tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73771874616760357182024-03-27T07:38:59.725+00:00Kino RunnerSum fillums wot I did seeKinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.comBlogger1341125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-5064008137035193552024-03-27T07:38:00.000+00:002024-03-27T07:38:28.431+00:00The Gentlemen (Guy Ritchie, 2019)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggXXYD3LjgTKPlygaKamGe0hKfv3asQ8mMzZNJwlDedJjblQDMQVAw3z6W-A2wy6mFqpeteTdvNrFNG75hEvRetFln276quca8J_jr_TPib78rfEqLnvwsB9_0M3wATDV90hdGoT7KVUB2Y7n1iJsDWplEtHeUtnIfJiEmhMuM0YAzhuv1dUCGXCkabk4/s1200/the%20gentlemen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="627" data-original-width="1200" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggXXYD3LjgTKPlygaKamGe0hKfv3asQ8mMzZNJwlDedJjblQDMQVAw3z6W-A2wy6mFqpeteTdvNrFNG75hEvRetFln276quca8J_jr_TPib78rfEqLnvwsB9_0M3wATDV90hdGoT7KVUB2Y7n1iJsDWplEtHeUtnIfJiEmhMuM0YAzhuv1dUCGXCkabk4/s320/the%20gentlemen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Eloquent actors playing against type as gangsters who only talk in menacing innuendoes and faux-Cockney rhyming slang? Check. Comically thick henchmen? Check. Extreme violence played for laughs? Check. Almost every line peppered with f-words and c-words? Check. A cartoon criminal underworld with abundant back-stabbing plus numerous red herrings? Check. Yes, it's a Guy Ritchie film.</div><div style="text-align: left;">But not a bad one overall. Matthew McConaughey is the overlord of a marijuana-producing empire seeking to retire peacefully, and naturally that can't be permitted. Private investigator Hugh Grant approaches his second-in-command to sell the secrets that he has collected about their illicit organisation, wanting millions for them, and then proceeds to relate what he has found out, which serves as the unreliable narrative outline of the plot.</div><div style="text-align: left;">As long as you're prepared to tolerate Ritchie's limited ambitions and infantile fixations, which I'm sure he'd be quite happy to own up to, it's one of his better products, on a par with the two Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr., and passes the time divertingly enough.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">6/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-62621017929237206182024-03-23T21:23:00.001+00:002024-03-23T21:23:46.826+00:00Eaten by Lions (Jason Wingard, 2019)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJlBb46eAP4LqG_CeNn7V_FZUHzSgqnCV8S018fIIuM8IcrzwA6mdZhBY1BhTdhczc0gGuHaWGgA483iX_Gq17RrFJjMigUUpoVShO5ZvMhUX0orbqB76z2a6LSaD4Rzq18HxTlR0Jei4QB3Y6IU-s22Dr1BE3imlsJZ4-7cbr_EG9T0IfXPuKWBWx178/s680/eaten_by_lions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="680" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJlBb46eAP4LqG_CeNn7V_FZUHzSgqnCV8S018fIIuM8IcrzwA6mdZhBY1BhTdhczc0gGuHaWGgA483iX_Gq17RrFJjMigUUpoVShO5ZvMhUX0orbqB76z2a6LSaD4Rzq18HxTlR0Jei4QB3Y6IU-s22Dr1BE3imlsJZ4-7cbr_EG9T0IfXPuKWBWx178/s320/eaten_by_lions.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Following the death of their grandmother, who had looked after them since childhood, a pair of half-brothers set out for Blackpool to seek out the actual father of one of the boys. Predictably, this proves to be far from straightforward. The other boy has cerebral palsy and is also a habitual shoplifter, and so they're in trouble well before they get to the house of the supposed father they seek. When they do meet him, he turns out to be unaware of his paternal status and a chronically irresponsible doofus, having to be pressganged by his large, conservative Asian family into dealing with the responsibility of parenthood.</div><div style="text-align: left;">So there are serious themes present, but at the same time there's a lightness of touch and genuinely funny moments throughout, which complement the plot rather than just serving as a distraction.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">7/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-49844540667073682272024-03-21T07:14:00.001+00:002024-03-21T07:14:47.098+00:00Couleurs de l'incendie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFoh924AnKZa9IZrWlTVD_0NGd8H4bEft59brPwHXqVd1HxZpadUffWLLYkhL-aGXdXsLeU2sCKzWzoGfX0TBSD89qizTJ7mqx2HFBEttEby_JQoIX8xUr9HQ0pdSreIdGF7Alq3B5zwOXmlkakmqdbb_w1ppgZj3VPzO4Vbm8HTD6V_GSB38NKccnBE/s1280/couleurs-de-lincendie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="878" data-original-width="1280" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIFoh924AnKZa9IZrWlTVD_0NGd8H4bEft59brPwHXqVd1HxZpadUffWLLYkhL-aGXdXsLeU2sCKzWzoGfX0TBSD89qizTJ7mqx2HFBEttEby_JQoIX8xUr9HQ0pdSreIdGF7Alq3B5zwOXmlkakmqdbb_w1ppgZj3VPzO4Vbm8HTD6V_GSB38NKccnBE/s320/couleurs-de-lincendie.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Based on the real-life story of the wealthy Péricourt banking family from 1927 through the early 1930s, <i>The Colours of Fire</i> is essentially a protracted baroque revenge drama. The banker's daughter now in charge of the estate first has to deal with her young son crippling himself by throwing himself out of a window in the middle of the funeral, and then with her unscrupulous uncle and financial advisor wheedling her out of the whole of her entire inheritance. This leads to her developing an elaborate plan to bring down all who have wronged her, and it's pretty easy to guess that this is exactly what she will accomplish by the end. There are other factors in the background, such as a self-centered opera singer on whom her son is fixated, the looming rise of the Nazis across the border and the omnipresent class system, but it is primarily about greedy men getting their just desserts, and relates this fairly effectively and stylishly.