Change Your Image
george_aslf
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Leatherface (2017)
One of the best in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise
The problem with many horror movie franchises is that due to lack of new ideas brought by their authors (who tend to solely exploit the trademarks and fundamentals of the original work instead of contributing something of their own) sequels/prequels lack originality, are too derivative, formulaic and overall subpar. None of these applies to the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel entitled "Leatherface".
"Leatherface", directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury ("À l'intérieur") is an example of a very well done prequel – to a certain extent reminiscent of the original work of Tobe Hooper, containing multiple references thereto as well (like the grandfather slamming a victim with a hammer and killing him with a single hit, as the granddaddy is in his prime here), but nevertheless original, self-reliant and solid piece of work.
The biggest achievement of the directors is a successful mixture of genres: a horror movie, a rural shotgun crime film and a mystery. An "asylum horror movie" could also be added to these as a sub-genre, however I have intentionally omitted it as the scenes taking place in the asylum were my least favorite (somewhat derivative, similar to Rob Zombie's "Halloween" prequel and other asylum horrors). The events taking place after the asylum part are much more interesting and exciting. The diner shootout (reminiscent of Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers") is classic on its own terms. Then comes the mystery (big twist) part that I am not going to elaborate on (in order not to spoil anything). And, finally, the kid-to-monster metamorphosis (both, physical and moral) was done immaculately.
A few words about the cast: it was good! The characters felt real, there was no overacting (or just bad acting) that we often see in horror films. Lili Taylor, Jessica Madsen and Sam Strike did a great job.
Visual and special effects are topnotch. The movie is ultraviolent – just the way a full-fledged Texas Chainsaw Massacre film should be. The ability to create amazing violent scenes on screen was demonstrated by Bustillo and Maury in their prior work (primarily, in "À l'intérieur"). The imagery (rural landscape, Sawyers' house, killing weapons, etc) is spot on and consistent with the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The only way in which "Leatherface" is not fully consistent with its predecessor is that the latter is a dark comedy, while the prequel somewhat lacks the comic and the whole "Grand Guignol" elements of the original. This is only a minor issue though and does not affect the quality of the film in any way, especially if we consider that the film is already a mixture of various genres (as described above).
In a nutshell, "Leatherface" is one of the best installments in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and is a great horror movie on its own terms. Definitely recommended to all horror fans.
Another Evil (2016)
Cable Guy meets Conjuring
Another Evil is one gem of a little film. Let the reference to 'little' not mislead you though - it's 'little' not due to lack of significance or quality, but because of its limited budget and its orientation towards a smaller audience (appreciators of intelligent minimalist horror comedy). The film seems to have been made by true enthusiasts of the genre who must have enjoyed every bit of making it. Another Evil is a good proof of the fact that it's not the budget and fancy special effects that make a good film but a quality script, skillful directing and good acting.
The Plot is simple. A family's house is haunted by evil (or not?) spirits and the man of the family invites a ghost specialist (or a ghost evictor?) to chase these spirits away from the house. The ghost man - a chubby and funny looking man (who first seems nice and friendly but eventually turns out to be totally bizarre weirdo) becomes very fond of the protagonist's company and does not seem to be wanting to part with the latter. He therefore extends the initially agreed term of the services and even offers to the protagonist a free-of–charge day (so that he can stay over a little longer with his new "best friend"). However, the protagonist does not quite share this affection (to put it lightly). He wants this weirdo to leave the house immediately, once and for all, even at the expense of some of the ghosts remaining in the premises. This is where the conflict begins and the comedy slowly picks up thriller elements, leading to unexpected events.
The film is hilarious, filled with irony and top quality subtle humor. The jokes are at times dry and somewhat dark, so they're definitely not for everyone, but the "right" audience will appreciate. The choice of the main actors was done very well (especially the ghost man) creating the right chemistry between the two.
Some tabloid could probably describe the film as "Cable Guy meets Conjuring" and this would probably be a pretty accurate description (despite the corniness). Overall, if you enjoy a good quality, subtle dark comedy and are a fan of John Landis/Sam Raimi movies, Another Evil is definitely worth checking out.
