Le Salaire de la Peur (2024) Dir. Julien Leclercq In an unnamed North African country, brothers Fred and Alex are each looking for a way out as a regime change has made their presence less welcome than before. Fred is looking for one final big payday by helping a wealthy local get out of the country with his fortune. When corrupt police officers show up, this leads to a shoot-out that leaves Fred's client dead. Fred knows said client kept a fortune in cash in his vault, so he recruits his brother Alex to use his skills as a demolitions expert to blow the vault so they can share in the wealth. The plan goes wrong, leading to Alex' apprehension and imprisonment in a hellhole of a prison camp. Fred himself becomes a wanted man and hides out in a township in the middle of nowhere, alongside Alex wife and kid. Nine months later, an opportunity comes along that might be their ticket out of the country: a very dangerous assignment for an oil company. An oil rig fire requires 200 liters of nitroglycerine to put it out. The idea is to drive it across 800 km of desert, across rough terrain plagued by bandits and assorted dangers. The reward is a ticket out of jail for Alex and one million dollars to divide between whoever survives the suicide mission. Clouzot's adaption of this novel led to a classic of world cinema, a drama/thriller oozing with existential despair. Then Friedkin remade it as Sorcerer, a high-octane action thriller that was very different but excellent in its own right. The potency of this story is such that we even got a bootleg adaptation in the form of an excellent early MacGyver episode: Hellfire. So it's perhaps not surprising that another director decided to go to this well. My expectations were elevated by the combination of the director (who helmed the excellent JCVD film Lukas) and one of the leads (Alban Lenoir of the Balle Perdue franchise). In the end it was merely a serviceable action thriller, going through some of the same story beats of its predecessors, but never reaching either the emotional depth of Clouzot or the sheer excitement of Friedkin's version. Moving the action from South-America to North-Africa tinged it with something of a French post-colonial subtext, though not one that was ever explored in any depth.
Wages of Fear is as great a movie as there is. See, I have no stomach to see this. I get it, once you've got Netflix, this version is free, but if I found myself wanting to watch this, I'd just go back to the original.
The Boys in The Boat (2023) When I read this book, I knew nothing about rowing. I really enjoyed the book. The movie is ok. No notable actors in it, but I don't think that's the main issue. It's like comparing Unbroken (book) to the movie...same issues. It's very difficult to imitate the passion and the raw emotion. It's definitely not the worst "sports" movie, that's for sure.
Been watching a whole load of stuff on Netflix over the easter weekend. Murder Mystery 2 - Very short film, maybe not as good story wise as the first but just as entertaining. The Out Laws - Devine being his ditsy self and Brosnan signing up to anything that'll make him a few bucks, few funny scenes otherwise not worth the watch. Reptile - Del Toro as ever nails his role in this 1, as a crime it's pretty bland but as a thriller it certainly delivers. The Pale Blue Eye - Like Reptile a pretty solid murder investigation film, although this one is set in the 19th century and moves at a much slower pace and the crime is certainly more intriguing. The twist at the end definitely didn't see coming. What Happened to Monday - Definitely my favourite of the bunch, highly entertaining work of art. Very original and a lot of creative writing which leads me to believe it's an underrated film. Rapace is exceptional and leads by example.
Oh 1 other I almost forgot was In the Shadow of the Moon. It's an interesting premise and it starts off promisingly enough with the mysterious deaths that appear random at first but around the midway point after she came back the 3rd time round, I'd lost interest.
IMO a sign of the sick state of the movie industry is how there is little to watch on a long haul flight unless you are into Marvel/Disney Being seated next to an extremely obese person (grrrrr) sleep was out of the question, so i took in a classic to make me feel better about life It's so long since i saw it, i scarcely remembered much about it, but I so love the old New York and the train scenes. Perhaps it gets a little uneven in the last 45 mins, but such a great investment of time
Night Game (1989) Dir. Peter Masterson Galveston police detective Mike Seaver is trying to solve a series of murders on young women, whilst juggling the preparations for his upcoming nuptials with his much younger girlfriend Roxy. The murders all victimize young blonde women who were walking alone at night and all carry slashing wounds that aren't consistent with a knife or a bladed weapon. His superior is being grilled by the governor's office to solve the crime spree as quickly as possible whilst there is a jurisdictional pissing contest going on with other local law enforcement departments. A key clue to the identity of the killer might lay in the fact that there seems to be a strange connection between Houston Astros home games and the timing of the killings... A crime thriller with some slasher influences, this won't go down in the Roy Scheider pantheon. Also features a slightly absurd 26 year age difference with his on-screen love interest Karen Young, though admittedly this is a fact that is poked fun at even in the text, with one character even calling him a cradle robber. There isn't really anything noteworthy about the writing, but I did enjoy seeing Lane Smith turn up (as a former C.I.A. agent who now works for the Governor of Texas) and I thought it was another one of those 1980s features that was rather beautifully shot. Was actually pleasantly surprised to find out that cinematographer Fred Murphy is still working and has most recently shot many episodes of the show Evil (which I love).
