danny-fr-mail Reviews

Alien: Covenant (2017)

When a franchise stops learning.

[3/10 · 10 May 2017]

Some movies almost don't need a narrative at all (Alien, Aliens, Mad Max: Fury Road come to mind). In these works, the whys and hows are left as an exercise to the viewer and fade into the background to let the action create an emotional resonance.

Alien: Covenant attempts the opposite, and smothers its own pace with lazy exposition and confusing explanations. After so many years of xenomorphs killing humans, the franchise was in dire need of either a return to its source, or some drastic innovation, expectation which aren't met either as the movie deliver action scenes everyone is already used to, without proper build up and without any surprise at all.

One would have also expected Alien:Covenant to have learned from the many mistakes committed by Prometheus. Sadly, the story only goes forward thanks to plot holes combined to the terrible absent-mindedness of the characters who seem to repeat the very same gaffes as the crew of the previous movie.

In short, a film which would have deserved a moist, dark, intense claustrophobic atmosphere and desperate struggles for survival was instead given the plot of, well, mostly every other action movie with disappointing CGI monsters thrown-in, shaped like xenomorphs to remain faithful to the license.

I wish I could give it more than 3 stars (for the okay acting), but considering the waste of potential of this movie and the hype it created, it's only fair (at least in my books).

Not recommended. Wait for the DVD if you're curious.

A Dark Song (2016)

Awesome recipe, half baked result

[3/10 · 9 May 2017]

A Dark Song is one of these movies where everything is set by the ambiance and the claustrophobic dimension of its writing. Taking its time to expose its core, it manages to keep viewers on its toes during half its length, making them forget about details that should in all logic ruin the suspension of disbelief.

Unfortunately, passed that point, it becomes clear that the movie fails to deliver, losing its identity somewhere between psychological thriller and slow paced horror.

Where these two genres could have blended together to create not only an almost original approach to horror/paranormal in the manner of The Babadook or as a darker, much more grounded, ascetic version of Pan's Labyrinth, or even as Identity with an occult twist... it just falls flat

The lack of dramatic climaxes, consistency, and an extremely clumsy third act gives the impression that the writer created the rules of the movies' universe as the story was progressing. Some would argue that that A Dark Song is meant to be appreciated more intellectually than viscerally, but too little is exposed to trigger any reflection, yet too much is revealed to leave some room to the viewer's imagination.

The cherry on the half-baked cake is a very disappointing ending, which seems to belong to another movie altogether.

There are redeeming qualities: the scoring, disturbing yes not annoying, fits the ambiance perfectly, and the acting is all in all pretty good (probably the only reason why some scene retains a certain level of intensity).

If you're in need of some slower paced horror, give Uzumaki or Kairo a chance, but skip this, there are many other, better ways to spend 130 minutes.

The Boss Baby (2017)

A cartoon, doing what cartoons do, and doing it well!

[8/10 · 21 April 2017]

Some movies come up with a message, so do some cartoons. UP tackled the issue of loneliness, Frozen was a legit allegory for depression and how you should never leave your kid's education to trolls, and Boss Baby... well... has none.

Okay, there is some kind of message, yes: don't so self-centered that you'll break the harmony of your awesome family, but that's "standard movie message #948" and there's no need to discuss it further.

So, there is this kid, his life is all great as far as modern kid's standards go and, somehow, a supernatural, baby-shaped CEO hijacks his parents in order to pursue a secret mission which is revealed all over the trailer. The story unravels from there, completely disjointed, illogical, with the epic sort of surrealism that can sometimes emerge from the mind of a seven (and a half) year-old.

That's where and why the movie really shines. Yes, there are some gross jokes here and there, but didn't we make them all when we were this age? The Boss Baby isn't an 'R' rated flick in disguise, it's a goofy, funny (not quite hilarious, but funny) story where "Kill Bill" minus all the snakes meets "Tom & Jerry", with a flurry of colors and motions as well as a quite daring art style (sometimes borrowing a tad from "Kung-Fu Panda" and "Horton Hears a Who").

Technically, the animation is par with what's available these days, the score is okay, and the acting is actually good, with extra kudos for rather caricatured but very convincing facial expressions.

Nothing in this movie makes sense, but nothing has to. It's refreshing, it's well paced, and it's a good way to spend a standard movie length of time. It will make you laugh on more than one occasion -if you don't take it too seriously, the flick itself doesn't, so why should you ;)

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)

Every action movie ever, but really bad.

[3/10 · 8 April 2017]

Resident Evil: Final Chapter tells the story of Leeloo Dallas, who needs to fight Evil Tony Stark (without the Iron Man armor, and interpreted by Jorah Mormont) in order to fulfill a mission given by kid Jarvis, but British.

