week i would watch every show where Ronny reviewed the latest cinema releases and also reviewed films he watched on exclusive film festivals such as Cannes Film Festival. Since i went a lot to the cinema during these years i would remember what ratings Ronny gave certain cinema releases and i would see if i agreed or disagreed on his rating score. I remember when he reviewed the 1994 sci fi action thriller Timecop with Jean-Claude Van Damme and actually gave the film a good rating while Swedish newspaper Expressen gave the film 1 out of 5 bees ( yes Expressen have always used bees as a rating tool ). It was nice to see Ronny Svensson appreciate what Timecop was trying to do, show a more serious side of Jean-Claude Van Damme actually trying to act. It was during the 90´s i started writing reviews myself by using paper and pencil and i would let my mother Lena read some of them and it was actually Swedish film critic Ronny Svensson who inspired me to start writing reviews. So when i started this movie review blog back in 2011 i always had Ronny Svensson in my mind as an inspiration for doing this blog and i actually met him in person in 2014 at the world premiere of The Expendables 3 in Stockholm. That was a big day for me personally and i told him he inspired me to write and i could tell that made him happy. So after many years of writing reviews im still here as a film critic and i have learned several things. It´s ok if not all people agree with you regarding your review, it´s not a personal attack on anyone if you don´t like each film it´s just an opinion. For the most part i try to see something positive in each film i review or at least try to find something positive to say. Of course i am always happy hearing from some people sometimes who really enjoyed my review, i always appreciate positive feedback. Speaking of film critics i have heard for some time about a thriller drama film telling the story of film critic Jimmie Erskine ( played by legendary actor Sir Ian McKellen ) in the British film The Critic. It´s not everyday we get to see a film telling a story of a film critic so the story surrounding this film fascinated me since i am a film critic myself and i was very curious to see if i would enjoy The Critic. Is this a must see during the Christmas holidays or is this unfortunately not as good as i was hoping it would be?

London theatre critic, Jimmie Erskine ( Sir Ian McKellen ), is very well respected at his job as the newspaper Daily Chronicle. After watching a theatre show and reviewing the performance of actress Nina Land ( Gemma Arterton ) in her latest theatre play The White Devil. Jimmie does not enjoy her performance and write a negative review that´s published in the newspaper. Nina take this very personal and confront Jimmie personally on the street as he tries to tell her how she needs to think differently, to be able to perform more powerful. The two of them start getting to know each other while Jimmie has to hide his homosexuality from the public. But the negative review forces Daily Chronicle owner David Brooke ( Mark Strong ) to end Jimmie´s review career from all the negative feedback, unless he changes his style of writing. Jimmie does take this seriously but he also see an oppurtunity to take advantage of Nina to save his own skin.

Even though i have enjoyed so many acting performances of Sir Ian McKelllen in the past i am so pleased that he actually made this film. Since this film tells a story regarding a critic and how one can make an impact writing reviews on theatre plays, that alone show you that they actually made an attempt to do a different kind of film than we are used to see. The Critic tries to give us different perspective from the eyes of a theatre critic while we also get a glimpse of how he deals with people who disagree with his reviews. I can only imagine how professional critics wil be treated sometimes just because they didn´t like a theatre play, a musical or a film. I think this film does a really good job capturing both the audience opinion while we clearly see where critic Jimmie Eskine stand and he doesn´t like being silenced for his opinion. But this film also dives in how it was being gay in the 1930´s when this was considered to be criminal. Just imagine not being able to show openly who you truly love in public without being seen as disgusting. This is a very important detail that this film show in a realistic way while also showing that it´s ok for 2 men to love each other. Just because someone is gay doesn´t make them bad people, sometimes they have bigger hearts than you can imagine. The acting from legendary actor Ian McKellen is outstanding and his portrait of the critic Jimmie and the character becomes very fascinating with his strong personality. Much of the dialogue scenes from Ian lands so smoothly in this film that it feels like you can listen to him talking for hours. The twist later on in this film that Jimmie might not be such a nice man after all definetely makes the storyline more interesting. Actress Gemma Artertori ( who is worth checking out in The King´s Man ) gives a lovely performance as theatre actor Nina and i do feel she have great chemistry with the main character. The Critic may not only give us a powerful view into the world of a famous critic but also the flaws that even a critic may carry within himself. Director Anand Tucker have without a doubt given us one of the better films released this year. The Critic is a must see for us who appreciate true quality films.