The Innkeepers (2011)
A very decent horror film
After seeing brilliant "House of Devil" I decided to check out other movies of Ti West, who seems to be a very talented and promising film director. Even lots of negative reviews on IMDb did not dissuade me to watch this film. "Innkeeprers" turned out to be a very well made horror film which will be truly appreciated by more mature horror movie fans looking forward for suspense rather than lots of gore and high bodycount. Tension builds up slowly, gradually reaching the climax. Actors are doing a great job and director is a true master of the genre attempting to produce a small masterpiece in a minimalistic premise, only a few actors and almost no special effects. Watch this movie at night, alone, with lights off and I promise you that you are going to be scared.
Utomlennye solntsem 2 (2010)
Messy and uneven
Does it really matter that the characters that have implicitly died in the first part somehow come back to life in this sequel? This happens in films a lot, doesn't it? Jason and Michael Myers always get killed but they keep returning again and again, so why can't General Kotov (Nikita Mikhalkov) do that? I don't have any problem with this, really.
Secondly, although the events in the sequel take place only approximately seven years after the events of the first film, the characters seem to be at least 15 years older. However, this is not a problem either. In "Curious Case of Benjamin Franklyn" Brad Pitt's character kept changing every single minute and no one complained about that, and, moreover that film has even won several Oscars.
The real problem of the film is that it lasts almost 3 hours, during which a lot of things seem to happen, but at the end you realize that almost nothing has happened. The same story could have been told and shown more efficiently in 1 ½ hours. The film has no integrity. It is rather many small films with nothing or very little in common (in terms of style, spirit, pace, genre). In fact it has almost nothing in common (in terms of style, spirit, pace, genre) with the first part which is by all means a much better film. On the other hand each (or almost each) little episode is executed quite well, and perhaps a better editing could bring these little films together more successfully into one good film (insted of the messy and uneven movie that it is now).
Too many famous actors have cameo appearances, and this is the case where quantity does not necessarily mean quality. Some of these appearances do work well (another great performance by Evgeny Mironov) while others are disastrous (Maria Shukshina).
Finally, one of the main reasons why the film fails to be a good film is uncertainty of the director in taking the decision regarding the genre he wants to fit his film in. At times the film is a war drama on the edge of corny melodrama (influence by Saving Private Ryan is noticeable) turning from time to time into an epic tragedy (Schiendler's list influence) and all of a sudden turning into Inglorious Basterds (influence by this Tarantino film is evident). This could have worked had Mikhalkov not taken his work so seriously. Too much pafos is not good, but could be bearable. However, pafos mixed with comedy is something awkward and indigestible.
The final scene with a dying soldier wanting to have a look at girl's breasts before he passes out, was probably meant to be dramatic, thought provoking and tear jerking. However it is utterly ridiculous.
Overall, a great film by Great Nikita Mikhalkov. Not.
Pokhoronite menya za plintusom (2009)
Good acting but very different from the book
"Pokhoronite menya za plintusom" is based on an autobiographical novel by Pavel Sanaev - a young writer, screenwriter, film director and translator.
The story in the novel is told by a first person narrator, an eight years old boy living with his grandparents, who would not let him see his mother, while the boy always dreams about seeing her and those rare moments that he spends with her are the happiest in his life. The grandmother, who is dominant in the family, tries to control the little boy's life as much as she can. She believes that her grandson has all the diseases of the world and that he is going to die soon. She loves the boy but her love is mostly expressed in cussing at him and cursing him. One of the zings of the book is the consummate cuss language used by the grandmother.
The film delivers superb acting, especially by the grandmother and her husband. The grandmother fits the role perfectly - her looks, the voice, the tone, the gestures. This is the person I had in mind when I was reading the book. The henpecked grandfather's part played by Aleksey Petrenko is also delivered very well. All the scenes involving the grandparents are good. On the other had, the scenes with the boy's mother and her boyfriend are not satisfying. I especially disliked the way the mother's boyfriend was written - a drunkard constantly quarreling with his girlfriend. There is no such thing in the book where the mother's boyfriend is demonstrated as an intelligent and wise man, respectful and loving towards his girlfriend (and the boy). After all, the character is based on well known Russian actor and director Rolan Bykov, who used to drink at some time in his life but not in the times covered by the novel and the film. By the way, the book is dedicated to Rolan Bykov, towards whom the author had great deal of admiration.