One Life (2023) Not much to say about the movie besides the obvious. It's a truly incredible and an emotional story. For those who don't know what the movie is about, see below.
L'éte en pente douce (1987) Dir. Gérard Krawczyk Stephane returns to his small home town after the death of his mother, taking along his neighbor's young girlfriend Lilas, to save her from the abusive relationship she is trapped in. Waiting for him in the ancestral home is his brother Maurice, who is mentally disabled. Stephane decides to stay to take care of his brother and form something of an ersatz family with Lilas. Unfortunately his late mother's neighbor has had his eyes on his mother's home for a long time, to expand the garage he already operates on both sides of what is now Stephane and Maurice's property. When Stephane refuses to sell, its proprietor Andre Vokke decides to use the small town's natural inclination to be unwelcoming to newcomers like Lilas against Stephane, hoping that if his soon to be wife is rejected by the small community, he will have no choice but to sell... On a surface level this has some similarities to 'l'été meurtrier', and not just because both titles have the word Summer in them. Both take place during a sweltering hot Summer and gravitate around a young woman who is judged and objectified by the members of a small community. But the Isabelle Adjani drama (for which she won the César) had the backstory of unresolved trauma to anchor it even when it got weird, whereas director Gérard Krawczyk primarily uses this film to objectify his leading lady Pauline Lafont in various ways. The depiction of a mentally disabled man is also very dated by modern standards.
Bottoms (2023) I guess this was a high school comedic take on Fight Club. This was pretty absurd even for a high school comedy and while it had a few funny moments, I can't say this was something I'd recommend for anyone with a child in high school. It was also weird to see Marshall Lynch (yes, the NFL RB) in this. I didn't even realize he wanted to be an actor.
The Running Man (1987) In the far future world of 2017, police helicopter pilot Ben Richards refused an order to fire on rioters demanding food and after a brief scuffle was apprehended and the copilot continued with the attack. Richards is sent to a forced labor camp and a fake story blaming him for the massacre was distributed. With the help of anti-government forces, he escapes prison briefly but is recaptured. This brings him to the attention of Damon Killian, head of the ICS television network and host of its most popular show The Running Man. The totalitarian version of the United States government sponsors this program which pits actual criminals against hunters armed with fantastic weapons. The criminals have to run through the ruins of Los Angeles and if they make it through without meeting a gristly fate they get a pardon. Killian wants Richards for his reputation and his obvious physical prowess. This is going to be the biggest episode ever. Well remembered for its outlandish style, Richard Dawson, and the constant one-liners (although to be fair most of them were pretty lame), but what struck me on rewatching this was its radicalism. Society has changed enough that The Running Man is much more meaningful as a commentary on totalitarianism now than it was a commentary on television then, and the dichotomy of the wealthy crowd / poor crowd actions and its running motif of people figuring out they are being lied to are a rich mine for finding parallels to our world. Richards is expectedly nondescript; apolitical until politics was forced on him. But Killian is a rich figure with lots of interesting interactions. He's a bully with transactional relationships with his underlings, but he takes an interesting angle when confronted with failure. In a bit of a Network-esque speech, he denies being a moral agent and casts himself as an impersonal consequence of television and, by extension, the viewers. Richards isn't having any of it, of course.
Love The Running Man myself. Also love a lot of the absurd little details, like the Running Man home version board game people in the audience can win.
IIRC the source material book was also great - long time since i read it. I tend to agree the one liners are silly - but they were silly at the time. I guess they just became a meme that all Arnie movies had to have.
