Just a bunch of stuff i've seen lately

[Mairosu]

COME AND FIND ME ... took me about 20 years to come to terms that I like Whedon. But not that Whedon. This film is a debut effort from Zack Whedon, and it's as good as debut efforts get - the young scribe treats us to a fully Hitchcockian thriller updated for modern era. Ordinary guy getting caught in extraordinary circumstances? Check. Femme fatale? Check. Clandestine societies looking to kill off the main character? Check. In the great Hitchcock tradition, we don't really find out who or what is after our hero, and Whedon makes us not really care about them, but rather him. He is in distress - and we are enthralled throughout. The distinctive indie sheen radiating throughout, for once, does not detract from the quality of the film. Garret Dillahunt is extraordinary as a government stooge. ***1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

HACKSAW RIDGE ... if you told me a year ago Mel Gibson was making a movie about a guy who never picked up a rifle but ended up being a war hero, I would have told you I'd never watch it. I mean, that doesn't sound appealing at all. But ignorance gave way for a change and I ended up thoroughly enjoying this old-school epic about the aw-shucks hillbilly who, amazingly, saved 75 lives by dodging Japanese bullets all night long and dragging heavily wounded GIs to safety at Okinawa. A younger Gibson could have made this into a christian/alt-right agitprop, but here the old and wise Mel was behind the camera and the religious overtones are just about right (Desmond Doss was a man of faith, after all), not nearly enough to spoil the overall feeling. Off-topic, I wonder sometimes if R. Lee Ermey still gets paid everytime someone gets to play a hard-nosed Sarge character - where would this stereotype be without him? ***1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

TRAIN TO BUSAN ... there is about nothing new in this Korean zombie flick which people are talking about. Also, saying this is Snowpiercer with zombies is awfully lame - the only two things those films have in common are Korea and being onboard a train. What this film is is an acceptable way to pass two hours - the action is fast paced, there are some really good set pieces, and there's the obligatory dash of Korean tragedy scattered throughout just so you remember this is not an American film. In a genre this stale, it's welcoming enough to be able to sit through the whole film and not reach for the remote. That, unto itself, is a success. **1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

SPECTRAL ... watching this military sci-fi flick about a Delta team, backed up by a top DARPA scientist, investigating some paranormal phenomena in an insurgent-infested Eastern European country was like watching someone play out an as-of-yet unreleased XCOM video game. Spectral makes no bones about its gaming influences - there is first contact, disbelief, action with horrid consequences, then research and final victory - but more than that, it's just very, very competent B SF fare and a rather enjoyable watch. Up the final grade for a half if you're a fan of military SF games, you'll see a lot of those tropes in this film. Which, IMO, is not a bad thing at all. **1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

Forgot to update this thread from the last trip. Let's get on with the show.

ALLIED ... Robert Zemeckis' war film about love and, ultimately, betrayal starts good, then suddenly gets mired in the second act which however only serves as a setup for a chilling finale. There is great chemistry between the leads, Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard - it's also very beautifully shot. It's just that at some point you figure where it leads and the ending is hard to swallow emotionally. Still - very good film. *** / ****

[Mairosu]

STAR WARS : ROGUE ONE ... after the unmitigated disaster which was the episode VII I had nothing but low...well, even sub-zero hopes for this spinoff. As it happens, I was treated to possibly the best Star Wars film since ROTJ. To be honest with you - it's Star Wars in name only. Gareth Edwards essentially creates a pastiche of all great war films of old and gives it some Star Wars decor, but this is more, say, DIRTY DOZEN than ATTACK OF THE CLONES. The action is vintage, and the fact that there's very limited exposure to any of the jedi/force mumbo jumbo is actually fairly refreshing. No real cast standouts to report (although Donnie Yen is great with his Zatoichi riff), but meshed all together, it works, it's tightly paced, well staged, and God, it's goosebump-inducing at all the right times. I also loved the digital superimposing of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher. ***1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

LIFE ... a slick, well-polished and ultimately wholly unneeded Alien-ripoff, with more ethnically diverse cast and a slightly more imaginative antagonist but...why? Just watch GRAVITY again if you're up for deep space thrillers. Life is so derivative you'll find it hard to motivate yourself to the ending (which, incidentally, is one of that film's brighter parts). ** / ****

[Mairosu]

