GZahn Reviews

Dream Scenario (2023)

Original, touching and thought-provoking

[10/10 · 14 February 2024]

The tale of a socially-awkward man that becomes famous from one moment to the next, and finds himself unable to cope with it.

Albeit based on a fantastic premise, the whole movie makes us take a deep look inside. What is fame? What would you do if fame struck by accident? Who are you, really? How would you react to becoming famous from one day to the next? Questions get asked and the answers that really matter are not in the movie, but in you. As someone in the academic world, many scenes and lines just ring a bell. I guess it might be the same for most self-aware people, though.

Watch it, with your mind open, and grasp some of the questions and dilemmas that arise.

Retribution (I) (2023)

Average passtime with a terrible ending

[7/10 · 4 December 2023]

The movie itself isn't all that bad - it is catchy, rewards you with some tension and doesn't rely too much in hold-your-breath action sequences, as most of the present day thrillers do.

There are two issues, though.

First, and less troublesome, the plot. Nothing new, something of a mashup of Speed,Crank, and Phone. Booth. Really.

Second, and much worse, is the development towards the end - and the end itself. When the movie reaches its final sequences, there are plenty of moments when Liam Neeson's character could escape the situation, but he doesn't. The police response makes no sense at all. And worse, MUCH worse, is the ending, where essentially they forget all about how gravity works - the idea that it pulls you down, not sideways, and produce a completely unsatisfying end that leaves you with that feeling that you've just thrown 90 min of your life away (the worst thing is: this could be easily avoided, the director just decided to add a minute of tension, while making Newton and Galileo shake in their graves).

Claw (2021)

Jurassic Trash - in a good way!

[7/10 · 26 August 2021]

You could argue the acting is pretty bad, the special effects are absolutely poor and all that, but believe me: if you want a little over an hour of good old fun, this movie may well be for you.

The story is simple and maybe not that original, but works well. The scares work well, too. And, simply put, it works.

Our Evil (2017)

Not to everyone's taste psychological terror

[7/10 · 24 March 2020]

Rather slow-paced, the movie takes its time developing its (very few) characters before an equally slow, but quite apotheotic, final.

Cold Pursuit (2019)

So-so adaptation of a wonderful nordic movie

[7/10 · 26 May 2019]

I've seen the original movie (In Order of Disappearance / Kraftidioten) when it came out, and found it an absolutely perfect blend of violence and dark humor. This american version, though, somewhat overexplains the plot, while keeping most of the characters too shallow.

All in all, it's a decent movie, with a bit of dark humor and some (not too explicit) violence, but you should definitely look for the original one.

Synchronicity (IV) (2015)

Excellent plot almost ruined by awful acting

[8/10 · 28 July 2017]

Let's start the review backwards: the acting is, indeed, awful - I mean, there's not a single decent actor in the whole film, and this sure makes the film a lot harder to connect to.

On the other hand, the plot is really fresh and well worth the troubles - even if at some points you may get a bit too puzzled about what's really going on.

Bottom line: if you like sci-fi, watch it. And be nice to it - it will reward you for that.

Subconscious Cruelty (2000)

Hard to rate, hard to watch... but maybe worth it!

[7/10 · 13 October 2014]

It's hard to define this one... Essentially, it could be said that this is an exercise on what if the left side of the brain was turned off. In fact, this means quite a lot of gore, gratuitous (and sometime senseless) blood and nudity... without any real scare or sensuality. It's gore times 10, without too much of a story "per se", but for some strange reason it's also appealing and entertaining.

Bottom line: if you want a storyline, have problems with blood, gore, torture and/or profanity, pass this one... If those are not a problem, you might get surprised... but beware: as some other reviewer pointed out, there are way too many "WTF" moments...

This Girl's Life (2003)

Great Movie With a Less-Than-Great Ending

[7/10 · 20 October 2003]

In fact, "This Girl's Life" seems to be two movies: first, it works over the relationships of internet pornstar Moon and the world around her - this part is truly great, with very well-constructed characters (specially Moon herself and her ill father, played by James Woods) and cleverly avoiding making judgements about anything; the second, which comes up on the final third of the movie, is clearly weaker, more moralist and somehow desconstructing the characters so wonderfully built on the first part.

All in all, a movie that deserves to be seen... but it's just a shame that the end isn't just a bit less "common"...

Tuno negro (2001)

Good, but tooooo predictable!

[7/10 · 9 June 2003]

Well... this movie is quite entertaining, a lot better than the usual "kill'em all and don't die" regular horror movie, but the problem (as with most movies alike) is that the end is soooo obvious... Also, the plot could be more consistent from the middle on... All in all, can be worth a look if it comes on TV...

Olivetti 82 (2001)

Quite an intriguing movie on this director's debut...

[9/10 · 29 October 2001]

Very interesting adaptation of a popular european play, this movie finds a very delicate and intriguing way of addressing very controversial affairs, without making any explicit judgements or taking sides. It develops around the construction of Bernard's character, from his early days to the moment he's arrested, apparently having no idea why. This construction leads one to some deep thinking about values, life and love. Saying more than that would surely spoil the genuinely great plot.