This movie features seizure inducing fight scenes, intern-generated CGI landscape and smart fire which temperature adapts in function of what it's burning. Evil Tony Stark and Leeloo Dallas have gone to the Sherlock Holmes school of fighting, although they probably fell asleep at some point because their moves are neither entertaining nor efficient looking. Also, Kid Jarvis doesn't understand the difference between downloading and uploading, and nobody is ever able to get a grasp on the complicated concept of time (as in, the difference between 60 seconds and 5 minutes).

They are surrounded by generic henchmen, not even alphabetically sorted, and generic sidekicks who might have a backstory (we will never know).

There are some nice scenes involving monsters, and Jorah Mormont will probably be forgiven my whomever might his liege be now, thanks to his honorable performance.

The rest is sub-par, from the story to the acting and is (and this, I am actually serious about) not recommended for anyone who might experience seizures from too much blinking lights/pictures.

Oh and the name of the movie has something to do with a video game, but really, no.

XX (2017)

An interesting collection of ideas, unfortunately not fit for the format.

[5/10 · 25 February 2017]

Proposing a collection of original shorts in a horror landscape over-saturated with remakes and old recipes is a daring proposition, with or without gender twist. XX delivers four 20 minutes works with an episodic animated sequence as interlude. While the animated part is simply masterful, the quality of the shorts varies.

1st Short: The Box. This short seems to draw an illustration of how a dysfunctional family would end up if closeted drama and shouting exchanges were replaced by a supernatural element. Rather ambient, it lets you wonder what to expect. Unfortunately, the conclusion misses the target and leaves you wanting something more elaborate.

2nd Short: The Birthday party. Expedited premise and hardly believable character behavior make this short rather weak. It seems to be intended as a joke and it sort of, kind of work if you're a good audience. Good material for fan theory, but nothing memorable.

3rd Short: Don't fall. Typical monster story, with all the clichés of the genre packed into way too little time to deliver any kind of tension. A success if you want to watch absolutely every (bad) monster film in 20 minutes, a failure if you're looking for anything else.

4rh Short: Her only living son. The best of the lot, with a tense ambiance from early on, and the only one with enough background to establish a more solid story line. The female lead knows how to act, and the dramatic arc is built better than in the 3 other shorts. Nonetheless, some of the narrative is expedited and make the story fall a bit flat.

Ultimately, the bundle gives the impression that none of the stories were meant for the short format to begin with, and try to follow the same formula as full feature films while condensing it in 20 minutes. As a result most of the shorts rest on interesting ideas but none seems to know whether to be a trailer or a feature film, to the detriment of tension and narrative.

It remains that there are far worse movies around. "The box" and "Her only living son" have a compelling second level of reading and can push your empathy buttons just right, and "The Birthday Party" might make you smile ("Don't Fall", though is a total miss). Funnily enough the 20 minutes format, as ambiguous as it is, also makes sure that no story overstays its welcome.

I'll give it a 5 for effort and for the animation. Watch it if you want something a bit different, and for some good starting ideas if you're a fiction writer. Give it a rain check if you're looking for a mind-blowing work.

The good: Interesting ideas + Good metaphors + Refreshing formula + Masterful animated intermezzos

The meh: - Average acting - Narrative doesn't fit the format well - Soundtrack could be more subtle

The bad: - The whole 3rd short (Don't fall). - The mood lapse between the 1rst and 2nd short.

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

Takes a beautiful dive, falls flat on its belly.

[3/10 · 9 November 2016]

The premises of this movie are quite good, to be honest. It starts with an idea that's not often exploited, by letting us into the daily life of a con artist 'medium' in the late 60's, and slowly builds up from the moment the Ouija board is introduced.

Then it starts to gently derail, completely missing great opportunities to build an original ambiance and falling back to generic, obvious jump scares.

The last part of the movie is a total botch, with a short-cut plot exposition which introduces all the clichés you could expect, up to the very end.

This movie had potential, especially in its acting, but you can see good actors in other movies, you don't have to suffer though this one.

Passion (2012)

A hirsute oddity

[4/10 · 13 January 2014]

I won't be able to write anything about the acting, since I was unlucky enough to view this movie dubbed in French (the dubbing is below terrible). Nonetheless, the rest of the movie didn't make me want to rediscover it in English.

If the technique is interesting, tricking the viewer with old school methods and making us believe the movie was shot 20 years ago and infusing an Hitchockesque aftertaste to the picture - notably with a daring split screen scene which is as pretty as it's confusing- nothing else will salvage this work.

Characters are hollow, their motivations, development, goals, are blurry at best, plot twists appear to be both random and predictable (quite an achievement), as well as far fetched, twisting the narrative into confusing curves. I fail at understanding what the movie is trying to tell its audience. Is it all about going mental in a stress prone environment? Is it a digression about the madness of modern corporate culture? Does it mean that lesbians are crazy?

The final scene is either a gaping plot hole or an hallucinatory phase, which still makes me wonder not only who did what, but WHY they did so. In the end it's this big 'WHY' which breaks the whole movie, undoing the little cohesion kept by the characters' already uncertain motives.

