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Welcome to the human race...
Starting another thread. Reviews will most likely be about whatever new releases I feel like covering. This was originally supposed to start off with this review but I wasn't sure if I was going to start a new review thread or post them individually. In any case, it seems like I've made up my mind now.
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I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



Welcome to the human race...
RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER
Paul W.S. Anderson, 2016


In a world populated almost entirely by zombies, an ex-mercenary must stop an evil corporation from finalising their plan for world domination.

The Resident Evil movies have managed to grow on me quite a bit since I first gave some rather heavy pans to Apocalypse and Extinction a while back. The plan to graft post-Matrix cinematic coolness onto the source game's survival horror set-up may not have resulted in the most faithful adaptations, but they still provided serviceable genre hybrids that at least tended to be flawed in interesting ways. Though the first couple of installments hit some stumbling blocks even as they stuck fairly closely to the games' mythos, it soon mutated into a dependable series of post-apocalyptic tales about Milla Jovovich's amnesiac heroine Alice fighting hordes of the infected, rescuing whatever survivors she can, and trying to keeping one step ahead of the sinister Umbrella corporation. Even with this admittedly formulaic approach to the storytelling, the previous three installments still managed to find sufficient room for variation that kept things from getting too repetitive. 2012's Retribution even allowed the series to reach a late peak thanks to its distinctive premise and clean execution, plus it ended with the promise of an epic conclusion to the long-running saga...

Unfortunately, even without the relatively high expectations set by Retribution. The Final Chapter ends up coming across as a considerable backwards step for the series that makes it a contender for the weakest entry in the series. This is a tad curious considering how the franchise has actually had something of an auteur in Paul W.S. Anderson, who served as screenwriter and producer on all six Resident Evil movies and directed four of them. What's notable is that he directed the previous two, so The Final Chapter should have seemed like an extrapolation upon the flashy competence he had already displayed rather than the kind of gaffes you'd expect from an action journeyman following producer notes. Even the rather familiar plot - which sees Alice be given 48 hours to save the world, to put it very simply - has the potential to grant the series a greatest-hits finale. In the minutes following the presumably obligatory recap, it soon becomes clear that it's at least as likely to feature all the series' greatest misses - and possibly introduce some new ones. The story even seems to be tracing the series' development backwards as it sees Alice travel from the post-apocalyptic landscape (Afterlife/Extinction) through Raccoon City (Apocalypse) all the way back to the high-tech laboratory known as "the Hive" (the original film); what seems like a deliberate example of the series coming full circle instead makes it feel like it's going in circles.

Though this is Alice's story, it's a shame that more characters don't return because this film really could have used a proper squad to meet the epic demands of a "final chapter". As it stands, we only get a small handful of familiar faces on both sides of the good-evil divide. Jovovich is still the same as she ever was as she handles all of Alice's usual modes of self-expression ranging from grim-faced determination to not-quite-stoic emoting, which poses its biggest challenge when she has to react to other characters delivering tidal waves of exposition (especially when said waves start getting really personal). Ali Larter shows back up as Alice's semi-regular sidekick Claire, once again proving a fiery foil to the coolly collected Jovovich but little else beyond that. The returning villains thankfully provide a welcome source of scenery-chewing to balance out the heroes' stilted yet earnest dramatics. A character as steeped in stylish yet absurd videogame aesthetics as Albert Wesker deserves no less than Shawn Roberts keeping up his mesmerising Agent Smith impression for the third film in a row. The real show-stealer ends up being Iain Glen as mad scientist Dr. Isaacs; I'm always appreciative of classically-trained performers who actually commit to their roles in genre films and Glen does so with an admirable level of gusto. As for the rest of the cast...who cares? This is the least interesting group of survivors in the series, which is really saying something. I wouldn't have minded the lack of returning characters if the new ones had been handled well, but their general lack of distinction (including one remarkably half-assed sub-plot) is a major flaw.