<div><br /></div><div>6/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-30109505320432346132024-03-19T07:44:00.000+00:002024-03-19T07:44:03.884+00:00Page 8 (David Hare, 2011)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXJsJRB23Gw2y4Cf-Zbf3ZGoa_jBZuzcc9Ni8yM_KtmovF8ygVgCwY4_w0HYSIN8b_NwbD8acciiUqGBlYQ6KDFEMijWPBHusRKs8tlbjbhx-zF9WSBwBG4A-wP7WAmKc7jIyRFRI-7MnvMoLFJeBYOCDG5YZwBn8FKLX1WPURKXLeqgNh-yubfDxR2k/s3200/page%208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="3200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDXJsJRB23Gw2y4Cf-Zbf3ZGoa_jBZuzcc9Ni8yM_KtmovF8ygVgCwY4_w0HYSIN8b_NwbD8acciiUqGBlYQ6KDFEMijWPBHusRKs8tlbjbhx-zF9WSBwBG4A-wP7WAmKc7jIyRFRI-7MnvMoLFJeBYOCDG5YZwBn8FKLX1WPURKXLeqgNh-yubfDxR2k/s320/page%208.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Prolific playwright David Hare has always been particularly concerned with politics, justice, secrecy and inner conflict, and so when he turned to directing for the screen, rather than just writing, it was apt that the result would bring all these themes together. And how! Naturally it helped a great deal to be able to draw on such a fine cast, led by the peerlessly subtle Bill Nighy. He plays the weary MI5 operative Johnny Worricker, pulled into uncovering a web of governmental corruption through reading a sensitive report. He declines to hand back the offending papers when effectively threatened to do so, and thereafter his options are increasingly straitened.<div>Hare's establishment cover-up plot may be a fairly off-the-shelf one, but the dialogue is quite dazzlingly sharp, each word chosen with care and carrying so much weight, and that alone puts it in a different class to most flashier conspiracy thrillers.</div><div><br /></div><div>8/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-92130846633668084572024-03-17T10:35:00.001+00:002024-03-17T10:35:32.493+00:00A Time to Love and a Time to Die (Douglas Sirk, 1958)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2MsCauMrrRHYzDYtNJPVHPFtoEY6U6jGNhIlsgoyqikXWbGNUxVAIOTL2A9Ldk1MSsT4_y5zs4kGewePAbCud3k0PWVkyyoNhgC_1Asvmn6n3ofSZce_jk7juQ_0zmJMuJQVMCU4PMW8HiaMpyXvGn2N6v7JsUhj84XZyIzN8AOBSQBV9xe95guFXThw/s1000/A-Time-to-Love-and-a-Time-to-Die.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="1000" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2MsCauMrrRHYzDYtNJPVHPFtoEY6U6jGNhIlsgoyqikXWbGNUxVAIOTL2A9Ldk1MSsT4_y5zs4kGewePAbCud3k0PWVkyyoNhgC_1Asvmn6n3ofSZce_jk7juQ_0zmJMuJQVMCU4PMW8HiaMpyXvGn2N6v7JsUhj84XZyIzN8AOBSQBV9xe95guFXThw/s320/A-Time-to-Love-and-a-Time-to-Die.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The undisputed king of the Hollywood technicolour melodrama, Sirk got a lot of bad press from the intelligentsia of the day for the determined overacting, lurid colour palette and jumping between frivolity and seriousness in his films.</div><div style="text-align: left;">But seen from a later perspective, this quite badly misses the point. All of the above is a Trojan horse to smuggle satire and deep-felt social critique past audiences who would have been scared away by an overt message otherwise. So in <i>Written on the Wind</i>, the target of the attack is the American dream and in <i>Imitation of Life</i> it's class, racism and sexism. Here there's no overt target, but what is unusual for mainstream American cinema of the time is that it's a love story set in collapsing wartime Germany, with the supporting characters a mix of disgruntled regular soldiers, passive resisters and amoral opportunists, as well as the more usual murderous Hitlerites. Even the author of the story, Erich Maria Remarque, best known for writing the semi-autobiographical <i>All Quiet on the Western Front</i>, puts in an acting appearance as a principled professor.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Yes, it's painted in broad strokes and contains a few cheap twists, but it's still far more intelligent than what could be expected from the genre norm.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">6/10</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><p><br /></p>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-61349733679823645552024-03-16T16:57:00.001+00:002024-03-16T16:57:30.044+00:00Boiling Point (Philip Barantini, 2021)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF4_X_anQukoHRl7vSDddlManGSPDieWts-55dLaaXwKqaDHTmpq1EgMYkf6Whc-UM2CAoT2pWscQrCI84xha4dthkhOkd7kiarY2JDEFD3D7-qW0aVx8X7NrXoIXJvrDYSh4FMF5J5UnkB6HtQTU-VedR4o03xea06k0XWxuHLZbE7wv9HzeYgzl4Aog/s1200/boiling%20point.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF4_X_anQukoHRl7vSDddlManGSPDieWts-55dLaaXwKqaDHTmpq1EgMYkf6Whc-UM2CAoT2pWscQrCI84xha4dthkhOkd7kiarY2JDEFD3D7-qW0aVx8X7NrXoIXJvrDYSh4FMF5J5UnkB6HtQTU-VedR4o03xea06k0XWxuHLZbE7wv9HzeYgzl4Aog/s320/boiling%20point.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />A plunge into an evening even more hectic than usual at a small trendy London eatery, <i>Boiling Point</i> is as much about the impending nervous breakdown of the harassed head chef, played by the as about the sheer hell of working in a high-pressure restaurant environment. The threats are posed by snooty critics, shallow influencers and lairy customers, while the staff rail at each other, trying to keep to prep times counted in seconds rather than minutes, and simultaneously maintain the establishment's food quality and hygiene standards.</div><div style="text-align: left;">What really elevates the film above these basic ingredients is undoubtedly the challenges posed by shooting all 90 minutes in a single take, and unlike any single-take film ever seen in in the history of world cinema, being able to do this with dozens of characters, all fleshed out and playing their part, creating a coherent and meaningful story. It's simply a staggering piece of choreography.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">8/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-77624745145623669552024-03-05T17:23:00.001+00:002024-03-05T17:23:37.680+00:00Samaritan (Julius Avery, 2022)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2WYOy6Z56hNjCBk0mgA6bWWzsUrxb1d7zn6zDhNy410TnLXs8H04ZOHYX0y58i8mlXyp9KpO8GGdlJ3nDWN_ARFlwqM6yKz6rNO4RJ-YtkYq_mWSdm10FuVJdGgtwYEbAVH8IPglv_AzEwySSdESN59Gqhs_I5HsCJndmK4bLhwtFOzrfCeTw6gbA8M/s1000/Samaritan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT2WYOy6Z56hNjCBk0mgA6bWWzsUrxb1d7zn6zDhNy410TnLXs8H04ZOHYX0y58i8mlXyp9KpO8GGdlJ3nDWN_ARFlwqM6yKz6rNO4RJ-YtkYq_mWSdm10FuVJdGgtwYEbAVH8IPglv_AzEwySSdESN59Gqhs_I5HsCJndmK4bLhwtFOzrfCeTw6gbA8M/s320/Samaritan.