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District B13 2004 ★★★
This French action flick sets a nuke in one of the infamous banlieues (suburbs of Paris known for their high crime and poverty rate). A supercop, fresh off a mission, is sent in to stop it from exploding.
Let's be clear: you don't watch this for the story or for character development. This is Seagal level writing with some French machismo thrown in. With one woman in the main cast, who's mostly an afterthought for most of the film. The camera throws back to her to literally remind us like “oh yeah, she's in this too (in case you forgot)”.
If anything, you watch it for the pacing and the action. The action set pieces are filmed within an inch of their life, with a type of editing reminiscent of The Matrix and a little of Lola Rennt. What with all the running and spectacular jumping. The fight scenes are filmed equally spectacular, putting them above other martial arts films. (Could this be a gateway movie into Van Damme territory?) And, in all honesty, it still holds up rather well, even while approaching its twentieth anniversary. Good lord, how time flies.
For fans of fast paced action.
Oxygen 2021 ★★★˝
Alexandre Aja offers us a horror sci-fi with an interesting premise: waking up from hypersleep with nowhere to go.
Melanie Laurent delivers a strong performance as she struggles to find out what's going on and where she can go. At first, you flub it off as screenwriter convenience, but it's not until the twist that you find what's really going on.
Aja develops his trade, among others with revolving shots adding to the character's (and the audience's) sense of disorientation. And of course the majestuous images that the genre allows.
The movie lagged a bit towards the end, though I will give Aja credit for not relying too much on easy flashbacks.
Somewhere between 3 and 3.5 stars.
Otherkin 2022 ★★
Unremarkable short about a woman returning to her family, only to find a bit more than she bargained for.
The main horror here is the fear of the inevitable. The atmos does not get all too creepy, but the actors try their damndest.
Fun watch for people looking for atmost horror.
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