Anderson definitely has his faults as a filmmaker, but one thing I tended to appreciate about the movies of his that I'd seen was his ability to shoot some reasonably clean and coherent action. Heavily stylised, sure, but I'll take that over nigh-incomprehensible approaches that treat speed as a hammer and the audience's attention as a nail. Unfortunately, there are far too many moments in The Final Chapter that see Anderson leaning more towards what I guess I should start calling the "hammer" approach, utilising jerky camerawork and rapid cutting to instill an unearned sense of excitement. Further research does make me want to lay the blame on budget cuts that would undoubtedly compromise the film's attempts to provide scope and essentially force Anderson's hand, but that just ends up clarifying how much things could have been planned so much better. At 106 minutes, this is the longest entry in the series and ultimately ends up drawing extra attention to flaws that could have easily been refined or at least glossed over. A notable set-piece involving a rolling tank surrounded by zombies could be said to suffer because time and resources get spent on the rather generic battle sequences that precede it. Still, it proves surprisingly possible to get used to these abrasive visual methods as the film progresses, though that may be more down to the rising action improving enough to compensate for said methods.

I've been trying to make an effort to be more lenient when it comes to assessing the movies that I watch. Going in with low expectations now feels tantamount to wanting a movie to fail, so I'm making the effort to realign my perceptions and try to see the true strength of a given work regardless of its place in an arbitrary hierarchy of artistic value. With that in mind, it is regrettable to see that The Final Chapter ostensibly sees the Resident Evil series end with something of a whimper. While there are appreciable scenes and qualities in the mix, too often they are compromised or obscured by the film lapsing into aggressive mediocrity on both technical and narrative levels (though it does get by on a thematic level by building upon concerns raised by the previous movies). I do wonder whether or not bringing up external factors like budget cuts or scheduling conflicts is really enough to excuse the film's most readily observable shortcomings, but it probably doesn't speak to Anderson's creative abilities that he struggles to adapt in sufficiently compensatory ways. Though time (and money) will tell if the franchise gets any more installments, I'd like to think that they would make better use of the modest potential that has been displayed by the series and its creators. A naive sentiment, perhaps, but this is 2017. Hope is where you find it, even if it is on a highway riddled with zombies.




28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
I'll read up on your latest review later, I take that it's spoiler-free?
spoiler! They kill the undead in stylized ways.
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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews



Solid review, Iro. Despite your semi-enjoyment of it, it seems to be kind of what I expect from it... I have vacation now, so maybe I'll get around that binge of Resident Evil films this week...

spoiler! They kill the undead in stylized ways.
Well, given that it's the final chapter, there may have been some exciting twists and turns to bind it all together and since I moderately enjoy the first three films, I didn't exactly want that spoiled. Just checking.



Welcome to the human race...
I've only seen the first three Resident Evil films i think. Looking forward to later posts of films i know.
My next one was going to be Split, but I got some serious writer's block over it and ultimately decided that I'd most likely skip it. One problem with my last couple of threads was that you could tell when I was just knocking out reviews out of the obligation to write something about everything I watched and that was proving a drag. My next one is most likely going to be T2 Trainspotting.

Can't remember if you ever posted it, but what's your ratings for all the Resident Evil films?
Currently...

Retribution -

Afterlife/Extinction/original -

Apocalypse -


I haven't seen any of the Resident Evil movies. I don't think I'd like them.
Considering your viewing habits, this is a little surprising.



Considering your viewing habits, this is a little surprising.
It may seem like that on the surface, but not really. Even with all the movies I've seen, I've probably seen less films that are part of a modern series than most people. Besides the Resident Evil series, I haven't seen any of the Underworld, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, or Fast and Furious movies. I've only seen the first Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean installments. I've only seen the original Star Wars trilogy. I only watched Nolan's Batman series for the comic book movies countdown. I think there's a couple of reasons for this. First, these movies all have a certain element of fantasy which is something I'm not fond of. Another reason is that I'm no longer a moviegoer. If a sequel or two comes out before I see a first installment, I immediately start to lose interest. Until very recently, the vast majority of movies I watch are either older, foreign, independent, or some combination of the three.



