ph: Michael Sanders
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Fehér isten (2014)
Thirteen-year-old Lili fights to protect her dog Hagen. She is devastated when her father eventually sets Hagen free on the streets. Still innocently believing love can conquer any difficulty, Lili sets out to find her dog and save him.
Powerful allegory paints a dark and pessimistic picture of mankind as more inhuman than animals could ever be; good performances, especially from the dogs.
Friday, August 28, 2020
Ready Player One (2018)
When the creator of a virtual reality called the OASIS dies, he makes a posthumous challenge to all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune and control of his world.
Solid, lively sci-fi action drama is exciting, but is so overladen with pop cultural references, trivia and original ideas that it mars a lot of the entertainment it wants to offer.
Thursday, August 27, 2020
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
The Nun (2018)
A priest with a haunted past and a novice on the threshold of her final vows are sent by the Vatican to investigate the death of a young nun in Romania and confront a malevolent force in the form of a demonic nun.
Run-of-the-mill horror flick has good production value, a capable cast and a few atmospheric scenes, but the plot is incoherent and simply a succession of the usual horror tropes.
Monday, August 24, 2020
Detour (1945)
Chance events trap a hitch-hiker Al Roberts into a tightening net of trouble.
Wonderful Film Noir classic that creates a hopeless fate almost too extreme to believe, but that's just as well part of its message.
On rewatching: Highly entertaining low-budget Noir drama with an over-the-top (and extremely unlikely) doom-laden plot - and a particularly vicious femme fatale.
Halliwell*: "A minor cult movie with as much doomladen dialogue and film noir angles as could be shovelled into a Poverty Row 'B' at the time. On the whole, less than meets the eye."
Maltin***: "Now-legendary B movie, filmed in less than a week, is the qintessence of film noir...(Savage, in an unforgettable performance), Ulmer makes best of his meagre budget."
Sunday, August 23, 2020
King of the Zombies (1941)
On a spooky island, three stranded travelers find an evil doctor working with foreign spies and in control of zombies.
Silly horror comedy with a dubious racist subplot softened by Mantan Moreland's hilarious performance.
Maltin**: "Stiff-necked zombies are incidental,but pop-eyed Moreland is a delight."