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />If they are wise, musclebound action stars start turning down the volume early enough to go out gracefully, as Schwarzenegger is doing, and likewise here with Stallone, whose portrayal of a superpowered vigilante presumed dead long ago and living a quiet life as a gruff garbage man has some nice echoes of the blue-collar beginnings of Rocky Balboa.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Of course this has to change, and when the 13-year-old son of a neighbour discovers who he really is and falls in at the same time with the wrong crowd, a gang of self-styled anarchists led by a man who styles himself on the former hero's villainous dead brother, the hero has to reluctantly reassume his mantle. Thereafter the film plays out in more standard fashion with relentless fighting and explosions. But a few marks for the slower build-up all the same.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">5/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-92102418835341464112024-03-03T16:54:00.001+00:002024-03-03T16:54:25.352+00:00Northern Comfort (Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikEsMhOwMUIskOJY4uGCOuRP0a90srMXT3PybPuZ9Hr8V0uTalwFO-c_T-UuR_0NaEd_8XqzYckkNfXQQLW9AnFydIgDzicOPT_KE_Nh7DwHYwJq6QTqEUwwmwgVL-4PsdNn8NJEPT968FsMzuFvShRfoIqTKrXidbhB4CK_4T6OhP8hEBZXAAkMK-TDQ/s1024/northerncomfort.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="1024" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikEsMhOwMUIskOJY4uGCOuRP0a90srMXT3PybPuZ9Hr8V0uTalwFO-c_T-UuR_0NaEd_8XqzYckkNfXQQLW9AnFydIgDzicOPT_KE_Nh7DwHYwJq6QTqEUwwmwgVL-4PsdNn8NJEPT968FsMzuFvShRfoIqTKrXidbhB4CK_4T6OhP8hEBZXAAkMK-TDQ/s320/northerncomfort.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />A group of people united by having too much money to spend and a chronic fear of flying attend a course to enable them to overcome that fear. However the final test on the course, an actual flight to Iceland, goes skewwhiff, heavy turbulence causing panic, and then on arrival they find out that all return flights are cancelled for weather reasons. An overnight stay in a spa hotel only causes more tensions.</div><div style="text-align: left;">The tone of the Icelandic director's first foray into English-language cinema is as unsteady as the flight that so unnerved the passengers. It doesn't seem to know what it wants to be: a farce, a black comedy or something deeper. Timothy Spall turns in his baseline grumpy performance as a best-selling writer with issues resulting from a military background, there's a vacuous social media influencer who is satirised in a vacuously ham-fisted manner, the course leader who doesn't have a clue about what he's doing and a neurotic property developer who has had to hide where she really is from her boyfriend. It's not utterly witless all the way through, but it is highly illogical and makes one suspect that the director thought "I can give that a go" after seeing the famously execrable <i>Sex Lives of the Potato Men</i>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">3/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-19128542225247214952024-03-03T12:06:00.000+00:002024-03-03T12:06:06.486+00:00Code 8: Part II (Jeff Chan, 2024)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlLO09l7lWf1IKJEQzm96laXYnhJcx1Kan-WEilv2WhVKCfGVY_Kh90FNnYq0yJ8jB-PzeoS-1aud-d9ZpRdkUFGPUc-3K3UQ1jw7PMztIjWfKLgfUSyWqafZQ9DOpSL1WlOYIOgu0jDUn00VvGO_y6-vYPrUIuR_y62qiWATChIkFmryp6y05wuQiMx4/s900/code-8-part-ii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="900" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlLO09l7lWf1IKJEQzm96laXYnhJcx1Kan-WEilv2WhVKCfGVY_Kh90FNnYq0yJ8jB-PzeoS-1aud-d9ZpRdkUFGPUc-3K3UQ1jw7PMztIjWfKLgfUSyWqafZQ9DOpSL1WlOYIOgu0jDUn00VvGO_y6-vYPrUIuR_y62qiWATChIkFmryp6y05wuQiMx4/s320/code-8-part-ii.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />The first part met with a fairly favourable response, so the law of commercial cinema dictates that there must be more of the same, except with the action elements duly ramped up a notch. And so it is, with the introduction of systemic police corruption and even more unstoppable robotic enforcers turning the repression of the superpowered minority into an outright campaign of extermination against them.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Where this and and the part before it differ from the output of the DCEU and MCU stables, apart from the obvious budget limitations, is their depiction of the powered as vulnerable, despite their abilities, and the ultimate villain being not some god-like malevolent being but the fascist state instead. Yes, the X-Men films drew parallels between the position of mutants and gay or ethnic minorities in the face of intolerance, but then their heroes were never in any real peril since they were still virtually omnipotent. These ones certainly aren't, and so the two <i>Code 8</i> films act as a Trojan horse for getting liberal ideas past the anti-political filters of superhero film buffs. Which has to be applauded.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">6/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-49731972886049312972024-03-02T17:27:00.001+00:002024-03-03T09:44:05.863+00:00Code 8 (Jeff Chan, 2019)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8fT5g0wzEjSFykY9fhOH79hDJ_FfiRRClw7VWK4jcQgbSecpa_7siMp7yHLXcLXcJ_u9YieL2vYSpN-oYjJMkTNLt3KxX0rLiY7xrIsVofd1M21q5k5G6rTOr3YnOHRl0r9TyQ8mmEqe_vVlqT9WvKvYxxuu3AkW6j_3tb2fruFyooI2AukQay-t1Lo/s1024/code%208.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8fT5g0wzEjSFykY9fhOH79hDJ_FfiRRClw7VWK4jcQgbSecpa_7siMp7yHLXcLXcJ_u9YieL2vYSpN-oYjJMkTNLt3KxX0rLiY7xrIsVofd1M21q5k5G6rTOr3YnOHRl0r9TyQ8mmEqe_vVlqT9WvKvYxxuu3AkW6j_3tb2fruFyooI2AukQay-t1Lo/s320/code%208.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Yes, it's another near-future dystopia, although here everything is just peachy for everyone except the small minority with superpowers, who are increasingly repressed by the paranoid mainstream populace. As a result many of them have to turn to crime to make ends meet, and this includes the lead, who can't afford to get treatment for his sick mother otherwise.