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Twixt (2011)

Let's get this out of the way first - I was shocked when I saw in the end titles that this was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. I honestly thought this was done by some young director who lacked confidence in his ideas. It could have been great but it feels that in the end, no one took it seriously (well, maybe Elle Fanning did, with all the seriousness of a 12-year-old following in her older sister's footsteps). It almost reminds me of Nobuhiko Obayashi, in good and in bad.
I feel like I would have liked this a lot more had it been shot on film. On digital, its eccentric visual ideas just look... ugly.



Not a movie, but I just watched the first 3 episodes of Arcane on Netflix with my girlfriend.

We watched it because of the critiques that are absolutely incredible. More then 9 on IMDB, 100% fresh on rotten tomatoes. So we were expecting some of the most beautiful animation we've ever seen, a very immersive world building, a complexe and rich sci fi universe and some wonderful fight scenes. We got nothing of that. We got a childish show that looks like a video game with a very simple story, not particularly rich.

For those who have seen it and who enjoyed it, what's so special about it?
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Innocence Unprotected, 1968

This documentary is a mix of long sequences from a never-released 1941 film called Innocence Unprotected that was to be the first sound film made in Serbia. Derailed by WW2 and then run afoul of Nazi censors, this film takes the original footage and combines it with historical footage and contemporary interviews with surviving cast and crew.

The Criterion Channel's summary of this film calls it "utterly unclasifiable", and I totally agree. What is this movie? I don't know.

Do you want to watch a film about an acrobat saving the woman he loves? Come on in! Do you want to watch actors and filmmakers having a picnic lunch in a cemetery while reminiscing about shooting scenes while hiding from Nazis in a bathroom? Come on in! Do you want to see the film's star engage in some bodybuilding training and poses to show he's still got it? Come on in!

I don't think I'm in the right headspace for a film that pulls in so many directions, and my sense as I was watching it was that I was only getting about 60% of what I was meant to take away. But that was enough.

This is a weird and unique film that despite its bizarre organization and pace still manages to tell a bittersweet tale of trying to make art in an environment of physical danger and political oppression.




Today I watched the final James Bond installment with Daniel Craig. By the way, the movie was too dramatic. I liked Casino Royale better.
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Victim of The Night

Topper (Norman Z. McLeod, 1937)
6.5/10

Rich, henpecked Cosmo Topper (Roland Young) decides to loosen up after hanging out with friends Constance Bennett and Cary Grant, who recently died and are ghosts now.

Eternals (Chloé Zhao, 2021)
6/10

Eternals have been on Earth for quite awhile, and what you "learn" from this movie is all you need is love, always watch your back and never trust a friggin' eternal.
Topper is actually one of my favorite movies (only slightly behind The Awful Truth in Cary Grant comedies of this time).

Tell me, was Eternals legitimately bad enough for my friends to have gotten up and walked out of it? Because I so wanted it to be good and that is what happened so I didn't see it.



Victim of The Night
Not a movie, but I just watched the first 3 episodes of Arcane on Netflix with my girlfriend.

We watched it because of the critiques that are absolutely incredible. More then 9 on IMDB, 100% fresh on rotten tomatoes. So we were expecting some of the most beautiful animation we've ever seen, a very immersive world building, a complexe and rich sci fi universe and some wonderful fight scenes. We got nothing of that. We got a childish show that looks like a video game with a very simple story, not particularly rich.

For those who have seen it and who enjoyed it, what's so special about it?
I have a friend who's really into it. I watched 20 or 30 minutes of it and it seemed good enough to me, I just wasn't much in the mood.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
Tell me, was Eternals legitimately bad enough for my friends to have gotten up and walked out of it? Because I so wanted it to be good and that is what happened so I didn't see it.
Not that bad, but very long and complicated. Watchable but full of WTF moments. Streaming on Disney+.
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The Suicide Squad - It's not going out on a limb to say that this was the movie that the 2016 version could or should have been. That was an essentially joyless exercise and Will Smith has gotten to the point where he's more a liability than an asset. At least to me. But they found a new director in James Gunn and one whose sensibilities appear to be tailor made for these types of movies. Both plots are nonsensical but here they embrace the goofiness. There's nary a whiff of the self-conscious posturing of David Ayers misfire or the leaden action scenes.

Maybe it's the British accent and even though Idris Elba (Robert DuBois/Bloodsport) might be four years younger than Will Smith I think he acts circles around him. Margot Robey (Harley Quinn), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Joel Kinnaman (Colonel Rick Flag) and Viola Davis (Amanda Waller) all return from the original. Daniela Melchior as Cleo Cazo/Ratcatcher 2 and David Dastmalchian as Abner Krill/Polka Dot Man turn in solid performances and Sylvester Stallone does some admirable voice work as King Shark.
WARNING: spoilers below
The rest of the cast is expendable. Literally, as well as with regards to their significance.

