LivraisonduCinémaFilm reviews

Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos Bravo! (A rare moment when I got nothing else to comment at all). Encore! Ссылка скрыта

Napoleon by Ridley Scott Shiny uniforms, snowy Borodino, treacherous Waterloo, all that … but, I dunno, misses something. Sir Ridley Scott has become very proliferous at old age, but the spark of genius has faded quite a bit. Ссылка скрыта

Titane by Julia Ducournau Sadly, I’m not in the same camp as most renown film critics, and I can’t agree with all the accolades which Titane received. It’s an interesting watch, no doubt about it - yet all that motor oil body horror feels somewhat superficial, it lacks true perverse sexuality of David Cronenberg’s (and J.G. Ballard’s) Crash, it misses the beat of pulsating energy of Nicolas Winding Refn’s Neon Demon and and more recently Copenhagen Cowboy, it doesn’t really climax in the brutal way only Gaspar Noé can orchestrate, and it doesn’t tally with the best of Lars Von Trier’s psychos and murderers. I guess Spike Lee, who was heading the Cannes Grand Jury in 2021, was a touch out of contact with reality if Titane was selected as the Palme d’Or winner over movies like Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment #6, a true arthouse masterpiece, or Bruno Dumont’s exquisite France. On a positive side - you see another genius filmmaker Bertrand Bonello playing a small part of Alexia’s father. That must count for something. Ссылка скрыта

A Nightmare on Elm Street by Wes Craven Watching a 40yo Wes Craven’s horror slasher classic with my 11yo is fun, she is a bit tense / but good old Freddie is not scary as he was before for older folks. Ссылка скрыта

Sea of Love by Harold Becker Interestingly enough, before this day I never truly thought of Becker’s Sea of Love as a direct precursor to Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct - yet watching it now, the similarities (and the differences as well) become quite apparent, with plot, characters, sexual tension, you name it. I’d even call it Basic Instinct in New York and with less beautiful people, as Al Pacino is shabby and somewhat run down, and Ellen Barkin is no Catherine Tramell either, but they do the job nicely. And (what would’ve been a wink to Psycho), I kinda was waiting for an old lady with a gun in lieu of a long sharpened knife. One general observation - I keep rewatching a handful of neo noir thrillers from the 80s and the 90s, be it Sea of Love or Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill or Body Double - and man, haven’t they aged better than a respectable first or second growths, the acting, the dialog and the erotic tension remained untouched through the years, like the acidity holding a good wine together - but the cheesy looks, hairdos, fashion style, certain plot twists, even some music - finally, they do look nostalgic and/or classy. Ссылка скрыта

Gorky Park by Michael Apted A good period drama about the USSR, with William Hurt leading the performance - maybe a notch cardboard at time (well, they were not allowed to shoot anything in Soviet Union), but very meticulously detailed. Fun to watch 40+ years after its release, that’s a very good sign. Ссылка скрыта

The Voyeurs by Michael Mohan An erotic thriller in the style of crime stories of the early 1990s - many critics claimed that it was inferior to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window or Brian De Palma’s Body Double, but I guess the most adequate comparison is to Sliver by Phillip Noyce, and The Voyeurs are much much better. Yeah, I know, the plot turns a tad less realistic towards the end, but it sure didn’t steal the enjoyment of the first three quarters of the movie - and I kinda liked the ophthalmology twist, reminded me of Takashi Miike styled wickedness. Plus, Sydney Sweeney, after both this movie and Nocturne, which is the only awesome Welcome to the Blumhouse flick, she’s very good with creepy stuff, I gotta admit that. Ссылка скрыта

Reptile by Grant Singer Dark, eerie crime film by Grant Singer, a music videos director I never heard of, very well executed and paced, and as the best of them all, leaving some knots untied. Gory. Think True Detective with Benicio del Toro in the lead. Further movies by Singer on my watch list. Ссылка скрыта

Suspiria by Dario Argento A magical feast of sight and sound, remastered version of Suspiria in bright stroboscopic colors is nothing short of breathtaking. Alice in spooky Wonderland, Red Riding Hood trying not to be eaten by big bad wolves, Snow White who hasn’t tasted the poisoned apple yet, though she tried some spiked red wine … a beautiful giallo fairytale, and the pulsating sensation which this film evokes remains intact in almost 50 years since its release in 1977. Also, it is clear as day as you watch it that both David Lynch and Nicolas Winding Refn owe to Argento and Suspiria more than I previously attributed. A perennial cult classic, so grand that you can and should safely savor it more than once in your lifetime. Rewatching the rest of The Three Mothers soon. Ссылка скрыта