</div><div style="text-align: left;">While the location is a fictional city and it was filmed in Canada, the mere facts that vital medical care is not available to the poor and that the underclass are policed through fascist methods make it pretty clear that this version of hell is very much based on the current state of the USA. So, a divergence from the normal superhero set-up, never mind that the powered characters are far from heroes anyway. No great shakes, but at least it tries something different with the formula.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">5/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-31868116194692187912024-02-29T16:02:00.000+00:002024-02-29T16:02:22.263+00:00The Lost City (Aaron & Adam Nee, 2022)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6n1Ql2HrAi6HW4j3UrZVMdMJmt__MHnrOO8N7TSmVh5hVo3lAvzk4sCMxlnhK_VgM8EE-HdMK999isAhN2dr3stRqkN1wKQgyXpNEzHXci5dLT3mywWnXWvUg-sp62QZ7DqO9pK6yuaVMLNpun8TRSoWIgeMczLd1NGnqcMrW8lUNI_a1tWFp22-tsno/s1296/The%20Lost%20City.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="730" data-original-width="1296" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6n1Ql2HrAi6HW4j3UrZVMdMJmt__MHnrOO8N7TSmVh5hVo3lAvzk4sCMxlnhK_VgM8EE-HdMK999isAhN2dr3stRqkN1wKQgyXpNEzHXci5dLT3mywWnXWvUg-sp62QZ7DqO9pK6yuaVMLNpun8TRSoWIgeMczLd1NGnqcMrW8lUNI_a1tWFp22-tsno/s320/The%20Lost%20City.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />Globally famous romance novelist Sadra Bullock is kidnapped by looney tune billionaire Daniel Radcliffe to help him find buried treasure and the dim cover model of her novels, Channing Tatum, sets out to rescue her. That's about it really. It unashamedly plunders both <i>Raiders of the Lost Ark</i> and <i>Romancing the Stone</i>, to the extent that it even slyly references them, and given the two principal stars, of course evolves into a romcom of sorts. Mind you, seeing Radcliffe ham it up as a baddie for once and the sporadically amusing screwball dialogue between Bullock and Tatum at least make it an unpainful experience to watch, even though it's just froth.<p></p><p>5/10</p>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-55809338654257843682024-02-18T13:21:00.001+00:002024-02-18T13:21:40.734+00:00The Kitchen (Daniel Kaluuya & Kibwe Tavares, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgov9a2_Zf25k9xY0knULRwyxQ-WRHl9SX670F1KuFPo4Br25iwYZPUqWrMfDLAsfRAyLrUKT9kaVgf6KCex6XndnBVoc79JSaT860sCOExfaEufzKn8rJe8lcjiByARgXecsVHfc4ZUUUq2LeKoYlvK5Xw2KO8B8PqWAc8_Bl9o68PwpzzjLUn4J7_E8o/s1200/The-kitchen.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgov9a2_Zf25k9xY0knULRwyxQ-WRHl9SX670F1KuFPo4Br25iwYZPUqWrMfDLAsfRAyLrUKT9kaVgf6KCex6XndnBVoc79JSaT860sCOExfaEufzKn8rJe8lcjiByARgXecsVHfc4ZUUUq2LeKoYlvK5Xw2KO8B8PqWAc8_Bl9o68PwpzzjLUn4J7_E8o/s320/The-kitchen.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />Classifiable as sci-fi due to being set twenty years in the future, this is nevertheless more a dark vision of a very plausible development of London based on the seeds that have already been sown. Constant surveillance by drones, an urban underclass being forced out of a prime real estate location, reliance on food banks and looting by the disenfranchised left with nothing but anger. The Kitchen in question, perhaps a reference to Hell's Kitchen in New York, a Manhattan working-class neighbourhood by now almost fully gentrified, but also containing the idea of being a melting pot where resentment is cooked up, is a huge council estate under siege from the forces of unfettered capitalism, with parallels to the Warsaw ghetto in 1944. Where the concept is somewhat skewed is its view that almost all of the people in the ghetto are not just of ethnic minorities but black, as if there were no Asian or Eastern European underclass. Still, that said, it's salutary to get a dystopia that isn't dependent on future tech, just a worst-case projection of how things could end up if society keeps going down the same track. Yes, it's deeply pessimistic and doesn't make much of an effort to create deep characterisation (ex-footballer Ian Wright's supporting role as the pirate radio voice of the complex, reminiscent of Samuel L. Jackson's DJ in <i>Do the Right Thing</i>, is about as rounded as it gets). But still chillingly compelling.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">7/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-14640625907968705602024-02-13T11:56:00.002+00:002024-02-13T11:56:37.138+00:00The Marvels (Nia DaCosta, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhvff7PU6YApJV-PcsyOm6oKbnbLYsWjFlMoVnFpkfGheoxh6ztBVfaTjjNLKqfFOIbn_bVSpy5_vwu40LbQm3vI9Lz1zq7fYXppJcxsLlZq39fFAsAEvrinX8pi93VH41kuO8xLyY1Ke8SxJfgJHBkahdHBfEGAOktVQXm0pWN4_lRLww2qONbc_1Uhw/s960/The%20Marvels.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhvff7PU6YApJV-PcsyOm6oKbnbLYsWjFlMoVnFpkfGheoxh6ztBVfaTjjNLKqfFOIbn_bVSpy5_vwu40LbQm3vI9Lz1zq7fYXppJcxsLlZq39fFAsAEvrinX8pi93VH41kuO8xLyY1Ke8SxJfgJHBkahdHBfEGAOktVQXm0pWN4_lRLww2qONbc_1Uhw/s320/The%20Marvels.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />The makers of the James Bond series may have decided to finally kill off the last iteration of their perennial cash cow, but despite numerous recent critical flops the Marvel Cinematic Universe shows no sign of doing likewise.</div><div style="text-align: left;">So, MCU#33 is a continuation of the Captain Marvel story with the titular hero joined by her teenage fangirl version from the <i>Ms. Marvel</i> TV miniseries and her niece of sorts Monica Rambeau, all now imbued with different versions of the character's cosmic powers. The twist is that when one uses her powers, they all switch places. This leads them to work as a team to stop the latest universe-destroying vengeful villain off the production line, and the rest of it is then just the usual overbombardment of CGI action. At least Samuel L. Jackson gets to have some fun with the his supporting turn as Nick Fury, but that's really quite scant compensation for the film's lack of imagination. Naturally, some critics attacked it for epitomising the 'woke' movement by daring to have only women of various racial mixes as the main heroes and their foe too, but those critics are almost all safely trapped on the other side of the pond and so can be ignored.