Currently...

Retribution -

Afterlife/Extinction/original -

Apocalypse -
It's so weird to see you rate these movies so high. Anyways, yeah, let's see how it goes when I get further down the line. The first one did not click with me in any shape or form this time... I even used to like it and perhaps even think it was the best in the series. But the god awful soundtrack, the horrible acting, the CG effects, the poor directing and overall execution was just too painful for me. It seriously felt like an after school project which had some millions under it for support. It hasn't aged well either it seems.

On a side note, I'm glad to see some love for Alien: Resurrection!



Welcome to the human race...
T2 TRAINSPOTTING
Danny Boyle, 2017


A former heroin addict returns to his hometown after twenty years and soon becomes embroiled in the lives of his old friends.

Generally speaking, a belated sequel is not the best idea. As if trying to replicate or build upon the success (or at least correct the flaws) isn't enough of a challenge for a typically immediate follow-up, the passage of time and all that entails only serve as additional obstacles that would work against the success of a given continuation. The ideal manner of compensating for a prolonged period between sequels is to incorporate the passage of time into the narrative and thematic developments of the film itself. This much is very true of T2 Trainspotting, the long-gestating cinematic follow-up to Danny Boyle's 1996 break-through hit Trainspotting. Original Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh had already written his own sequel with the 2002 novel Porno, which took place a full decade after its predecessor and saw the low-life protagonists still struggling to keep ahead of demons that had definitely not improved with age; due to extenuating circumstances, Boyle's own loose adaptation of this particular sequel has increased the gap to two decades. The fact that this also marks the first ever sequel in the Oscar-winning director's lengthy and versatile filmography is certainly enough to make it stand out, though I still had my doubts considering how I felt about the bulk of his varied output that did not mix very well with my established concerns about belated sequels.

T2 understands that its viewers are almost certainly going to be familiar with Trainspotting as it takes its time to recount the first film's most pertinent plot details - most prominently, that of Mark (Ewan McGregor) ripping off his mates by stealing their combined profits from a lucrative drug deal in order to start a new life far away from their toxic influence. Before doing that, T2 opts to re-establish the core quartet and their positions within the current social landscape. The story proper begins with Mark returning to his hometown of Leith following a health scare. Though he only plans to stay in town for a couple of days, he soon ends up reconnecting with his oldest friends and former victims - lifelong junkie Spud (Ewen Bremner) and small-time scam artist Simon (Jonny Lee Miller). While Spud is more or less amenable to Mark's return, Simon immediately plans to get revenge for Mark taking his share of the drug money; this just so happens to coincide with Simon wanting to turn his dingy pub into a high-end brothel. Meanwhile, career criminal Begbie (Robert Carlyle), who has spent the entire duration between films in prison for one senseless crime too many, has launched a plan to get out and resume his former activities; this naturally puts him on an inevitable collision course with Mark, against whom he's built up twenty years' worth of murderous rage. If the loosely-structured slice-of-life plot of the original reflected the directionless youth of its characters, then this one adds more structure and with it a sense of inevitability to the ageing characters' journeys (whether they realise it or not).

Much like Mark, T2 takes a while to reacquaint itself within this particular milieu but soon establishes some arcs for each of its main characters that all reflect the ways in which they are trying to cope with middle age. Mark's humbled return to his old world means that he no longer gets to be the out-and-out protagonist whose journey we follow from beginning to end; instead, he effectively ends up on equal footing with the other three as he intersects with their own plots instead of really having one of his own. Simon's plan to renovate his business by any means necessary proves to be the main driving force of the film and certainly makes the most sensible choice in terms of both narrative and theme; it's a plan for the future that's still very much stuck in the past. Spud's arc is similarly focused on the old days, though his plot is more about trying to break the vicious cycle of addiction and victimhood that he's been trapped in all his life. Begbie, on the other hand...he just wants to return to the same destructive way of life, even trying to rope his very reluctant teenage son into the proceedings. The film's treatment of nostalgia and how we view the past varies enough between scenes so as to not form into a cogent whole, though it is all the better for leaning towards the critical side of things (as best exemplified by a standout sequence involving a clubhouse of historically-obsessed punters). Having Simon's much younger associate Veronika (Anjela Nedyalkova) serve as a younger-but-wiser chorus to the proceedings (much like Kelly MacDonald's Diane did in the first film) is a bold move that doesn't totally pay off but definitely doesn't feel unnecessary either, further demonstrating how fundamentally at odds with itself the film tends to be.

