"Level 16" (2018), Danishka Esterhazy.
"The Island" but done right. The recently celebrated Lanthimos, which specializes in this kind of cold authoritarian dystopias (even when dressed in period clothes), lacks what this movie has in spades: human connection. The classroom from "The Girl With All the Gifts" is mixed with a "Stanford Experiment" prison in this timely metaphor about capitalism and consumerism, dressed as a simple tale of a school taken out from the society of "A Handmaid´s Tale". It was disliked by many amateur reviewers on IMDb, and I can´t understand why. It is nicely shot and suspenseful enough.
IMDb link
"The Island" but done right. The recently celebrated Lanthimos, which specializes in this kind of cold authoritarian dystopias (even when dressed in period clothes), lacks what this movie has in spades: human connection. The classroom from "The Girl With All the Gifts" is mixed with a "Stanford Experiment" prison in this timely metaphor about capitalism and consumerism, dressed as a simple tale of a school taken out from the society of "A Handmaid´s Tale". It was disliked by many amateur reviewers on IMDb, and I can´t understand why. It is nicely shot and suspenseful enough.
IMDb link
"Scarecrow" (1973), Jerry Schatzberg.
An episodic character study and road movie with a young Al Pacino and Gene Hackman at the sublime heights of their game. The two drifters travel through the low-class parts of 1970s American society, with plans to become respectable and productive citizens. Excellent photography and exuberant public displays of character between the era of the white picket fence and the fall of the national dream. Trashy life seemed a lot less violent than contemporary social anomie. Was America freer back then, more open to alternative ways of being?
IMDb link
"Alita: Battle Angel" (2019), Robert Rodriguez (& James Cameron influence).
IMDb link
IMDb link
An episodic character study and road movie with a young Al Pacino and Gene Hackman at the sublime heights of their game. The two drifters travel through the low-class parts of 1970s American society, with plans to become respectable and productive citizens. Excellent photography and exuberant public displays of character between the era of the white picket fence and the fall of the national dream. Trashy life seemed a lot less violent than contemporary social anomie. Was America freer back then, more open to alternative ways of being?
IMDb link
"Alita: Battle Angel" (2019), Robert Rodriguez (& James Cameron influence).
A waste of talent. Impressive technological feat obscured by erratic pacing due to highly compressed narrative and a superficial teen romantic plot. Threads are not given time to breathe, and main plot points are covered in scant minutes just to get to a cliffhanger ending. You can make things slower and add significance to the proceedings, or you can cut all the relationships and use cues and visual shortcuts to reach the (a) final point in one film. What you can´t do is mix both approaches and stay in the middle: emotion is not deserved and denouement is sacrificed in the Altar of the Sequel God. Such a shame.
IMDb link
"Weird City", Jordan Peele, 2019.
Social Justice Warrior interpretation of "Black Mirror" in farce mode. Of the six episodes, only the last one is somewhat imaginative. The rest are a series of comedy vignettes augmented to twenty something minutes each. The first episode suggests to find happiness disregarding biological imperatives; the second and fourth make fun of "male losers" (nowadays called incels, toxic, and other names); the third one posits that given the option between helping your family and society or following your own selfish motives, individualism wins. Also for some reason a man is thrown under the bus, again. It will be lauded in the mainstream media, but I found it to be cynic, obvious, infantile and a waste of my time.
Social Justice Warrior interpretation of "Black Mirror" in farce mode. Of the six episodes, only the last one is somewhat imaginative. The rest are a series of comedy vignettes augmented to twenty something minutes each. The first episode suggests to find happiness disregarding biological imperatives; the second and fourth make fun of "male losers" (nowadays called incels, toxic, and other names); the third one posits that given the option between helping your family and society or following your own selfish motives, individualism wins. Also for some reason a man is thrown under the bus, again. It will be lauded in the mainstream media, but I found it to be cynic, obvious, infantile and a waste of my time.
IMDb link
"Kingdom" (2019), Seong-hun Kim, Netflix.
"Game of Thrones" meets "Train to Busan". What else can you ask for? The first season of this big-budget extravaganza is only six episodes long, of which the first and half of the second episodes set the pieces in motion for what it is to come. And when the monster mayhem finally arrives, it is in a stunning and relentless violent way that American series can only dream of. Beautifully shot, with the usual social commentary regarding classes, albeit simplistic for intellectual tastes. Director Seong-hun Kim is also known for the Korean blockbuster "The Tunnel". Winter is coming, have a happy binging.
IMDb link
"Russian Doll" (2019), Leslye Headland, Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler.
Derranged "Groundhog Day" tale grounded by astounding foul-mouthed post-hipster Natasha Lyonne. Eight short episodes (a long movie really) for an engaging fantasy that fires in all cylinders once it reaches the end of the third one. It is the first great binge of the year. Shades of the book "Replay", good urban setting, intelligent comedy, and emotional denouement.
"Game of Thrones" meets "Train to Busan". What else can you ask for? The first season of this big-budget extravaganza is only six episodes long, of which the first and half of the second episodes set the pieces in motion for what it is to come. And when the monster mayhem finally arrives, it is in a stunning and relentless violent way that American series can only dream of. Beautifully shot, with the usual social commentary regarding classes, albeit simplistic for intellectual tastes. Director Seong-hun Kim is also known for the Korean blockbuster "The Tunnel". Winter is coming, have a happy binging.
IMDb link
"Russian Doll" (2019), Leslye Headland, Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler.
Derranged "Groundhog Day" tale grounded by astounding foul-mouthed post-hipster Natasha Lyonne. Eight short episodes (a long movie really) for an engaging fantasy that fires in all cylinders once it reaches the end of the third one. It is the first great binge of the year. Shades of the book "Replay", good urban setting, intelligent comedy, and emotional denouement.
IMDb link
