Just Watched Movies (2015)

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- Birdman (or The unexpected virtue of ignorance). Washed-up actor Riggan, whose biggest screen credit was playing the superhero Birdman in a blockbuster trilogy, is now trying to reanimated his career by producing, directing and starring in a Broadway adaptation of Raymon Carver's "What we talk about when we talk about love" --that he also wrote himself, of course. Now, if only he can successfully deal with his highly eccentric co-stars, his recently released from drug rehab daughter, a wounded actor suing him, hallucinations of his superhero persona chiding him for not finding his way in life and an embittered theatre critic, his play should be a success. Well, if his own neuroses don't get in the way.

Finally saw this comedy from Mexican director Iñárritu; to be honest less due to the fact that it won this year's Oscar as due to hearsay. As is typical of Iñárritu, it seems to have drawn extremely divided opinions from critics and public alike. Some praise this movie for its inventive editing and wonderfully sardonic script. Some criticize its self-important, oft pretentious message (the fact that at one point the Birdman character literally decries blockbuster films and the people who like them as "rabble" certain doesn't help). But really, what we have here is simply a charming black comedy on a huge budget, with several perhaps unnecessary flights of fancy in the process. The scene of Riggan literally flying en route to the theatre is hard to take seriously, for example. Did it deserve to win the Oscar? Is it on par with "Amores Perros" or "Babel"? Ehh, those are ultimately pointless questions. The real strength of a movie is not how many awards it wins or how famous cast and director are. The real strength is simply the movie itself, if it's entertaining or good; ideally, both. So, is it good? It's entertaining. It's not as deep as it thinks --ultimately it's just another feel-good Hollywood production complete with playful nods to pop culture; it is, however, finely acted. All in all, then, I'd say it's a movie worth watching.

- Princess Mononoke. While protecting his village from a rampaging demon, Emishi prince Ashitaka suffers an injury that curses him to a slow and painful death. Journeying to the West in search of a cure, Ashitaka finds himself swept up in a war between several factions, both human and not. There is Irontown, led by the charismatic and methodical lady Eboshi, who seeks to build a nation out of social outcasts and is willing to defy gods to fulfill her objectives. There is seemingly benevolent Jiko-bo, who has his own agenda concerning his besieged town and a certain forest divinity. There are the boar spirits, hungry for vengeance after one of their own was corrupted by human creation. And then there are the wolf goddess and her adopted human daughter San, the spirit princess of the title. Will Ashitaka be able to negotiate peace between factions whose hatred for each other may well surpass their capacity for creation?

Finally saw this influential anime, and have to say it more than lived up to its reputation. Can't say if it's director Hayao Miyazaki's best oeuvre, as I still have far too many of his movies to watch. By itself, however, this is a breathtaking epic (heck, I'd say it's one of the very few movies ever made that can genuinely be called "epic"), that balances intense action scenes, grotesque imagery and thought-provoking drama with convincing moments of camaraderie (and love), a poetic environmentalist message and memorable characters. Very recommended.

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Hell Baby-After moving into a new house together, his wife's increasingly odd and violent behavior has her husband convinced something's wrong with the pregnancy and that their unborn infant is in peril. Despite this rather creepy premise here, this is a spoof-comedy that doesn't know exactly what it wants to do with itself and in the end comes off as a huge mess. Indeed, the central idea here is ripped straight from the idea of a horror film that also allows this numerous potentially chilling scenes that devolve instead into incredibly lame joke scenes that really undermine this considerably. The fact that this one resorts as often as it does to pretty lame jokes is where the problem really stems from since this seems to think that a bunch of friends hanging out around each other is a source of wild, uninhibited comedy when it either lets a funny joke go on way too long, especially the police investigation following the old woman's disappearance or features an endless sequence go on forever because it thinks it's really hilarious when it wasn't funny the first time around like their constant visits to the local sandwich shop and featuring them gorging themselves in slow motion that's just not funny. Because this tends to readily conflict with the fact that the central premise here is indeed supposed to be scary, a lot of times this one tends to go wandering around quite lamely looking for something to entertain when it really has so little to do about it.

