Time lapse (2014)

Trei prieteni descoperă o cameră foto care fotografiază aceeași fereastră zi de zi 24 de ore în viitor și hotărăsc să o folosească pentru avantaje personale.

Film de buget redus, interesant, in stilul lui Primer care încearcă să pună accent pe partea umană a consecințelor încercării de a controla timpul. Personajele devin tot mai lacome și paranoice fără un motiv de ajuns de puternic, doar pentru ca fotografia cea mai curenta îi arată într-o anume circumstanță intrigantă. Cauza devine efectul si viceversa. Actorii reușesc să facă tranzițiile cât de cât credibile si scenariștii reușesc să introducă și surprize neașteptate. Foarte puțină știință, multă slabiciune umană. 

Finalul îmi amintește de confuzia comună din ziua cu schimbarea orei, când nu poți judeca dacă consecința e că te trezești mai devreme sau mai târziu.

Regia: Bradley King

Cu: Danielle Panabaker, Matt O'Leary, George Finn

Rating: 8/10

Also read in English

Winchester (2018)

Un doctor blazat este însărcinat cu diagnosticarea capului companiei ce produce arma Winchester, act necesar pentru a face posibilă preluarea puterii de către asociații acesteia. Pretextul folosit este ciudatul obicei al doamnei în cauza de a construi într-una noi camere în casa sa, camere ce nu urmează prea des normele vremii.

Interesant până la un punct, și asta deoarece Sarah Winchester a existat cu adevarat, și pare-se a fost pasionată de arhitectură în așa fel încât și-a folosit propria casă pentru experimente arhitecturale, experimente pe care le abandona fără a le demola oricând o idee nouă o pasiona și necesita o alta schimbare.

Între timp moștenitorii ei au schimbat narațiunea încercând sa facă bani din povestea ei transformând casa rezultată într-o așa zisă casă bântuită. Lucru la fel de tras de păr ca și filmul de față. 

Helen Mirren apare într-un rol slab și neverosimil, ceva ce nu prea o caracterizează. Singura persoana care se simte ca acasă este Sarah Snook, deja veterană a genului, aici în rolul firavei (sau nu?) nepoatei mamă. 

Slăbuț, neconvingător, încearcă să sperie prin clișee horror.

Poate fi potrivit pentru maratoane horror cu un grup de prieteni care adoră să râdă împreună.
Pe Sarah Snook ați văzut-o în Jesabelle, Predestination și Black Mirror

Regia: Michael și Peter Spierig

Cu: Helen Mirren, Sarah Snook, Jason Clarke

Rating: 5/10

Also read in English

Den brysomme mannen/ The Bothersome Man (2006)

A man has doubts and asks too many questions in a town/world where everyone else seems weirdly happy and content.

An aggressive look into the mirror of today's consumer society. Obsessed with being fit, fashion trends, showing off the marks of one's socially achieved/desired level, people tend to bypass the pleasure of simple things, they take shortcuts to what's easily accessible, avoid what's not trendy, and they implicitly educate their senses in such a way that they can only detect and react to that which has society's stamp of approval.
This amplified tendency leads to the numbness of real senses and of deep feelings to such an extent that it gives the superficial impression of real happiness and of reaching Nirvana - a thing that could not be more false, a fact of which the main character seems well aware from the start, at first in a shy and doubtful way, reacting to the cold and tasteless surrounding reality with a feeling of some sort of alienation from what he sees around and does not recognise, mixed in with a fear of rejection.
However he gradually becomes more and more convinced that the alienation was in the opposite direction, and the rejection came from him, directed at the unrealistic, plastic and unimpressive society.
The so called awakening happens in a brutal, but actually natural way nevertheless when comparing the lack of a meaningful reaction to anything which characterises this so called society to the aggravated and urgent desire to reach the world of real experiences, whether that's the taste of a simple pie in the oven or the terrible stings of frost. That desire is ever so strong even as that world is barely perceivable through a small and insignificant ... crack in the wall, a mere symbol of the flaw that was so difficult to detect in that which seemed perfect to everyone else.

This is a translation of an older post, see it here

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

A waste of time and money. It begins with a lot of bang and agitation but then continues flatly and unimpressive. A lot of noise for nothing.
Keanu is more inexpressive than ever (and I am honestly still a big fan), even though he could have easily taken full advantage of his opportunity to portray an unusual character, an out of this world being residing in a fresh host who has to handle an unfamiliar body. Jennifer Connelly goes all high-strung and agitated and suffering for too little a movie while Jaden Smith is useless and quite a bit arrogant almost as if he realizes what a waste of effort this is.
There's not much action, just a lot of mise en scène and a lot of unnecessary exhibition of the US armed potential in the face of a massive threat. We were already aware of that, we've seen it all way too many times before. If anyone still had some high hope regarding the special effects, the film makers are actually not very generous with those either, as all we ever see is restricted to a few scenes that present an Aurora Borealis like image, "captured" in some menacing spheres and a storm of .. ruthless and invincible (think again) nanorobots with a piranha personality. And that's it.
Never mind the big final lesson/revelation which is hardly sustained by anything and leads to the liberating and predictable ending. You're better off choosing the War Of The Worlds.