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">5/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-14036130039508914172024-02-05T11:54:00.003+00:002024-02-05T11:54:43.302+00:00Vivarium (Lorcan Finnegan, 2019)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbQwYdljuti1dRBNFiRlH_jQMwbkUTkbIttAY6wF7dOwri4S2KjSyuJj_la9VTo6gfmntLLrH9cziPma4-iAalzBYEbEnjRzlMfBxXlPIixsIkmQhf391gIutJLUphSDJcMqOqHDQ99Q6qB4rrHhx-Ur3fY0KTjCQmpVNpjNyc71mwYFKde1mzBVPoE4w/s665/vivarium.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="665" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbQwYdljuti1dRBNFiRlH_jQMwbkUTkbIttAY6wF7dOwri4S2KjSyuJj_la9VTo6gfmntLLrH9cziPma4-iAalzBYEbEnjRzlMfBxXlPIixsIkmQhf391gIutJLUphSDJcMqOqHDQ99Q6qB4rrHhx-Ur3fY0KTjCQmpVNpjNyc71mwYFKde1mzBVPoE4w/s320/vivarium.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />A young couple are taken by an obsequious estate agent to a viewing in a new suburban development of endless rows of identical green houses. As soon as they decide to leave, they find his car is gone and any attempt by them to drive out of the development just leads them back to the same house.</div><div style="text-align: left;">So far, so <i>Black Mirror</i>, but the name of the film, referring to a confined environment created for observing animals, and the opening images showing the brood parasitism of a cuckoo, meaning its method of forcing a host to raise its young, already tell us where this is heading. Sure enough, when a young boy suddenly appears in the house and grows at an unnatural rate, while perfectly mimicking everything they say, it is clear that they are not just in a suburban prison but an alien zoo of sorts.</div><div style="text-align: left;">In comparison to most current horror, science fiction or mystery films, <i>Vivarium </i>does manage to generate a thoroughly unsettling atmosphere without reliance on FX, action or gore. But then it is closely based on the classic <i>Twilight Zone </i>episode <i>Stopover in a Quiet Town</i>, to which it only adds the element of the couple being nothing but powerless surrogates for unseen aliens. The potential for attacking the horrifying uniformity of suburbia is also left unexplored, partly because there are no other characters in their cage to interact with. Still, marks for creating something so disquieting.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">6/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-37041018473088559692024-02-04T10:57:00.002+00:002024-02-04T11:05:09.253+00:00Kuolleet Lehdet (Aki Kaurismäki, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie1GKORN2FGfvUSvDUyYuETFRAo7aXp7sWm3X1ccM8htOD7f-VzQkAq9pxaF7UJMeeN31GxTXjM0JU796WZEs00gxGRtJfJDs9b__nPSxWkZw2k3gVWOLlNcBnngMGOYWBZ4ymShyphenhyphenswVGGEgZe-wqbFzYebR28pMUQZmc3cSeQOlQuGt_iQlpil4YqrwE/s1920/Kuolleet%20Lehdet.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1920" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie1GKORN2FGfvUSvDUyYuETFRAo7aXp7sWm3X1ccM8htOD7f-VzQkAq9pxaF7UJMeeN31GxTXjM0JU796WZEs00gxGRtJfJDs9b__nPSxWkZw2k3gVWOLlNcBnngMGOYWBZ4ymShyphenhyphenswVGGEgZe-wqbFzYebR28pMUQZmc3cSeQOlQuGt_iQlpil4YqrwE/s320/Kuolleet%20Lehdet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Finland's best cinematic export and worst representative of its tourism industry returns from self-declared retirement with his 18th feature, and <i>Fallen Leaves</i> has all his trademarks stamped through it like a stick of rock. Underclass protagonists shat on by officious employers and indifferent officialdom, incessant smoking in the place of dialogue, what dialogue there is being absurdly matter-of-fact and never over a short sentence at a time, suicide-inducingly gloomy interiors, bloody-mindedly melancholic music and another setback for the characters always just around the corner.</div><div style="text-align: left;">This time, it's about a supermarket shelf-stacker and a construction worker who both get fired from their jobs and meet by chance, starting a fledgling relationship that is soon derailed.</div><div style="text-align: left;">As always, it's both sporadically very droll in its most deadpan moments and constantly Loach-like in its fury at the system. However, the latter aspect is undermined by Kaurismäki employing more poetic licence than ever with his depiction of the grim world. He was once asked what year his latest film was set in, and his reply was "between 1950 and now". True, there are the usual elements of both the past and present, but when it suits him for the sake of providing a target for his ire, it does not serve the purpose to create such a fiction where there is no social safety net, no employment laws, no libraries for free internet access and ludicrously antiquated and hazardous industries. This means that it is more a fantastical nightmare than a social critique.</div><div style="text-align: left;">All that said, you do get the sense that the taciturn couple will find each other in the end. That is by no means a given with the director, even as he approaches old age.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">7/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-40009369561046517752024-01-21T18:28:00.001+00:002024-01-21T20:29:34.106+00:00Maestro (Bradley Cooper, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw0hPLzLY4FU_OgbOEZp2HWLE18c7lwf-Cx-Q7vioKtYpU9sDU-HorhMVrTV08Kq8W1rfYFJABshf0hkuxA_lD1smtWKUcp9-mYHorj5-sGXg1SS5DBXQIsyF0vpKByKsl1XT9451_m9G2xwyf2SshktOHY_qjEv1aQ4tOOft9zCxklxcdqs8XDjcYu7c/s700/maestro.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="700" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw0hPLzLY4FU_OgbOEZp2HWLE18c7lwf-Cx-Q7vioKtYpU9sDU-HorhMVrTV08Kq8W1rfYFJABshf0hkuxA_lD1smtWKUcp9-mYHorj5-sGXg1SS5DBXQIsyF0vpKByKsl1XT9451_m9G2xwyf2SshktOHY_qjEv1aQ4tOOft9zCxklxcdqs8XDjcYu7c/s320/maestro.