Shin Godzilla: Rise of the Bureaucrats Ok, it wasn't really called Rise of the Bureaucrats. But it could have been as this was less a Godzilla movie and more about the human/government response. My son and I wanted to watch Godzilla Minus One, which he assures me is the best Godzilla movie, but even though it just won an Oscar, apparently there can only be one Godzilla movie showing per year. And since Godzilla v King Kong II is currently in theaters, the Godzilla of Minus One is in some bureaucratic hibernation. Shin Godzilla was fine enough, but you'd think after 40 some Godzilla movies, the Japanese would find some actors who are a bit more lively than these animatronic actors. The acting ain't much better than what you'd see in Ultraman.
I read it as an adolescent too, but it's nothing like the movie. Wikipedia says there was an attempt to make a new Running Man that was closer to the book (I don't know how close - that ending is unfilmable these days) a couple years ago, but I don't know what happened to it. It's just that most of the one-liners were low effort ("he had to split", "I don't do requests", "That hit the spot"). However, "Here's your Sub-Zero - now just Plain Zero!" is the holy icon that cultures are built on.
Storm Fear (1955) Dir. Cornel Wilde Elizabeth and Fred are a married couple who live in a secluded farm house, alongside their son Danny. Fred is an aspiring author who hasn't had much success so far and their marriage is generally not in a good place. The small family's routine is interrupted by the arrival of Fred's brother Charlie. Alongside two associates, the wounded Charlie descends upon his relatives, soon revealing that he is fleeing the law after a bank robbery gone awry. His presence in the home leads to complicated emotions for all three of Elizabeth, Fred and Danny... Decently entertaining noir produced by, directed by and starring Cornel Wilde. Most of the film is limited to a single location, the farm house, and the tension between hostage takers and de facto hostages kind of reminded me of a similar dynamic in The Petrified Forest. Features a good Dan Duryea performance as the disillusioned older brother Fred. As in many Cornel Wilde productions, there is also a role for his wife Jean Wallace.
Bloodhounds (2023) This was almost pretty good. It was of course over the top, but for the most part, it worked really well. I think the last episode was unfortunately the weakest, b/c otherwise, it was a very decent Korean show.
Mindless fun without any real kind of story to follow......we're told at one point what they need to do and why they should agree to do it but then gets lost upon us it goes on, finding out that Netflix blew out £100m on the production makes it kinda lame. Vincent D'onofrio's character adds next to nothing in this other than 1 moment when he shows off his "alter ego". The biggest + for me was seeing Corbrero and Gugu's hotness on screen. Probably the only thing that kept me watching till the end.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Xzf1YCEkLDI/maxresdefault.jpg Not seen Aubrey in much but didn't think she could pull off a serious role like this. A desperate women willing to resort to crime to make money as her history of offences makes it an uphill battle to land an ordinary job. Underrated film which many out there won't know about.
- Based on the 2015 novel by Jessica Knoll. The film is advertised as a mystery thriller but it fits the drama genre far better. For those that haven't read the book (like myself) it's basically about a woman who's on the verge of getting married, but before she does has to go back in search of clarity from her school years (portrayed by another young actress) in order to move on. We then learn more on the events that unfolded and the details behind them before she finally has the chance to tell her story and landing her dream job. Decent support cast with Britton playing the mother that's hard to confide in and Mcnairy playing her old teacher that first saw how intelligent she was, but the film centres 90% on Kunis.
The Equalizer (2014) Mild mannered Robert McCall's coworkers in the Home Depot would describe him as confident and helpful. The regulars at the all-night diner he frequents would describe him as quiet and an insomniac. One of those regulars is prostitute Alina who is trafficked by Russian pimps. One day those pimps beat her up so bad they put her in the hospital ICU. When McCall tried to buy out Alina's contract for all the money he had, the pimps described him as a foolish American and sent him on his way. None of those people would describe McCall as an unstoppable killing machine. Turns out no one really knew him. He's done so many that maybe Denzel Washington can sleepwalk though a revenge action movie, but keeping this low key is what makes this so captivating. The move moves at the same careful pace as this very careful man. We never get the feeling that McCall is panicking or unsure what to do. He is always in command of himself and his situation, and even when he is only given seconds he still has time to make a plan and follow it through. There was one issue of morality brought up - McCall says that he gave every person a choice, and he does - at least to the characters with names. But you can't really say it's an informed choice. Not that I'm complaining about a single bad-guy's downfall here. It seems to be something he does to ease his conscience, something that is constantly important to him, and it's another feature not common to the genre that elevates the film.
I enjoy the quirkier, little moments in this film. The thing McCall does with the little skulls on the bad guy's desk, or the shades when he first meets the Big Bad in person.