This is a translation of an older post, see it here

Blood Simple (1984)

The first ever dose of the Coen brothers (Joel - direction, Joel & Ethan - writing).
With a pressing and heavy atmosphere, a common feature of most of their accomplishments (even in their comically tragic works), with their subtle ironies sprinkled here and there, and their very well chosen music, somewhat contrasting and excellently placed, this film manages to shine a new, surprising light over a popular topic, quite often used in many undeniably successful films.
The Coen brothers style is present everywhere. You have your representation of American Southern life (Texan in this case), a great variety of dodgy individuals for most characters (often quite ordinary people that do not excel by anything) whose action is somehow justified by the monologue at the beginning, you have your naive/innocent soul and the fatality of dirty choices, with a total lack of predictability, and the examples could go on. The connaisseurs know what I'm talking about.
It's the Coen brothers!
No one is perfect, no one is invincible, no one is fully good or fully bad, except for maybe one little lost and naive soul, who knows that it can't take it anymore, has had enough, who at crucial moments even manages to show some cold blood and tenacity, whose life choices are the catalyst of the entire plot, a soul that up until the last moment is fully unaware of the snowball effect of its release.

An amazing cast, with Frances McDormand portraying the naive, excellent as always, with John Getz overworked by remorse and doubt, of few words but very expressive, with Dan Hedaya the ever morose and hostile, who has a fate that may seem even crueler than he deserved and with M. Emmet Walsh who's disgustingly believable.

This is a translation of an older post, see it here

May (2002)

A breath of fresh air. Stuck in a time when the horror genre has been offering only repetitive attempts, when the only real successes and inspirational works come from the Asian continent, I suddenly stumbled upon this little gem of a film.

It took me quite some thinking time before I actually labelled this as horror, but I am aware there will be those less accustomed to somewhat gory scenes (so very elegantly and artistically ever so slightly gory for this case) and high tension, who would label it as that within the blink of an eye.

With a playful atmosphere, sprinkled with a few hopes and desires and a lot of shyness, something in the lines of the waiting-for-my-prince to discover the treasure that's hidden in the innocent and unexplored soul of the heroine type of thing, this film is a macabre fresco of human realities and feelings, the human need for attention and acceptance in a world full of intolerance where the impulse to isolate and dismiss anything not matching the pretty picture template predominates. Angela Bettis is adorable, fragile and terrifying at the same time, portraying May this time, the girl that doesn't fit in, who has waited a lifetime for an opportunity to experience what everyone else considers everyday life and mundane, only to just face it and not know what to do with it when that finally appears in her life. 

As a side note: the creepy atmosphere is very well maintained and enhanced by the very static presence of ... Suzie - watch out for the glass.

Rating: 9/10

This is a translation of an older post, see it here

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Saw this..liked it. And that's that. Of course, those who are looking for depth, hidden human truths (though maybe this is what the film was trying to do with the duality of ... well,you know who -no spoilers: D), subtlety and sophistication may have to find a different film. But those eager for pure adrenaline and lots and lots of thrills, this one's for them.

The special effects are incredible, I could even say breathless, though frankly I'm still a bit nostalgic for the short fragments of "future" from the first two films with their obviously unrealistic and artificial and exaggerated style (called real special effects nowadays).

Anyone who is expecting a movie in which Christian Bale is the man ... again, will probably be a little disappointed. Not due to his character or his interpretation, but because John Connor is somewhat ... secondary and a little in the background, being a little wiser and tired under the weight of his mother's truth he's been aware of ever since the time he became able to judge it and acknowledge it. Bryce Dallas Howard was a nice choice, but not nearly enough exploited - she had some true potential. She might as well be missing completely. Moon Bloodgood is quite .. efficient. And Sam Worthington, well he's enigmatic and subtle enough to not need too much criticism. Just keep it simple and the effect is guaranteed. Well, in this case: P.

I'm not even going to mention the few plot holes, as that's not the point, ah and I almost forgot about the actor who plays Kyle - quite believable as a teenager version of Michael Biehn - you can notice it with the tone of his voice and his constant need for movement particularly.

Maybe a bit different from what the other Terminator films were, but this movie is effective and worth the attention.

This is a translation of an older post, see it here