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />Who'd have thunk it? Serial romcommer Bradley Cooper has evolved into a director of real films, here a biopic of the mercurial composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. Cooper plays Bernstein with a prosthetic nose , which drew accusations stateside of 'Jewface', his long-suffering actress wife also played by a non-Jew, Carey Mulligan, but Bernstein's children didn't complain, and the depiction of a man with numerous foibles and demons is a respectful one.</div><div style="text-align: left;">What does strike one as somewhat odd is the little attention paid to his musicals such as <i>West Side Story</i> which, despite all his other achievements, Bernstein is best remembered for. The focus is almost exclusively on his fractious marriage and soaring dreams. Those it covers well and quite affectingly at times, but you have to go in accepting that it's only an impressionistic portrait from a non-musician rather than the full picture.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">6/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-67267338266834883462024-01-21T17:37:00.000+00:002024-01-21T17:37:13.774+00:003022 (John Suits, 2019)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSmMb5gjvBJZUQ0MziM4boaLkREmNScvRnuTWXeCZv5f0DBWgXigXkRuMzCaUHBxo8lLTIKqijQ5gNOHEmcpgJVpIE8nbNsfV6wZGUISjO0pQjPtqw2YhWJh7sBX7SVuMAWQiShyphenhyphene3OBPs1h9b0dVhrlAWBVFbhd1hXaknNgp7B60TU73TUueQaf9QpQ/s1024/3022.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="1024" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrSmMb5gjvBJZUQ0MziM4boaLkREmNScvRnuTWXeCZv5f0DBWgXigXkRuMzCaUHBxo8lLTIKqijQ5gNOHEmcpgJVpIE8nbNsfV6wZGUISjO0pQjPtqw2YhWJh7sBX7SVuMAWQiShyphenhyphene3OBPs1h9b0dVhrlAWBVFbhd1hXaknNgp7B60TU73TUueQaf9QpQ/s320/3022.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />2190 and four American astronauts begin their stint manning a refuelling station between Earth and Europa. Five years later, all of them are showing the effects of protracted isolation and then they lose all communications with Earth. A suspicion arises that there is no more Earth.</div><div style="text-align: left;">So, uncommonly bleak, even as apocalypse scenarios go. But at least the fatalism helps to set it apart from being just a lower-budget hybrid of <i>Alien</i>, <i>The Expanse</i> and <i>Event Horizon</i>. The technique of skipping through the first five years as key images without dialogue in the opening minutes is also a marvellously innovative one. It doesn't have much else to give besides a sense of hopelessness and slowly creeping doom, but that in itself is refreshing.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">5/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-88983438996124768602024-01-19T12:59:00.000+00:002024-01-19T12:59:07.208+00:00The Creator (Gareth Edwards, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqoJtflSChlZbpGCTvZFP7zUK3quSlOCEroaF2nsXFKSDZYoP0zuSAa9FrkcLrxwtXpTVHIknJBvmrydL8CRRO-dn_BSDnquB-xK9wTH7oc9dglMUIeJexZiwIRpuRJs0iZhHxhAfPQdSTWUmYDyxuIfbMxr9wMd2lI0wUSM6iCKO_itqVZOo-oHmD0zE/s1920/the%20creator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqoJtflSChlZbpGCTvZFP7zUK3quSlOCEroaF2nsXFKSDZYoP0zuSAa9FrkcLrxwtXpTVHIknJBvmrydL8CRRO-dn_BSDnquB-xK9wTH7oc9dglMUIeJexZiwIRpuRJs0iZhHxhAfPQdSTWUmYDyxuIfbMxr9wMd2lI0wUSM6iCKO_itqVZOo-oHmD0zE/s320/the%20creator.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />In the late 21st century, the West has been at war for 15 years with East Asia over the latter's continued support for AI, which has become so advanced that there are multitudes of sentient androids. The Americans seek to hunt down the creator of the AI before he launches a strike to win the war against them.</div><div style="text-align: left;">What we have here is yet another overlong sci-fi actioner with admittedly impressive FX and a vague attempt to say something new about the AI issue, in that the robots only seek to be left in peace by humanity. But it is also so derivative of so many other films in the broad genre that the best way to pass the time through it is really to prepare a checklist of stolen ideas before starting to watch it, so that <i>Blade Runner</i>, <i>I, Robot</i>, <i>Battlestar Galactica</i>, <i>Humans</i>, <i>Ex Machina</i> and <i>Children of Men</i> can be ticked off. And that's only for starters. There's also a strong whiff of lazy cultural generalisation in lumping a vast mass of Asian nations together as backers of AI over humanity. Edwards would be better off returning to the constraints of the <i>Star Wars</i> franchise instead of trying to strike out on his own, as his <i>Rogue One: A Star Wars Story </i>was actually far more rewarding viewing.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">5/10</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-10972136606357012472024-01-16T09:39:00.000+00:002024-01-16T09:39:03.136+00:00Morbius (Daniel Espinosa, 2022)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipKg0PMQ1OYZRNlg2J0aTCSup5JfpIXdZ4YIpcag-ePHTAjNCp3RhjWD5vT0mbQW4wRAhHlLDu5LWGdT58ar4QSeQweMltfHUm55Uxk6aQH2igDlF0HRcpF-eVbSiNu00EpJRni6Gn_HqpoWUFLVQv4IHOMApwd_9djTRHcYGDQvKTwPZAwY9vMNccgnA/s2048/Morbius.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipKg0PMQ1OYZRNlg2J0aTCSup5JfpIXdZ4YIpcag-ePHTAjNCp3RhjWD5vT0mbQW4wRAhHlLDu5LWGdT58ar4QSeQweMltfHUm55Uxk6aQH2igDlF0HRcpF-eVbSiNu00EpJRni6Gn_HqpoWUFLVQv4IHOMApwd_9djTRHcYGDQvKTwPZAwY9vMNccgnA/s320/Morbius.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Tied into the highly lucrative Spider-verse, <i>Morbius</i> stars the divisive but frequently compelling method specialist Jared Leto as a scientist crippled by a blood disorder whose self-devised cure turns him into a vampire and forces him to try to control his bloodlust. His similarly crippled friend, erstwhile Doctor Who Matt Smith, acquires the cure/curse too, and the rest really writes itself. As usual, tiresomely protracted CGI fights abound and a post-credits scene dangles the prospect of a sequel, despite this film's poor commercial and critical success. File alongside Tom Hardy's <i>Venom</i> films: some isolated merits, but overall just for Marvel completist fanboys.