Brighter (palette wise), breezier, bloodier and, most importantly, fittingly nihilistic this is (probably) what a comic book movie should look and feel like.

85/100




Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay - This is supposedly the tenth installment in the DC Animated Movie Universe. Since HBOMax has a buttload of these DC animated features it would take some semi-serious digging to verify that so I'll just take their word for it. This time (or maybe all the time) Amanda Waller (Vanessa Williams) is calling them Task Force X and, after being diagnosed with a fatal disease, she sends them after a Get Out of Hell Free card. It's currently in the hands of former sorceror Doctor Fate now a male stripper. Sure, why not?

Anyway, TFX features a cavalcade of DC characters including Deadshot (Christian Slater), Harley Quinn (Tara Strong) and Captain Boomerang (Liam McIntyre) along with Killer Frost, Bronze Tiger and Copperhead. They're up against Professor Zoom/Reverse Flash and Vandal Savage also puts in an appearance. And since all these jokers are more or less hellbound there are double and triple crosses galore and alot of bloody killings. So much so that it was the fourth DC Animated to receive an R rating. That's one thing DC does well. They routinely put out superior animated features like this one.

80/100



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Scream (2022) -


One for the fans, alright
Damn....I was looking forward to this one.

But again, a low rating from Iro might be a
from me. Theatres are closed here so I have to wait to find out.
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Suspect's Reviews





It's bad. Really bad. It's like they blended the 3 previous movies together and added some condiments... that don't really change anything.
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SHERLOCK, JR.
(1924, Keaton)



"Don't try to do two things at once and expect to do justice to both."

That is the proverb that opens up this silent film classic that follows a projectionist (Buster Keaton) that dreams of being a detective. When he is falsely accused of stealing a pocket watch from the father of the girl he loves, he is forbidden from seeing her again. Burdened by this, he ends up dreaming he is inside a film with a similar storyline where he is "the world's greatest detective".

This was only my second Keaton film after The General (I ended up seeing two more of his short films after this), but this one follows a "similar" template in which he finds himself in wacky predicaments to earn the love of a girl. Although there is good slapstick comedy, the main attraction in both are the impressive stunts and effects that Keaton comes up with.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot
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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds


It's bad. Really bad. It's like they blended the 3 previous movies together and added some condiments... that don't really change anything.
I don't consider this a bad movie. It's not a great one either, but if people go in expecting the same movies from the previous 3. Yeah, they're going to be disappointed.



Welcome to the human race...
Damn....I was looking forward to this one.

But again, a low rating from Iro might be a
from me. Theatres are closed here so I have to wait to find out.
I'm on record as not having an overly high estimation of the franchise in general - even the original tops out at about a
for me and then there's me having the chaotic take of currently considering 4 my favourite sequel - but I think there's enough going on here that I think you are likely to enjoy it.

RoboCop 2 -


Then again...



PREDATOR 2
(1990, Hopkins)



"You can't see the eyes of the demon, until him come callin'."

Predator 2 transplants the creature from the jungles of Latin America to the "street jungles" of Los Angeles which, on paper, is a rather clever idea for it to not be just a rehash of the first one. The city, which is embroiled in a turf war between a Colombian gang and a Jamaican gang, now has to face a new threat, which puts Harrigan and his team against the wall.

I do think that the fast-paced action works pretty well for the first half, which is a pretty energetic stretch of the film. But after the half-point mark, it does feel like it overstays its welcome. The plot keeps stretching things far too long and the ending feels more like a whimper than a bang. I do like how the very final act expands a bit into the nature of the predator, but I didn't really care too much about it at that point.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot



THE ROUGH HOUSE
(1917, Arbuckle & Keaton)



"A new cook in the kitchen"

The Rough House is a 20 minute short written, directed, and starred by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. It follows a series of shenanigans that occur at the house of Mr. Rough (Arbuckle) as he wakes up, has breakfast, and handles two quarreling lovers and a pair of thieves.

The film has a simple premise and works mostly as a series of sketches loosely tied, but they all work fairly well together. Most of the physical comedy is on point, and I really laughed at some of the gags they pulled. Keaton's roles are fairly small, but Arbuckle has a nice comedic timing and a funny aloof persona.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot




The Apple (Menahem Golan, 1980)
the songs are for the most part very good but the visuals just aren't there and its a little boring. has its moments tho and bonus points for the amazing deus ex machina ending.