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Legacy of Blood-After their father's death, a group of relatives forced to stay in his mansion to earn their inheritance fall prey to a grisly killer intent on killing them all off one-by-one and forcing them to try to survive. Overall, this was a pretty disappointing and below-average slasher effort. One of the few things it manages to get right is the rather impressive set used for the house, containing all the trappings of a prototypical Gothic mansion from several years earlier and being used to great effect in this. The sprawling grounds are afforded quite luxurious details as there's no end to the massive rooms, intricate furniture arrangements and secret passages that run throughout here, all while still looking like the kind of modern-style mansion that would be used in this particular setting. As well, this also manages to make for a pretty enjoyable time here when it comes to the wild psychedelically-inspired flashbacks throughout here showing the various family members being physically or verbally abused by their deceased father which amounts to them witnessing his transgressions on their younger selves while he beats them with a whip in brightly-lit surroundings which drives them to the point of madness. Along with the fun finale where the killer's revealed, that's all that's good here as this one has too many other problems to really matter here. The biggest factor that works against this one is the fact that there's just nothing of big interest that happens here since this one seems to move about so slowly. This one takes an eternity to get going as the entire first half is spent with the bickering relatives and how their stay is going to be entirely unpleasant, leaving the killing to come along at such an agonizing pace that hardly anyone notices they're gone since they're all off doing whatever fancies them. This makes for an incredibly unappealing amount of time spent away from the killings, not that there's much more impressive material there anyway. The stalking as a whole is rather lazy and uninspired all capped off with really cheap special effects that are supposedly salacious but hardly worthwhile since their cheapness and obvious fake-ness tends to give away the result every time which when coupled with the extreme boredom here makes for a wholly unimpressive effort.

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Crucible of Horror-Growing tired of his controlling behavior, a woman and her daughter conspire to kill her husband and hide the body away but get into trouble when he disappears from his hiding spot and sets out to avenge their behavior. There's not a whole lot about this one that really works. The main thing going for this one is the fact that there's a rather fun set of scenes in the later part of the film that really sells how possible it was that he was never affected by the poisoning attempts. The varying matters of trying to escape the potential return are the film's sole interesting areas with the two constantly trying to get over the idea that he has indeed returned not being dead originally, so their efforts to reassure themselves come against the concept of whether or not what they're seeing and experiencing is true. Running around the house closing doors and windows, barricading themselves in rooms across the house or trying in vain to keep each other sane through the countless interrogations and questioning from their friend that adds a classic sense of paranoia and freak-outs that run wild in old-school Gothic horror which really gets worked out here due to the classic style layout of the house and the actions at that time. The fact that all this good stuff occurs at the end, and is really all that matters for it anyway, means that there's not a whole lot about the rest that works at all, oftentimes being flat-out intolerable. The business with the manager appearing at the house for as long as he does here, the rather innocuous segments with the brother and the interactions with the two at the end while they argue about the different ways to get away with the death is where this goes off-track by filling the first half with such absolutely banal plots that this becomes so hard to get into. This series of scenes is such a hard intro to the film that it feels like a banal drama/thriller at times and only occasionally feels like a horror film during these parts, which is the biggest issue weighing this one down.

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Witchcraft-Accidentally removing a tombstone during a cemetery renovation, a buried-alive witch returns from the grave to continue enacting a curse held on two rival families in modern-day England and forces them to stop its ties with one to end the rampage. Frankly, this was quite enjoyable and certainly a worthwhile British Gothic horror effort. One of its many enjoyable aspects is the rather enjoyable atmosphere created here from what was simply a low-budget effort that certainly has a lot going for it with its use of the graveyard, fog-shrouded buildings, Satanic rituals and meetings and the involvement of a long-held curse all laid out in a modern setting. There's all the familiar trappings to be found here from this one employing that Gothic atmosphere and style here against the civilized world as the whole effort takes place in a type of modernized London on the outskirts of the city with a lot of more modern conveniences than the period-set efforts at the same time which also comes into play here quite nicely alongside that old-school atmosphere. The option of featuring attacks in the car while driving down supposedly-open roads only to learn of supernaturally-influenced ideas against them or using a rotary chair-lift in another sequence makes for some ingenious suspense scenes but also works the two together quite well so it's a lot more comfortable with each other than it really should've been and helps to move this along at quite a hurried pace that it continues along without the chance of really getting boring or overlong. That helps as well with the finale which is the frenzied final battle with the witch while the traditional house-burns-up scenario so often found here that packs a lot of action into the space and again melds the old-school atmosphere with the more modern setting to get a lot out of this one. It's enough to overcome the minor flaw within this one, which is the haphazard way the finale works out here with this one taking a lot of extra time to get to a point it could've accomplished much faster as the editing doesn't really do this one a lot of favors doing it the way it is. There's enough to get the gist of this scene but it doesn't really get there the way it should and that's quite obvious. The low-budget during many of the scenes here is also quite apparent in the lame stunts and obvious doubles during many scenes that really hampers this one somewhat enough to keep it from a true classic.