Also, for some reason the director of the film has given certain hints about anti Semitism of the grandmother, while there is nothing about this in the book. I don't know why this was necessary.
Finally, something that the film lacks the most is the humor the novel is filled with. The narrator in the book tells the stories of his childhood (that deal with illnesses, death, conflict between family members, maternal deprivation and other sad subjects) with great humor and optimism. When you read the novel you can't help laughing, however this is completely missing in the film, making it quite dark and gloomy.
Gruz 200 (2007)
The most controversial and disturbing film of Balabanov
'Gruz 200' stands for Russian soldiers' corpses transported from war zones. Also it is the title of the most controversial film of controversial Aleskey Balabanov, which focuses not only on lives and deaths of different people but describes death-bed and decay of the Soviet system.
Plot. It was a desire of the director not to give too many details of the plot and therefore it is going to be disclosed here very briefly. The events take place in 1984 Soviet Union, small and depressing industrial town. A daughter of a big-shot government officer is kidnapped by a demented police man who falls in love with her in a very sick way.
Genre. The director refers to his work as a thriller. The atmosphere of the film is extremely tense which grips the audience until the very end. Some scenes of the film are pure horror on the verge of extremely dark and absurd comedy. But one should bear in mind that the word "comedy" may be deceptive. It is a very serious film in fact, raising problems of religion, faith, love, power, life and death, good and evil.
Controversy. The film is extremely violent and disturbing (many famous actors refused to take part in it, including E. Mironov; the film did not receive a single award at Kinotavr film festival in Sochi, while on the other hand many critics acclaimed it, calling it a brilliant work or Balabanov's best film). Although the major part of the violence is off-screen, the shock level that the movie delivers is maximal (to some extent the film resembles Michael Haneke, Gaspar Noe and Lars Von Trier films). The disturbance is caused not so much by what you physically see but rather by what you witness happening by the fact that such things can be done by human beings. The film does not have a single positive character. Every single major character of film is to certain extent wicked, except for one a Vietnamese servant who dies in the first half of the movie (it is very symbolic that Balabanov, who is often criticized for being a racist chose a Vietnamese person to be the only completely positive character of the film). On the other hand, none of the characters in the movie is completely negative, even the main villain (probably one of the most evil and macabre villains in the entire film history) has a virtue he is capable to love ("he is not a maniac, he is just a person who loves in his own way" said Balabanov when describing the character).
Music. Balabanov always carefully chooses music for his films for the creation of special atmosphere (Nautilus in Brat and modern rock bands in Brat 2). For this film the director selected very stereotypical trashy Soviet songs (plus some underground music) which definitely suit the picture. Combination of these cheesy and optimistic songs with the macabre events taking place in the film, increase the shock and disturbance level even more. One of the most memorable scenes of the movie is the villain riding his hostage handcuffed to the sidecar motorcycle accompanied by a song about a float-boat. Another memorable scene in the film demonstrates how the same aeroplane that delivers corpses of dead soldiers from Afghanistan, takes the new recruits there.
Happy ending. Very ironic pseudo-happy ending provided by the film writes the new Russian history behindhand, suggesting that nothing will change to good: atheists will receive baptism but not faith, younger generation will learn how to make money but will be doing that by all manner of means (like in "Zhmurki"), one war will end where a second will begin and the county will turn into one rotting orphan corpse.
Throttle (2005)
Average thriller with a very non-original plot
A yuppie (Grayson McCouch) is being chased in a parking garage by a big truck upon making a deal together with his shady and aggressive boss (Adrian Paul) with involvement of fraud. At the same time he is obsessed with a possible adultery committed by his young and beautiful wife (Amy Locane). We have to find out who is trying to kill ,why and couple of other things.
To disregard the fact that we have already seen quite many films with similar plot (e.g. "Duel", "Joyride", etc.), this film is failing to deliver what it's prototypes have accomplished. Badly written dialogues and average acting spoil the whole suspense which the film makers are trying to achieve simply by doing the scenes with a truck trying to kill the protagonist. On the other hand, the motives of the villain are quite illogical because while in some scenes he/she is badly trying to kill the hero but fails to dot that due to quickness of the latter, in other scenes he/she has a perfect opportunity to succeed in killing but lets the man go. This cat and mouse game takes place throughout the whole movie and at times it's hard to understand true desire of the villain - whether he/she is trying to kill the man or is just flirting with him.