If we are to note how different both the characters and the world of Trainspotting have become after twenty years, then it's also worth noting how much (or how little) the director has changed in time. Boyle's definitely been about experimenting with aesthetic and form since the beginning of his career; much like Ridley Scott, he's become a director who has a very specific idea of how he wants his films to look. However, in comparing Boyle to Scott I note a more unfortunate similarity that these two filmmakers share - that their focus on getting a film's visual element just right can throw the overall quality of said film into uncomfortably sharp relief. If you're familiar with Boyle's work, you can recognise the same technical trademarks that have peppered his 21st-century output. Off-centre Dutch angles, high-contrast colouring, eye-catching editing...it's all here. Considering how many of his films deal with altered states of mind or being, it has been a bit of an issue that his films have all started to look the same in a way that suggests an empty one-size-fits-all aesthetic more so than distinct variations upon a common theme. This even ends up overshadowing the moments where T2 attempts to recreate the original's capacity for fantasy sequences where characters readily visualise dreams and triumphs or nightmares and failures. At least the sound work yields some remarkably off-kilter results, especially through the decision to chop and screw many of the old hits into staccato bursts of noise.

I still wonder exactly how fair it is to judge a sequel by comparing it against its source instead of judging it as a standalone piece of work, though in the case of T2 Trainspotting it is practically a necessity. People who haven't seen the original may still get something out of this particular melding of midlife-crisis dramedy with low-rent crime capers, but I can't imagine what. It is very much one for the fans as it packs in as many references to the original film (and even the books) as possible while also providing a relatively original plot that'll keep the readers guessing. Of course, all the fanservice and nostalgia can only mean so much if the film isn't actually trying to say something underneath it all. In making T2, is Boyle drawing a parallel (intentionally or not) between himself and the decidedly shiftless Mark? Both men return to familiar ground after two decades away and reveal how much they've changed or stayed the same; the difference lies in whether Boyle is driven by the same sense of obligation that drives Mark. Considering how long the film spent in development hell, is its eventual realisation a demonstration of commendable perseverance on Boyle's part or just the result of his bloody-minded refusal to let sleeping dogs lie? Given the inconsistency of the subtext and its effect on the extremely flashy textual level, it's still a little too close to call. Still, the fact that it avoids being a complete embarrassment and has its fair share of moments that could contend for the best in Boyle's career is enough to make it one of the worthier belated sequels in existence - all things considered, it's not a bad thing to choose.




Looking for a movie watching partner
Everything is ok, but not fit actress for this movie (Resident Evil)
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Ovoo - Cannot wait



Welcome to the human race...
DUNKIRK
Christopher Nolan, 2017


Based on the true story of British military forces being evacuated from the French port of Dunkirk in the face of German aggression during World War II.

It's amazing what difference the placement of a title card can make. Seeing Nolan break a pattern of smash-to-title endings by placing a characteristically stark-looking DUNKIRK at the beginning promises not only a change to form but also a sign of reverence in this foray into historical dramatisation. Its three intertwining narratives pay varying amounts of lip-service to this ideal, putting less emphasis on actively combating a constantly-obscured enemy than on surviving from one moment to the next. While Tom Hardy's fighter pilot and Mark Rylance's civilian boat captain both exude stiff-upper-lip courage in the face of whatever danger they're heading into, it's the mostly-unknown and nigh-indistinguishable young soldiers who just care about getting away from the danger as quickly as possible that prove a curious point of reference for the conflict. The characters' understandably high levels of fear may occasionally give way to acts of cowardice with tragic consequences, but they are never truly vilified in the process. The deliberate refusal to place too much emphasis on individual characters may reinforce the chaotic nature of the film, but it's constantly threatening to weigh down the film whenever it suddenly acts like it cares about the personal conflicts that arise between the characters.

