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Reviews
Inrang (2018)
Not what I expected from Kim Jee-woon.
The director of this movie is one of my personal favourites who previously made such modern classics as Tale of two sisters, Bittersweet life and I saw the devil. This time however he disappointed me even if his new feature is not nearly as bad as its initial korean reputation would suggest. A remake of the acclaimed japanese anime Jin-roh this new movie somehow fails to make the impact that one might expect from this director. It's not like it is not competently made, it just lacks that excitement off all those earlier movies. The production values are top-notch with excellent cinematography and fight coreography but the final product somehow feels like an unremarkable and hollow action movie without that spark that made Bittersweet life such an unforgettable experience. Kim knows how to direct and edit frenetic chase sequences but the narrative here is so unconvincing and bland that it is just not enough. The acting does no favour either as Gang Dong-Won and Han Hyo-Joo come off as boring protagonists. The only bright spot is newcomer Kim Moo-Jeol as the villain wearing a badass leather coat who manages to breath some fresh air into the mean economics of the movie. Unfortunately the 139 minute lenght is also way too much, hopefully the new cut (soon to be released on Netflix) will make the movie somewhat tighter and more exciting.
Naparnik (2017)
interesting tech demo
The most mind-blowing thing about this movie is not the story (it is lame) or the acting (it's generally good) but the special effects used in it. Veteran actor Sergey Garmash's face is digitally motion-captured on the body of a toddler, a technical process highly ambitious even for a hollywood movie let alone a russian one. As expected the result is mixed but somehow still manages to impress. Yes, the uncanny valley effect kicks in in countless scenes but frankly I wouldn't expect the execution to be signifiantly better even in a major US blockbuster with a price-tag of a 150 million dollars. And let's face it: this movie couldn't have cost that much. The only non-american movie that comes to my mind where such complex shots were used was Fan with a digitally de-aged Shah-Rukh Khan but I can't think of any other examples. In other places Andrey Nazimov is a promising new actor and Vladivostok is an excellent location. Also there are a few themes too mature for such a family friendly movie, like a scene in a streptease bar and a gun pointed at the baby.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
I rooted for the klingons
The bad signs were all there. The first news foreshadowed an endless amount of PC tokenism and SJW mentality, all of which sadly came true. It's not like ST was always devoid of liberal bias but Discovery brings these problems to a whole new level.
The main cast is so multi-ethnic now that it makes all those Benetton campaigns look homogeneous in comparison. Also it does not help that the Asian Michelle Yeoh's character has a Romanian name (Georgiou) for some mysterious reason. You know diversity is our strength even if it makes everyone on the federation side of the story rootless.
The klingons on the other hand seem like a well organized folk that has a vision of itself and the determination to preserve its values. The scripts desperately tries to position them as the deplorable (wink,wink) villains but accidentally they also managed to make them look more sympathetic than any of the human/navii/mix-raced/whatever protagonists.
I guess since diversity is the new official religion of the western world all forms of kinship and tribalism has to be portrayed as backwards and – you guessed it – racist. For the above reasons I root for the klingons. I hope that they will be able to preserve their superior culture and that they will be able to drive those diverse SJW clowns out of the galaxy.
I'm not sure I will get to see it though as I have zero interest in the rest of the show. You see I'm already fed up with emancipated female warriors and I'm not sure I want to see same-sex marriages and transgender toilets on federation ships. Also I want my new Klingon show with badass Klingon knights saving the damsel in distress. Hopefully the Russians will produce something similar. Until then you can find me on the Duck Dynasty forum.
Hardcore Henry (2015)
Nihilistic and tiresome
I think this might just be one of those high-concept movies that works better as an idea than as an actual film. I've been following Ilya Naishullers work as the frontman of Biting Elbows for quite some time now and I was really impressed with those first person shooter style music videos he made with GoPro cameras for two songs of the band. I had my reservations when I first heard that he will attempt to turn it into a movie and in retrospect I think I was right. These POV movies never really work out as feature length movies and this one is no exception. It just gets frustrating after a certain time that the whole thing resembles more a video game than a movie. It lacks the interactivity of the former and the intimacy of the later. We do indeed have the POV of Henry but we can not identify with him because there is no character development or conflict to this character at all. It is just cold and alienating. It also does not help that the movie uses violence as in a rather nihilistic and senseless way. All that is left are nice camera tricks and some genuinely amazing stunt work. But those two things can not sustain a complete movie. This is a typical case of style over substance. Nice to look at but ultimately empty.