The flashback scenes where we see the relationship of the protagonist with his wife, his boss (Adrian Pole) and his lover (Michele Beisner) are not quite satisfying either. These scenes vaguely concern the main storyline and some of the characters turn out to be irrelevant to the plot. Subplot concerning the adulteries taking place in protagonist's life turns out to be quite meaningless as well, with respect to rest of the film plot.
Good thing about the film is that it is pretty hard to spot the villain. I was unable to guess who was in the truck and was quite surprised when I finally got to know that. So, if you want to know who is behind that truck wheel and what is going on in his/her head, just watch this average thriller. After all, it's worth watching once if you have nothing else to watch.
Statskiy sovetnik (2005)
Erast Petrovich Fandorin vs terrorist-revolutionists
Adaptation of Boris Akunin's famous novel about 19-th century Russian sleuth Erast Petrovich Fandorin solving an assassination of a hot shot general by a terrorist group called "BG". Directed by young Russian film-maker Filip Yankovski with all-star cast in it.
Finally, after shallow "Azazel" and awful "Turkish Gambit" the audience can view a wonderful piece of film making with some stunning performances. Every single actor does a superb job and demonstrates excellent acting. Mature Erast Fandorin played by Oleg Menshikov is just like the one in the book - daring, unemotional and mysterious. He is quite a silent character in the film, musing most of the time, but the great acting skills of Menshikov are demonstrated in these very scenes. Green played by Konstantin Khabenskii is great as well - nervous, reckless but brave and charming. Nikita Mikhalkov is playing Pojarskii and I have to admit that he is playing his part real well. His character has the most lines. A very controversial character, at times comical and sometimes even devilish.
A few words about cinematography, screenplay and editing. Film has a lot of dark, white and red in it and such mixture of colors makes a picture very organic. Creation of 19-th century Moscow atmosphere was in my opinion achieved with great success: "troika" carriages on snowy streets, glamorous Russian castles and various beautiful costumes. Screenplay and editing are done so well that I didn't even notice how three hours passed. Dialogues are very well written and at the same time they so well spoken that it's a pleasure to listen to them and they don't tend to bore or tire. On the other hand a lot of action takes place and what is the most interesting - the end of the film differs from the same of the novel, so even those who have read the book and thus know the whole story, will still be surprised.
Not a Romance (2003)
Story of a young, pretty wife who can't get enough sex, so she engages herself in adulterous affairs.
I am surprised that IMDb described this film as a Drama/Romance. It has so much drama and romance in it as a pornographic movie can afford to have. Yes it is an adult movie and there is not much to review. Beautiful girls, straight sex, lesbi sex and etc.
All the flaws of the film concern 99% of 90s porno movies. These are such factors as silicon breasts, shaved genitals and constant music score. However there is also a huge plus: Jassie James. Very talented and beautiful porno actress. In one of the interviews she admitted that there's no other job like acting in porn. One can argue about that, but there is no doubt that she said these words sincerely. The fact that she enjoys doing this job is proved by every single episode she's in.
Finally, even if you are not too much into xxx cinema it's still worth a look.
In Good Company (2004)
boring and pointless
When a movie is about a big corporation, it's genre is called comedy and it has Scarlett Johhanson in it, one would expect a funny, entertaining comedy with a touch of romance. Well, this movie is not funny AT ALL. You just can't help NOT laughing while watching it. It is not in any way entertaining either. Throughout the whole film we observe a 51 year old clerk trying to keep his job and to keep his daughter on the leash, while the latter is in some kind of relationship with a 20 something year old boss of her father. Many people get fired from the corporation main characters are occupied in, as the company slowly falls into bankruptcy. By the end of the movie we are being told how bad it is to fire employees for some corporate issues; that people are more important than how magazines are being sold. A very good and human point. Applauds to the director. It's OK that you will have to suffer for over one and a half hours, just to find out in the end how bad and unkind are those bosses who fire their employees. 1/10
Update: after re-warching the film upon several years I give it 7 out of 10.