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Cry of the Banshee-Tired of fighting against a coven, an aristocratic lord humiliates the leader of a revered witch and sends them out on a mission of vengeance against him and his kingdom to settle the score once and for all. Frankly, this one was overall quite decent and enjoyable but certainly has a few minor flaws as well. Among the better aspects here, the best is undoubtedly the fact that this one certainly manages to really explore the idiotic nature of misunderstanding witchcraft among those who supposedly hunt them down for a living, here basically making them the living embodiment of taking every single notion of their livelihood as meaning their indulgence in witchcraft and the need for punishment. The harassment of local weapon for wearing supposed jewels and charms of local witch clans, any sort of odd behavior or going against even the most foolhardy of orders makes for a rather intriguing following to the authority here wherein you want to see them fail as befits their stupidity against the innocents among them, and that indeed sets up the film's two big marks in its torture scenes and the final comeuppance. The torture here is kept within realistic realms, mainly public humiliation and spectacle around whipping or branding with scalding irons, and a later scene of gaining a confession by tying one up to wooden posts and setting it on fire makes for a wholly enjoyable piece, while the revenge tactics of the final half are just plain enjoyable. The animal attacks in the forest, turning the wife on him with her behavior at the dinner reception and finally the ending here is all part of the total package of revenge and it really seems to be worthwhile and truly earned which is always a plus. On the negative side, the fact that this one tends to really ham-fist itself here when it comes to the exploitative side of things despite that indeed being part of the film's aim as if wallowing in those areas are beneath it. The violence and gory kills are nearly nonexistent as are the tortures here by keeping it in the mostly realistic realm and there's barely any nudity despite several scenes of the hunters lecherously ripping their shirts and blouses open to torment them as this shifts the camera around to avoid that altogether which really questions why it would've been included anyway. As well, there's not a whole lot of action out witch-hunting since this instead focuses on them talking about the coven and they danger to him they posses rather than explicitly show it, so it suffers from that small factor as well though on the whole this one is quite good.

[Fenril]

- Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. (Japan, 1984. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki). In a postapocaliptic world, a few human settlements have risen, living in constant danger of death by the Sea of corruption, a spreading valley of poisonous plants that is peopled by equally lethal insects such as the Ohm. Titular Nausicaä, the cheerful, swift and peace-loving princess of a tribe that lives on the "Valley of the wind", has learned to navigate air currents, and has been conducting experiments which show that there might yet be hope for mankind. The plants themselves are not always poisonous, she has discovered; it's the soil that has become so. And the Ohm are only trying to protect their home and their kin. But other settlements are not as pacific as her people. Soon, Nausicaä is caught in a war that could very well end mankind once and for all. She must now put her wits and compassion to good use, for the sake of an entire world.

An early film from director Miyazaki, and which in some ways could be seen as a template for his later masterpiece, "Princess Mononoke" (Miyazaki also wrote the manga on which this movie is based). This is not to detract from the present movie, which boasts terrific animation (that has aged very well, apart from some... uncanny 70's character designs), a moving storyline and strong characters. Recommended.