In the end, this film is an oddly pretty yet completely disheveled creature.

American Zombie (2007)

NOT your average Zombie movie, for the very best.

[10/10 · 26 November 2013]

IMPORTANT NOTE: AZ IS DEFINITELY NOT A COMEDY! - there must have been a mistake in the classification. Emotions are all represented in this movie, from hope to pathos to sadness, but certainly not humor.

If your average idea of a good movie is 120 minutes of explosions and flying limbs, move along, there's nothing to see here. If, though, you're interested in something new, fresh, giving a second birth to a topic already exploited to death and beyond, you're in for your money.

In world where Zombies retain their mental faculties after turning, and try coping with their ailment, American Zombie is a mockumentary (fake documentary) following the afterlife of several revenants, each having a distinct approach towards their status (legally dead), future, lack of memory regarding event before their legal death and, most of all, their place in society. But activist, new age tinker or desperate optimists, they all have one thing in common: well kept secrets.

Every aspect of this movie is impeccable, and really leaves us with the impression that the mock filming team has done the best they could to uncover the truth, even it the film deliberately leaves some questions unanswered to add to its realism. The acting is surprisingly masterful, techniques used are not over the top, yet not sub standard either (no overused shaking and bad image quality) ; the mock filming team is supposed to be made of professionals, and we're watching professional result.

Grace Lee manages to fuse narrative and documentation to keep a dramatic curve that will hook you until the last minute, and deliver a spectacular piece of entertainment which will make you wonder for a minute or two whether or not zombies are real.

A must see, definitely.

Red Lights (2012)

Fresh and entertaining. Doesn't need debunking.

[7/10 · 6 November 2012]

I am not a professional movie reviewer and I won't attempt to sound like such.

This review contains spoilers so here in short for the no-spoiler version:

Different, good ambiance, well played and entertaining, but some twists could have been better written/exploited. Not a legendary movie, but a nice experience about an uncommon topic. Only go watch if you're not a movie snob.

__Now,the spoiler ridden review.___

This movie has some great points.

++ Different

I always welcome originality, and I was more than happy to watch something that's not the sequel of a sequel. The topic is interesting, I haven't watched any other movie treating of psychic frauds so far and this is a good first time.

++ Well played

I don't know about other reviewers standards, but to mine it's great. Weaver is perfect, we can definitely see the unraveling of her personality as the movie goes on and as she weakens. Deniro is excellent, too (I don't get why some think he's bad in this movie), I really like his facial expressions, and you can see him wondering about Gillian in mimics of controlled confusion.

++ Excellent ambiance

From the general color of the picture to the scoring and locations, everything is set to built a great, great ambiance. The raise of the emotional confusion in the characters also contributes to it. You end up wondering whether one of them is going to snap before the end.

++ Well researched

Better researched than many movies. You can get an idea about scientific evaluation procedures, and there are some nice facts about con artists (loved the levitating table debunk scene). Superb reference to the Forer Effect at about 35 minutes in.

++ Well defined characters

I loved that. Even the 'hairdresser' is given a real personality. It can be more or less effective but there is a real work behind the characters, and not one feels like it's there to fill in the blanks... well except the cardboard cutout girlfriend. Yeah, she's only useful to give Weaver a chance to explain about her stuff. Then again, if it doesn't help the plot, it does give the main characters some extra substance.

Now, this movie is far from being perfect, and here's what I didn't like:

• - Irritating useless girlfriend.

She's only here to make the other characters realer. She's rather annoying, I can only stand her because she has the sweetest face. Full stop.

• - Too many implicit clues.

The writing is done so you have to use your imagination to fill some holes. But it doesn't work very well. Is weaver murdered? Why is Deniro having a hidden office with a safe in it (for what?) and why does he offer consultations while he's always on the move? What is the explanation for the tricks that didn't get debunked? What is the discipline that Weaver is teaching?

Lots of dialogs rest on what's left unsaid. I love it but I don't think everybody will.

• - Linear story

OK, so, one easy debunking, one a bit harder and one that's super hard, and we'll call it a progression. Yeah no. Thankfully, the ambiance is there to correct the mistake.

• - One superhero

Gillian is a magician physicist wrestler psychic (after such a beating, either you've thickened you skull for the last 10 years or your lights are out for good). He has no flaws, he's a sweet guy, he's never wrong and... yeah. He could have been deeper.

• - One goof

Jones is a perfect goof. I liked that he wasn't portrayed as the perfect troll and showed a lot more humanity in the last third of the movie. But way too goofy to be believable, left alone funded.

___Concluding___

If you're a movie snob who can only enjoy a flick if every detail has been thought of, go re-watch a Kubrik, this movie is going to drive you angry, and we won't like it when you're angry.

If you're like me, the average movie goer sometimes looking for something different, jump on it, it's a cool story.