Red Eye 2005 ★★★
In Red Eye, the dearly missed Wes Craven ventures into a thriller with the interesting twist that it mostly plays inside an airplane.
The opening minutes introduce us to Lisa, a hotel manager of the never panic type who has everything under control at all times. After the funeral of her grandmother, she is on her way and at the airport, she meets Jack, a charming, galant man. You, the viewer, are thus dooped into thinking that maybe there is a bit of romance in the air and that the danger will come from elsewhere.
And then in the plane, they sit next to each other. What are the odds?
Michael Scott: That's what *the screenwriter* said!
That, however, could not be less true. In only a few minutes time, the mask sinks and in no unclear terms, Jack tells Lisa what his plans are and what he wants her to do. These are the moments when Cillian Murphy shines and shows how thrillers and horror can be an actor's medium. Granted, he was pretty self confident that nobody would be eavesdropping, and towards the end, it gets a bit silly when the way he sounds reminded of a Denis Leary bit about a family of cancer patients who all have voice boxes. Then again, he can headbutt someone (bah gawd!) without anyone noticing, soo... that evens it out, I guess?
This might not be his best work, but I can tell you that Uncle Wes delivers a very entertaining thriller. The tension and the games between Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy keep you invested. Wonder why she did not venture into thrillers more often. Oh, well. The direction puts a nice spin on the “no reach” cliché and, yes, Uncle Wes can make a goofy looking pen look scary. So it's understandable that this movie made Bravo's list of 30 Even Scarier Movie Moments, even though The People Under The Stairs of The Hills Have Eyes are in my opinion scarier Craven-films.
Recommended for fans of a solid thriller and people who discovered one of Craven's classics and want to explore his work.
Baby Driver 2017 ★★★
From what I understand, Baby Driver is Edgar Wright's biggest commercial success. And the opening with Jon Spencer is pretty damn impressive.
That said, this did not make the same impression on me as his other gems. To be honest, it did not do all that much for me.
There were good things. Jamie Fox was good as the curmudgeon nutter in the group and I liked Spacey as Lord Boss Crime. And the bits between Baby and the deaf character were sometimes touching.
But the actor playing Baby was not all that charismatic and – at least for me – the chemistry between Baby and Deborah was not all that convincing. The visual stylings were there, but by Edgar Wright's standards, I was expecting more. The action just felt too slick and generic action like.
Yummy 2019 ★★½
Yummy mostly falls into the category “it's cool that we can do this in this country rather than always yadda yadda yadda”. A Belgian zombie film? A Belgian zombie comedy? I'm in.
The opening scene immediately has you covered. A shady doctor burning a body and... holy shit, it's Goldberg!
And he gets killed by a burning zombie?! Bah gawd, that man had a family!! (Yes, my JR still sucks)
We follow a couple on their way to a plastic surgeon in order for the woman to get breast reduction. The first thing that strikes me: the actor playing the boyfriend... I have seen him in only one role so far and there he played a softie. Here, his character is... a bit of a softie. Oh, and he ticks off the trope of the med school student who can not stand the sight of blood. How many of those have we had since Dead Snow?
Maaike Cafmeyer – as far as I know – had her first venture into the horror genre and she seems to be having fun with the girlfriend part. And there's the mother in law who – in the words of her daughter – spends her whole life trying to look like a teenage whore. She's (dyed) blonde and kind of douchy. What a surprise.
They end up in the kind of hospital that fits better in the universe of Hostel than that of ER or Scrubs, with sleazy staff and Clara Cleymans doing the type of charicature like Russian accent that could strike a chord with Ukranians.
Then a zombie escapes and all goes to hell. Resulting in a mix of gore, splatter and adolescent screwball humor that does not really rise above the crop. Been there, done that. Even what's supposed to be the big tearful goodbye did not really do all that much for me.
So it's not that original, but it does not have to be. It's definetily not as funny as Shaun of the dead, but it will get a few (ironic) chuckles out of you.
Recommended for people looking for some silly popcorn fun.
Trip 2022 ★★★
For the people with tldr-syndrome: Worst. Smoothie. Ever.
All jokes aside, Trip is a surprisingly solid ghost story that deals with topics like mental health and suicide. A lot more than one would expect from a movie that is available for free on Youtube.
I am not going to spoil anything, but suffice it to say that it goes into how difficult it is for the patients to express the state they are in and what they are going through, not to mention how difficult it is for their loved ones to know how to approach them. Or the faith that we put in doctors, psychiatrists and such and such.
Here is the link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk06Gb9Z0Kk
Check it out.
Be My Cat: A Film for Anne 2015 ★★★★
It's hard for me to say that I “liked” it since I have rarely been this uncomfortable watching a movie. That said, that is in essence the goal of this film. So that's a rather large feather in mister Tofei's cap.
From the first minute, Movie Adrian's presence puts you off balance with his incoherent rambling and his forced laughter. Over the course of the film, the kills become more gruesome and Movie Adrian becomes more and more unhinged. Especially in the moments when he lets his guard down. It's at these moments that we gets a glimpse of how warped his psyche really is.
Yes, this is a hurt soul. But this is also the type of warped mind who takes the stories about Stanley Kubrick and Shelly Duvall and then thinks that's how all directors should treat their cast.
Is there cinematographic merit to it? Yes.
First of all, props to the actors for making it look and sound convincing. Not easy in a genre known for small budgets.
Tofei also does a good job using the what you don't see is more scary than what you do see-trope. Especially in the torture scene with Flori.
He even manages to sneak in a few cinema nods. Some of the moments with Flori were reminiscent of the scene with Robert De Niro and Illeana Douglas in the Cape Fear remake. And it seemed like Tofei was sometimes purposely licking his lips in an attempt to channel Ledger in The Dark Knight.
A must see for every horror fan. Just don't expect anything cosy.