By New Line Cinema - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72657374
Evil Dead Rise - (2023)
I'll definitely be seeing this again. I didn't like the very start, or the very end, but the body of the film was pretty much what I'd demand from an
Evil Dead film, and it didn't hold back like I was afraid it might - especially considering it's the first of the franchise with
kids at the center of what's going on. Lee Cronin couldn't top the way 2013's
Evil Dead got things underway, and I was bracing for disappointment - but I was really pleasantly surprised by the off-putting make-up effects and sound. Moments such as the
Shining elevator homage had me thinking I might be watching a classic - but overall, in the end, it was just very good. It could have been a touch freakier, but I can't complain - it did enough to satisfy me. It sure didn't hold back on the vomiting. I don't think the ending was that great - but I can't deny that I had a great time watching it, and felt that the film was capturing that
Evil Dead atmosphere and spirit. Considering what I feared this film might be, that's a relief. Well done Lee. Happy to see this doing well.
7/10
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24105930
Children of Men - (2006)
Dystopian science fiction can get pretty depressing, but
Children of Men is so well put together, and looks so perfect, that Alfonso Cuarón turns this into a cinematic triumph. The film feels even
more timely now, with a pandemic that has disrupted the entire globe and the United States teetering on the edge of civil strife, an uncertain election the world is bracing for not far away. Refugee hate-mongering takes center stage in this, in a world where time is limited due to the fact that no new life is being produced - 100% infertility, and we're staring into the abyss. Through war and hate, a delicate newborn baby must make it's way - and I hold my breath the entire time. Initially, this film was too dark and full of despair for me to manage - but in the ensuing years I've been eager to see it again with an eye to how well made it is. It still surprises, and as I said - still seems ever so relevant.
8/10
By Movie Poster Database, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7678285
Jane Eyre - (1943)
My third
Jane Eyre, and my reaction to this one has me thinking I should space them out a little more - Orson Welles plays Edward Rochester in a curious manner. Gruffly masculine, which I guess is on the money, but still feels strange when it's coming from a peach-faced, smooth, Orson Welles - and it's the way his eyes seem to penetrate what they're looking at that captivates. This follows the usual story beats in a familiar pattern - the adaptations go back as far as 1910 (that version is lost however - a shame, I'd love to see how they squeeze everything onto one reel) and there followed one in 1921, and one in 1934, the latter of which goes only 62 minutes. I feel the need to read the novel starting to bother me...
6/10