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World War Z-When a ravenous zombie plague descends on mankind, a determined reporter traverses the globe looking for the start of the outbreak in the hopes of instilling a cure to be able to fight off the infected and save mankind. Overall this one was quite a surprising and enjoyable effort that was quite enjoyable. One of the better aspects here is the way this one manages to handle the infection here without really going all overboard with the concept of the infection. Presenting this in a series of trips around the world is quite a nice feat for that, managing to occupy a large portion of screentime here with the idea of going through the different stages of the efforts to contain it in the varying stages is quite an effective ploy here with the shock of the emerging creatures on the world soon turning into the main storyline which is that cross-global investigation. That also leads into the film’s main plus here, which is the exciting and incredibly fun action scenes that are exhilarating as they tend to showcase a lot more than initially expected here with the opening swarm running through gridlocked New York in a seemingly massive ambush that comes off incredibly well, much like the slightly smaller supermarket sequence or the apartment escape but really culminates with the attack in Israel which features the swarm seemingly adamant about scaling the massive fortified walls and then going after the gathered survivors below which is a true spectacle that shows them overtaking the city quite easily and providing the showcase for the big escape scene. It’s fun and grand in a big way which is quite nice but really shows off the CGI all too well which is the main problem here. Not that the look isn’t bad, but on the whole the ravenous swarm just looks and moves too fake to really make for a believable person running around the cities and jumping over each other in massive groups. There’s some great scenes but they just tend to come off way too fake here. Other than the lack of gore here which isn’t too surprising considering the fact that it’s more about the survival rather than the shock of seeing them rip people to pieces, this one really comes off quite well.

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The Shrine-Trying to investigate a missing person's case, a reporter and her friends travel to Poland to follow up on their clues only to find the suspect's involvement in a deadly cult and are forced to fight them off to get away alive. Overall this one turned out to be quite an enjoyable if slightly flawed effort. One of the better aspects to this one is the rather impressive and enjoyable atmosphere throughout here, which makes for a lot of impressive moments within here. The initial walk-through of the group of the village is quite impressive as there's a large amount of creepy visuals that are rightly observed to be their traditional way of life in such a situation and no moralizing is done anyway which is a nice touch while also really getting this going for the big reveal here in the revelation of the fog cloud surrounding the tree-line that's quite eerie as well. Those later scenes in the fog-cloud are highly creepy as well with the obscured trees and thick fog providing the perfect blanket for the reveal of the statue which is quite scary and chilling as well as the ensuing marks to get away that generates some fine action in the woodland chase and eventual escape as well as the brawling with the cult members and finally the film's first rather impressive scene in the sacrificial room. These chilling scenes and the eventual escape, resulting in the finale's absolutely delirious amount of chases through the woods and into the house on the outskirts, the demonic possession that follows the utterly chilling tactic of the deformed demons in her mind and finally into the big confrontation with the group at the end which makes for a lot of good, creepy images and ideas strewn throughout this one. Along with the gory kills, these positives are enough to hold off the few minor flaws in this one. The biggest one being the first half spending way too much time on ensuring that the whole trip is set-up for them to be cut off from help, with the errant cover-story and secrecy surrounding it all just filling up time needlessly by hammering it home when it's already been established about that fact. Also, the fact that this continues a long, long trend of films in which the entirety of the events could've easily been avoided had something useful been passed along to the participants instead of simply kept secret does render this one with a mildly irritating factor, but otherwise this one was highly enjoyable.

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Added an uncut copy of The Marsh to the collection.

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Added an uncut copy of The Swarm to the collection.

[Fenril]

- Focus. (2015, dirs. Glenn Ficarra & John Requa). Seasoned con-artist Nicky takes novice Jess as his apprentice; the two develop a romantic liaison that ends as soon as they pull of a successful (and extremely... Hollywood) con during a football game. Three years later, Nicky and Jess meet again in Buenos Aires, where they discover they have the same target, billionaire Rafael. And what starts as two old lovers trying to rekindle their affair soon develops into a game of intrigue and double (and triple, and quadruple...) crosses.

Rather implausible but charming comedy, mostly carried by the cast's carisma. Of particular interest is a sequence detailing not a con job, but an arranged hit that manages to be both suspenseful and (actually kind of) clever. Beyond that, what we have here is a fairly good popcorn movie. So, not a bad film, just nothing that special. From the directors of the rather underrated "I love you Philip Morris" (which incidentally did a much better job with it's own con artist lead).