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">4/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-73419909532092556502023-12-29T16:21:00.001+00:002023-12-29T16:21:51.084+00:00The Suicide Squad (James Gunn, 2021)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZHNY6n8eJi5FC5D_TAgXljfbZHtmqWGH5T2NzBneD0UlwtPJApXIuH8UUw2MAuy1FKCXsC7TdAI4GDgIdPc6HO67gide5yBrzvH5xc-EaxcOFpPJ3Mi2O6z9Gl4qQ6izN3adunFCdHg1czBTTttGp1P2OJ3LzZ8gWLy0Kmu6gEOvd_rR_GQxym4MSAw/s500/the%20suicide%20squad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="281" data-original-width="500" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZHNY6n8eJi5FC5D_TAgXljfbZHtmqWGH5T2NzBneD0UlwtPJApXIuH8UUw2MAuy1FKCXsC7TdAI4GDgIdPc6HO67gide5yBrzvH5xc-EaxcOFpPJ3Mi2O6z9Gl4qQ6izN3adunFCdHg1czBTTttGp1P2OJ3LzZ8gWLy0Kmu6gEOvd_rR_GQxym4MSAw/s320/the%20suicide%20squad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Seeking to capitalise on the moderate commercial success of 2016's <i>Suicide Squad</i>, and blithely ignoring the critical panning that received, what we get is more of the same: gleeful ultraviolence from the homicidal protagonists, the only alterations being an even greater emphasis on milking it for gallows humour, since it's now the director of the <i>Guardians of the Galaxy</i> trilogy Gunn at the helm, and a scenario which is more a rip-off of <i>The Dirty Dozen</i>. Of course, the one truly popular character of the first film, Margot Robbie's utterly cuckoo Harley Quinn, has to be there too, and Idris Elba to all intents and purposes is the same character as Will Smith's Deadshot, i.e. a lethal assassin with a problematic relationship with his estranged daughter.</div><div style="text-align: left;">What else? Well, the U.S. Government official who sends the misfits to their near-certain demise is really the biggest villain and there's an alien kaiju they have to eradicate to carry out their mission. All totally ludicrous of course, and accompanied by lashings of the customary CGI overkill. But oddly still more coherent and entertaining than the first instalment.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">5/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-37879222592597187342023-12-28T12:23:00.000+00:002023-12-28T12:23:43.663+00:00Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire (Zack Snyder, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9jMEtSKuZJ31AjrnQ8szxUY0Lu0zFVtwVdJgvTFmUMYXBsCEzHls_luv-JILJ4rHcDjS6vGI7-3BWPftQLGr196d6EcHM5Yp6vCcqZbTPQMlwbxkOfY2QIahpSTZDDW6ZpCuaLduVg2KY1kFk7pGNZqQdOaF1wiU9B4NzUg4j5MJfTdjBxGfLp8R2YVw/s1200/rebel%20moon%20part%20one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9jMEtSKuZJ31AjrnQ8szxUY0Lu0zFVtwVdJgvTFmUMYXBsCEzHls_luv-JILJ4rHcDjS6vGI7-3BWPftQLGr196d6EcHM5Yp6vCcqZbTPQMlwbxkOfY2QIahpSTZDDW6ZpCuaLduVg2KY1kFk7pGNZqQdOaF1wiU9B4NzUg4j5MJfTdjBxGfLp8R2YVw/s320/rebel%20moon%20part%20one.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Zack Snyder, almost as gravely as Michael Bay, has the unfortunate reputation of his name alone being the kiss of death for the quality of anything he chooses to direct. His shot-by-shot adaptation to screen of <i>Watchmen </i>was a rare exception, but apart from that it's been lunkheaded slo-mo hyperaction with scant regard for plot all the way. <i>Rebel Moon</i> is his transparent attempt to get a piece of the almighty <i>Star Wars</i> pie by nicking as much as possible from Lucas's saga. There is a tyrannical Imperium and a pseudo-Nazi evil villain, an orphaned heroine and plucky band of rebels who oppose them, random weird aliens, anthropomorphic droids and warriors with glowing swords. But Snyder doesn't stop there either with his ransacking of better sources. <i>Seven Samurai</i>, <i>Dune</i> and even <i>John Carter</i> are also pillaged, and to what end? The finished composite product doesn't even have the dignity of Frankenstein's monster, and certainly less right than it did to exist.</div><div style="text-align: left;">And yet, because this got in enough unwary punters, there will still be a second part very soon. Oh joy.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">3/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-36263385794862242432023-12-21T11:18:00.002+00:002023-12-21T11:18:23.564+00:00Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (James Mangold, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDNAKyakp7SH4-boLSnt9gcAwf1zCBZfA34Bol7iGNcsbCZWCfnR_DFnVlcPNuy6MgZmnWSXkwp_VNWXJHI5QfN8dwFb-WHlK-XvqsxExPU4_WY6FL1cWGv-HVCSmxjws6w7onL5VqRRuDELUEb8PW3zuXd474JdkxsqvV2zy0l41-hJ3rc7jEnaTlxwc/s960/indiana%20jones%20and%20the%20dial%20of%20destiny.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDNAKyakp7SH4-boLSnt9gcAwf1zCBZfA34Bol7iGNcsbCZWCfnR_DFnVlcPNuy6MgZmnWSXkwp_VNWXJHI5QfN8dwFb-WHlK-XvqsxExPU4_WY6FL1cWGv-HVCSmxjws6w7onL5VqRRuDELUEb8PW3zuXd474JdkxsqvV2zy0l41-hJ3rc7jEnaTlxwc/s320/indiana%20jones%20and%20the%20dial%20of%20destiny.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />Harrison Ford finally bows out of his other big action franchise role, years after Han Solo was killed off. God knows it's been long enough coming, but better than having the actor die on the job, though.</div><div style="text-align: left;">To wrap up the character's story, there are once more Nazi villains and a supernatural gizmo to find, this one being the dial of the title, created by Archimedes to travel in time.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Of course he always neds a sidekick, particularly as he can't be expected to do all the heavy lifting anymore. This is provided in the form of Phoebe Waller-Bridge as his goddaughter, also an archaeologist but one driven by money, and it takes a good part of the film and for her to turn from an antagonist to an ally. Oh, and there's a Moroccan street urchin in tow too. </div><div style="text-align: left;">The film's interminable running time is just bickering between Ford and Waller-Bridge, which purports to be amusing, and naturally endless preposterous chase and fight sequences.