STAR TREK : BEYOND ... there was some commotion within the fan ranks when JJ bolted and took over the Star Wars part of geekdom, but it seems that the Trek reboot is on stable ground. The third entry won't induce jaw drops like the first two, yet it's "more of the same", and there is no quality dropoff to be observed. This time, Kirk & co. end up chasing a distress call and finding themselves in serious trouble, where they also find a new antagonist who might not be all that new after all. The script also does a fair job of advancing character relationships, and Justin Lin does his part of job as well as JJ would. As I said, nothing new here, but Trek fans and casuals will enjoy the fix. *** / ****

[Mairosu]

THE RAID 2 ... Raid 1 was amazeballs, but ultimately it was just a showcase for the Welsh director Gareth Evans and new martial arts star Iko Uwais. Raid 2, however, is a legitimate cracker - it's a proper film, which builds on some established characters from part 1, and paints a very grim picture of Indonesian underworld. Set pieces are crazier than in the first part - look out for the return of veteran banger Yayan Ruhian, who this time around plays a different (and even more deranged!) character than his Mad Dog from the first film. Great fun to be had here. ***1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

HEADSHOT ... this Mo Brothers thriller about a guy who washes up ashore at a remote Indonesian village and turns out to be trouble once his memory returns is torn between trying to be a respectable mainstream fare and Raid-esque new wave Asian splatter actioner, eventually going nowhere despite boasting Iko Uwais of Raid fame. Mo Brothers come from horror background and it shows - their talent for action set pieces is not as refined yet to make this film completely work. **1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

SOURCE CODE ... an interesting thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a US marine tasked with a special mission - through new experimental means, he is to be transported on a train which is about to get bombed and he has 8 minutes to prevent it. The catch - once he "dies" he can be restarted from a checkpoint, so it's kinda like a video game...but the whole scheme might be a touch more nefarious than it really looks. Capably directed by Duncan Jones (who did MOON in 2009), this one is well worth your 90 minutes. *** / ****

[Neon Maniac]

STAR WARS : ROGUE ONE ... after the unmitigated disaster which was the episode VII I had nothing but low...well, even sub-zero hopes for this spinoff. As it happens, I was treated to possibly the best Star Wars film since ROTJ. To be honest with you - it's Star Wars in name only. Gareth Edwards essentially creates a pastiche of all great war films of old and gives it some Star Wars decor, but this is more, say, DIRTY DOZEN than ATTACK OF THE CLONES. The action is vintage, and the fact that there's very limited exposure to any of the jedi/force mumbo jumbo is actually fairly refreshing. No real cast standouts to report (although Donnie Yen is great with his Zatoichi riff), but meshed all together, it works, it's tightly paced, well staged, and God, it's goosebump-inducing at all the right times. I also loved the digital superimposing of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher. ***1/2 / ****

I agree on most of this. I wish they'd take the focus off the core characters and expanding a story that should've been left as done in ROTJ, and just do a few movies like Rogue One. You're right in the Dirty Dozen comparison. This was a 'small' movie and if they walk away from trying to be EPIC they can put out so many cool movies like this. I'd love to see some stealth/spy Mission Impossible style movie, or more squad or operation based movies this one. You can pretty much remake any WWII movie here and it will work.

I much did not love the digital superimposing. I am not a fan of bringing people back from the dead for stunt casting. They could've dropped in a new unknown character, not like Grand Moff Tarkin had more than 15 seconds of screen time in the original, you know?

[Mairosu]

SAFE HOUSE ... before diddly dicking with Alien clones such as LIFE, Swedish helmer Daniel Espinosa directed this CIA thriller set in South Africa where a bored rookie agent (Ryan Reynolds) suddenly gets to deal with a legitimate crisis once a sought-after traitor (Denzel Washington) resurfaces and there's more than just Langley that's after him. Good performances and interesting locales set this one apart from the bunch of similar films - some good action set pieces as the movie progresses, too. *** / ****

[Mairosu]

UNKNOWN ... Liam Neeson plays a top American scientist who shows up for a Berlin lecture, then it all goes very strange following his car crash en route back to the airport to pick up a forgotten suitcase. What starts as a Twilight Zone episode carefully unravels into a network of intrigue and deception - a very well crafted film with some great performances scattered throughout. Breathtaking photography alone makes this worth watching. This is the first time that director Jaume Collet-Serra and Liam Neeson worked together - their portfolio now includes three more films, including the excellent RUN ALL NIGHT reviewed earlier. ***1/2 / ****

[Mairosu]

SHOT CALLER ... a gripping story of one white collar Joe Average's downfall, who is reborn as an Aryan brotherhood thug inside a maximum security prison. Great performance by Danish (!) Nikolaj Coster-Waldau aka Jaime Lannister in the lead role - lots to love her for people who are into prison films. *** / ****