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Headspace-After an accident triggers unused parts of his brain, a man finds that his seemingly newfound intelligence must be put into place to stop a series of gruesome murders to those around him. An absolutely horrid 'horror' movie as this one decides to drop any semblance of horror for character development so instead this one has endless scenes of people yakking at each other over what exactly is wrong with him as the psychological stress from the situation leads to a break-down. This is all fine and certainly clever, but it's not interesting or enjoyable sitting around waiting for something to happen only for the film to feature such absurdly-low horror moments as the continuing saga of him trying to understand his condition takes such precedence. There's hardly anything happening here to make this one worthwhile.

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Orca-Inadvertently killing it's mate while fishing, a fisherman and his crew come to find themselves being stalked and killed by the surviving killer whale in retribution and forces him into an epic quest to settle the score. This one turned out to be quite an enjoyable and entertaining creature feature. One of the better features here is the fact that this one sets up the crucial revenge aspect of the storyline here in an incredibly well-done with a lot to like, starting with the scene that sets if off when she's accidentally killed in the fishing attempt gone wrong. It's a heartbreaking scene more than anything through the actions of how sad it is hooking into the creature and bringing it aboard and how the whole scene is played out in front of the mate, as the whole scene comes off with a sense of poignancy that's ultimately touching. It's mournful cries and seeing how it reacts after the fact makes this all the more touching and also leads into the film being quite fun showing off the creatures' antics as it orchestrates a rather complex and involved plan for revenge. The destruction of the fishing boats is rather cheesy but comes off in a clever way that plays into the revenge-driven storyline rather well, the destruction of the complex is a spectacular pyrotechnic showcase that really has a ton of outstanding action in it and the following attack on the house with the resulting injuries on his crew-member leaves this with a really exciting suspense scene as there's the race to get out before both the house falls and the whale attacks. That all leads into the incredibly fun and exciting finale which is set-up as the grand, epic showdown between the two as a huge chase through open-water and on into the Arctic ice-flow that really meshes a lot of exciting action with the attempts to track down the creature and it's countermeasures for a wholly enjoyable sequence. These here all combine with the suitably majestic feeling for the titular beast as the film's positives that are more than enough to hold off the lone negative in here which is the rather over-the-top and needless exploitation crammed into the accidental death of the mother. Despite adding another suitable layer needed for the revenge scenario, it works fine enough as is without it and the sight of it doesn't need to be featured. Otherwise, this one is incredibly entertaining.

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Son of Darkness: To Die For II-Moving to a small mountain town, a woman learns that her adopted infant is the son of a legendary vampire count looking to control his contentious underlings threatening his rule and must stop them from harming her baby. Overall, this one was a pretty disappointing effort that doesn't really have a whole lot to really remark about it. One of the biggest issues with this one is the fact that nothing at all happens here, spent for the large part on trying to convince her of the vampire heritage of everyone around her to no avail, which results in countless visits to her both at work and her home in vain attempts to get the truth revealed when the surmounting evidence should've been sufficient regardless of his antics. The decision to have the brother spellbound by the female vampire doesn't have nearly the same effect it should've done because it's just too obvious what's going on here and her blindness to it all doesn't instill fear in the situation but rather infuriation at her being unable to notice it, much like the frequent trips to the clinic to meet with the doctor who takes it away to be satisfied mysterious only to have to come back again and again for the exact same reasons. By infusing all of this with a tepid and utterly clichéd romance angle that doesn't in the slightest bit feel interesting or really worthwhile as it's a retread of the last film anyway during the first half here, the horror part of this is shoved so far aside it barely even feels like one during this time except for the presence of the vampires and their bloody feedings. That does change slightly once we get to the second half where the vampiric tendencies come more to the forefront as the attacks grow more violent in execution which allows for a bit more action anyway as well as the addition of more carnage and bloodshed which is always a good notion here. This is more evident in the big action scene for the finale where the big brawl between the two vampires leads to a whole lot of action throughout with plenty of flying around on wires, powerful punching and the kind of punishment that comes from being inhuman result in a fantastic scene that really generates a lot more goodwill than initially expected and helps to overcome some of the other flaws here. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot to really like here.