</div><div style="text-align: left;">It wasn't long ago when the director closed the hero stories of Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart in a very satisfactory way in <i>Logan</i>. I assume he simply wasn't allowed to do the same here.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">4/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-51483740536282457422023-12-10T22:07:00.001+00:002023-12-11T09:41:13.346+00:00Leave the World Behind (Sam Esmail, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQtZZRzKTXKflK13WDUyA4Plmv2yaLN2Jo42Xe_Y9_26Quc0EZnpWrw9ir8Kpu9UdRahoCWvTEvWlqdn_PJXLVQw3FUb4B6f81OESUYrPD8OhMvIDQb-BhsdRvVziZlYwf05bWxYtebSIYQfNBOIHEIxplj8Gg0cRD5f9cQupdeEyce_UxezidAkZDpG0/s2048/leave-the-world-behind.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="2048" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQtZZRzKTXKflK13WDUyA4Plmv2yaLN2Jo42Xe_Y9_26Quc0EZnpWrw9ir8Kpu9UdRahoCWvTEvWlqdn_PJXLVQw3FUb4B6f81OESUYrPD8OhMvIDQb-BhsdRvVziZlYwf05bWxYtebSIYQfNBOIHEIxplj8Gg0cRD5f9cQupdeEyce_UxezidAkZDpG0/s320/leave-the-world-behind.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br />Julia Roberts takes her family to a holiday rental on Long Island, where their phones and TV stop working and things get progressively weirder, even before the owner of the property turns up out of the blue with his daughter and stories of blackouts in New York, asking to stay in the basement while the situation settles down. But nothing does settle down and it becomes apparent that the whole country is under cyberattack and descending into a state of utter chaos, the culprits quite unknown.</div><div style="text-align: left;">This was produced by the Obamas, and the connection gradually manifests itself: the unseen enemy isn't so much a tangible external power, but the easy spread of misinformation and paranoia in current America. And the seed for the growth of the societal disintegration that takes place has implicit parallels with the MAGA movement, underlined by their survivalist neighbour, who they turn to for help, laying out all the standard conspiracy theories propagated by the movement.</div><div style="text-align: left;">Structurally it is somewhat of a jumble and the message itself is not a subtle one, but the way it's snuck in under the radar, facilitated by able actors and being difficult to pin down in simple terms of genre, makes it both effective and worthwhile.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">6/10</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-4796271925888187522023-12-10T17:56:00.002+00:002023-12-13T09:48:19.620+00:00The Killer (David Fincher, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_4QQe4bczN5VAQTdv3g47ogSh0XxWh63ZD0R0_OhQqme-31cOrACdirj15myQTrbUZ7j4P62g5JmGb-T3Bu-Cskno49XTc0LHD-bJdft1oyk7F4klzDrqGfNnvcu3jhIpD9MWk-Y5NJU8Q-xq3jrCygvoGPoMAbb3MqgcNBvCJmqjJWUQbhQP3yeXkgo/s1200/The-Killer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_4QQe4bczN5VAQTdv3g47ogSh0XxWh63ZD0R0_OhQqme-31cOrACdirj15myQTrbUZ7j4P62g5JmGb-T3Bu-Cskno49XTc0LHD-bJdft1oyk7F4klzDrqGfNnvcu3jhIpD9MWk-Y5NJU8Q-xq3jrCygvoGPoMAbb3MqgcNBvCJmqjJWUQbhQP3yeXkgo/s320/The-Killer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Michael Fassbender plays the titular character, narrating us through his modus operandi and life as a professional assassin. This means hearing his Zen-ish mantra of "avoid empathy" over and over again, and indeed it makes him impossible to empathise with, a cold fish for whom the only guiding principle is to be as efficient and business-like as possible, without emotional involvement.</div><div style="text-align: left;">This could be a serious dramatic problem for the film, even when the killer makes a mistake on a job which turns him instead into a loose end to be readicated and means that he has to set about methodically getting rid of those who would eradicate him. But giving him any more vulnerability would actually detract from the character and the point of the exercise, as would allowing any one of his targets an emotive final speech.</div><div style="text-align: left;">This is a dark world hidden in plain view, shot through with detached style, akin to Ryan Gosling's in <i>Drive</i>, or the even more glaring parallel of Alain Delon in Melville's <i>Le Samourai</i>. Something quite uncommon, a killer who takes no pleasure in his work and all to a soundtrack of '80s tunes by The Smiths.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">7/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7377187461676035718.post-19068871797115498962023-11-21T19:19:00.003+00:002023-11-21T19:19:51.107+00:00El Conde (Pablo Larraín, 2023)<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5YBgPjVzKZeSeZ2IJS_mt9G65JbIR1U0MUp3ctTLh7VOwVd8R5bvcX-vtxR20-oFhGK_3KSsO0kHZNV_zgif0Ukj_3RL_admPG4KARVxEIngyHyDDHmR_ykT9GhUUBjWJ9eyupJublkn1rZBRYEHMz4WVYVvz5dkyFI3hE_sLro9-ij8lT3uBIkTK5f4/s850/El-Conde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="850" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5YBgPjVzKZeSeZ2IJS_mt9G65JbIR1U0MUp3ctTLh7VOwVd8R5bvcX-vtxR20-oFhGK_3KSsO0kHZNV_zgif0Ukj_3RL_admPG4KARVxEIngyHyDDHmR_ykT9GhUUBjWJ9eyupJublkn1rZBRYEHMz4WVYVvz5dkyFI3hE_sLro9-ij8lT3uBIkTK5f4/s320/El-Conde.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Yet another vampire flick, but at least the twist here is a novel one: Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old bloodsucker who fakes his own death to escape justice and continues living on in seclusion. But now he is truly fed up with eternal life and wants to die, which brings his children to come to squabble over his inheritance, getting an odd accountant to tot up the value of his hidden holdings.</div><div style="text-align: left;">There is an abundance of gallows humour satire and lustrously sombre cinematography, but the silliness doesn't know to stop after the initial premise and eventually it all goes completely overboard.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">6/10</div>Kinorunnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06148472686732006241noreply@blogger.com0