In my experience, Hoyte van Hoytema hasn't proved a particularly impressive cinematographer (mainly because of the flat colour palettes I've noticed in other films he's lensed) and seeing his name attached to a film that promised as much visual spectacle as "must be seen in 70mm" Dunkirk did was enough to give me pause. Fortunately, this dullness feels at least somewhat appropriate when depicting the grim atmosphere on the war-torn beachfront, plus it's put to decent use in composing scenes ranging from claustrophobic interiors to intimidating bird's-eye views of the ocean. If anything, it's hampered by editing that is a little too quick on the draw at times in the name of maintaining a perpetually heightened sense of visceral discomfort at the proceedings (though I wouldn't necessarily categorise this discomfort as either suspenseful or thrilling). Hans Zimmer's score is similarly relentless, with the most memorable leitmotif sounding like the countdown noise from Predator. What this all builds up to is a film that comes across as distilled Nolan, for better and for worse. The overlapping timelines of all three sub-plots means that it plays out like an extended third act from one of his other films, whereas his decision to downplay characterisation and dialogue seems like an acknowledgement of his weaknesses as a screenwriter. Though it still leaves at least a little something to be desired when it comes to its already-remarkable craftsmanship, it's still a welcome change of pace that manages to stand out on its own.




Welcome to the human race...
ALIEN: COVENANT
Ridley Scott, 2017


A crew of colonists investigates a mysterious signal from an uncharted planet but they soon come face-to-face with dangerous extraterrestrials.

The Alien franchise has always been fundamentally weird, even when it delivered two instant classics in the form of both Scott's original and James Cameron's Aliens. The other installments may not match those heights, but do they really need to? I'd rather they tried to do new things and gave us flawed works like Alien 3 or Alien Resurrection rather than see them try and fail to replicate the magic of the best installments. Covenant starts off like it's attempting the latter as it sets up a crew full of xenomorph fodder and sets them down on a planet that's quiet-too-quiet, but it takes a welcome shift once David (Michael Fassbender) enters the narrative proper. The blond-haired android had already proved to be the most interesting character in Prometheus and he continues to engage in Covenant, establishing a more fascinating character through his interactions with the survivors (especially Walter, another Fassbender-faced android who provides David with his best foil). Screenwriter John Logan had already trod Frankensteinian ground with his cult horror series Penny Dreadful; Covenant allows him even more room to tool around with warped concepts of science, religion, creation, and destruction - I definitely hope Scott's got a director's cut that expands on the film's subdued midsection.

Whatever his faults as a filmmaker may be, Scott can always be depended upon to provide a worthwhile aesthetic to even his worst films and Covenant is far from his worst film. While it's easy to balk at the sight of xenomorphs being rendered with computers instead of practical effects, it becomes acceptable within another well-realised Scott world of sterile spaceships and foreboding caverns that all bear his slick directorial stamp. The same goes for the characterisation, which is solid enough to justify outwardly irrational behaviour and decisions in the name of perpetuating the whole film's living Gothic nightmare. It all builds to a perfect final note that leaves me wondering where on Earth (or anywhere else) the series can go next; given this installment's immediate commercial and critical reception, one might well wonder if it will ever get there. In any case, if Covenant really is an indication of what I can expect from the Alien series going forward, then I definitely welcome this new direction. It has the kind of flaws that may have the potential to sink a film - exposition-heavy back-story, tonal inconsistency, a callous disregard for the expectations of character and viewer alike - and turns them into brutal strengths worthy of its hideous main attraction.