Rating: DDDD

söndag 1 december 2024

Kill ´Em All 2

There was a time in history when action films on VHS was a big hit at the VHS rental stores. You would usually see the big muscles and big guns on the VHS cover and you already knew this was not going to be appreciated by extreme feminists. This was during the time when it was ok to make masculine action movies without being ashamed about it. I used to rent a lot of action films back in those days and i would especially look at action films with Michael Dudikoff, David Bradley, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Billy Blanks, Jackie Chan, Brandon Lee and i even enjoyed the 1991 action film Stone Cold with Brian Bosworth, Lance Henriksen and William Forsythe. If i wanted more martial arts action combined i could trust martial arts actor Billy Blanks to deliver a good time. Is every action film he did in the 80´s and 90´s really good? No, but in general i think he managed to deliver solid martial art films that was made for fans of this specific genre. For example the 1993 sci fi action martial art film TC 2000 is a fun cheesy action film about the future, talking environment issues while people kick ass future style. In this film you also find martial art actors such as Jalal Merhi, Matthias Hues and of course Bloodsport actor Bolo Yeung incuded. Since i mentioned Bloodsport the 1988 martial art classic, there are so many great films to choose between with legendary martial arts action star Jean-Claude Van Damme. No matter if you love Kickboxer, Cyborg, Lionheart, Double Impact or Universal Soldier, even until this day i watch all of his classics every year. Since the early 2000´s Van Damme have released most of his films straight to DVD and blu ray except for a couple of titles who did get cinema releases in certain countries. Some of you might remember the 2017 action film Kill ´Em All? Well here we have a sequel that no one expected ( at least not me ) to the original film. Being a true fan of Van Damme is this his best film in many years or is Kill ´Em All 2 one of his worst films since the 2002 action film Derailed?

7 years have passed since Phillip ( Jean-Claude Van Damme ) survived the hospital shoot out and is now returning to his home village in Slovenia with his daughter Vanessa ( Jacqueline Fernandez ). A gangster criminal under the name of Vlad Petrovic ( Andrei Lenart ) have been looking for Phillip since he killed his brother. He manage to locate Phillip and want him dead, this is a fight that can only lead to death.

I don´t demand much from a low budget action film. All i am asking for is some fun action scenes, some fun fighting scenes and the main character should be developed enough to work with the plot. In the case of Kill ´Em All 2 i can honestly say this has to be the laziest character development i have seen in one of Van Damme´s films. If you remember even in films like Cyborg or Nowhere To Run you at least had a character where Van Damme matched well, even though we all know his acting wasn´t always fantastic. Van Damme´s character Phillip have no personality at all, he basically just talk and give different facial expressions but without any passion. This is such a shame because we all remember that he can make great characteers such as Lyon in his classic Lionhheart. Im not saying you have to reach the same level as his true classic films because i understand he is older and more limited what he can do, but i know he can act if he wants to. And this is where i feel like Van Damme doesn´t go in fully hearted into this role, yes he does some of the fighting scenes but only limited to what he is able to do at his age. What i mean by fully hearted i would have liked him to show his more dramatic side since i know he has to adjust to where he is in life at this moment. A few fighting scenes are ok but you see his stunt double´s face several times during certain fight scenes and i feel they should have filmed in a different angle so you don´t see the stunt double´s face. What about the plot itself? Very basic action standard and that´s ok i don´t have a problem with it. I have to mention the performance of actress Jacqueline Fernandez as the character Vanessa. I am sure she is a lovely woman in real life but her performance in this film is terrible, no other way to say it. Legendary actor Peter Stormare is in this film but far too little, he should have been in a much bigger role. The few positive notes is probably some of the action scenes looks ok as well as some fight scenes. Other than that i can´t say much more positive about Kill ´Em All 2, it´s a very generic forgettable action film that we have seen so many times before. Director Valeri Milev did direct the really funny action film Bullets Of Justice in 2019 so he can do great films in this genre. Unfortunately it feels like he didn´t feel very motivated making this sequel and it shows. Not a terrible action and actually better than the original film but very easy to forget and too predictable.

Rating: DD