Stoker (2013)

Last time I was complaining that the movie fails as horror, the supposed-to-be genre. Well, the wheel turned (sort of speaking) and this time I stumbled into a much more darker thriller than I was expecting. Actually, sufficiently uneasy that half an hour ago I seriously considered to find another movie as topic, because I didn't have the mood to write about "Stoker". Unfortunately the memory doesn't help me to find something else about which to have something to say now, so ...

Very briefly, the plot starts with the death of Richard Stoker in a hard to explain accident (carbonized in his own car), event that is followed by the unexpected appearance at the funeral of Charlie Stoker, the brother who no one saw before. A guy who decides to remain for a while in the house of the deceased, keeping company to his widow - a woman seeming often under the effect of a Xanax and vodka combination, along her daughter India - a mix between a far relative of the Addams family, Stephen King's Carrie and the living sister from "A Tale of Two Sisters"/"The Uninvited" (as light spoiler for who has seen one of the two versions, this movie might generate relatively close interpretations). Further, in the first half we have slow run, in a very "hitchcockian" style, targeting mostly the build-up of a malefic aura surrounding the freshly arrived uncle (who some say he was in Europe before and some others in Asia, but nobody knows what he was doing there). In the second half of the movie you get a sort of "mystery solving", and I'll resume just on saying that the transition to this part is done quite abruptly and .. how to put it .. pretty sick, even for my level of tolerance.

For who has seen something directed by Park Chan-wook ("Thirst", "Oldboy", "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance", "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance") it shouldn't be a surprise that this is not an easily digestible production. The movies get sometimes to the darkest corners of the human behavior. All in all the impact and the story "solution" which is quite tangled sometimes, puts the productions somewhere at the top of the Asian cinema of the last 15 years ("Oldboy" got an award at Cannes too). "Stoker" is his first movie in the States, and I also think the the first of the mentioned where he didn't write the script. The result is that despite of the above, what we have here proves to be the lightest Park production. Objectively speaking ...

Subjectively I prefer not to comment too much, and limit myself to a personal opinion that every human being on this planet has a degree of insanity, many times latent, about whose level and development degree potential unfortunately not everybody is aware, and capable to hold it, at least in regard to the ones around. And when it "escapes" it becomes quite hard to control ... But it's just a personal opinion, and we're not on a philosophy blog ;) Unfortunately the movie left me with a pretty bad state, bad enough to influence my rating sufficiently to have no idea idea how I would give if I would be objective. I'm sorry but I'll spoil a bit too much. The movie doesn't have a happy-end (don't worry, I didn't say everything). Stuff that normally doesn't bother me, but here I would have liked a positive ending (although more unrealistic). I didn't like it but this doesn't really matter .. (I gave it a 5 on IMDb and I'll leave it like this).

To end though in a recommendation note, I have to give a major plus as artistic product which is absolutely memorable. Everything, cinematography, score, sound effects, acting are so well done in respect to hold on with the subject that I think they reach the level of the best moments of mystery construction in Hitchcock's movies and of the tension build-up in David Lynch's productions. If I would do a atmospheric characterization the result is somewhere between "Psycho" and "Mulholland Drive". Even so, concerning my private opinion ...

Rating: 3 out of 5

Dark Skies (2013)

It seems that lately I'm terribly uninspired in my choices. Since I didn't see a horror for quite a while I turned my attention to "Dark Skies". As parenthesis, I have to notice that unlike 10 years ago when I was addicted to this genre (and I hated comedies) I'm more and more reluctant to it (and I started to accept comedies .. sort of .. although I still find many to be somewhere between childish and stupid). Maybe it's the age = the everyday life stress, I don't know ... In any case, from time to time I appreciate a good horror ... Unfortunately thout, what we have here tends again, at least a bit towards a comedy (and the problem is with "at least a bit") ...

Long, long, looong ago am facut daca-mi aduc aminte un soi de clasificare pe subgenuri pentru horrors. Cred ca era ceva in genul: serial killers, alien monsters, zombies, haunting/atmospheric = demons, spirits si alte entitati, si poate si altele. Personal, in afara de ultima categorie restul pentru mine is in general doar entertaining fara prea mare potential de speriat efectiv. In ce priveste subgenul din urma se mai intampla sa mai am .. tresariri :). I guess that the haunting/atmospheric = demons, spirits and other entities horrors are the ones with the best "scare" potential. That's probably where the number of these has increased heavily throughout the last decade, from "The Ring" to "Paranormal Activity", and more recently "Sinister", "Mama", "Insidious" and others. Actually .. this subgenre has got so often approached that it starts to lose the effect. And to finish this double introduction, "Dark Skies" is the perfect example.

Remember "Signs" ? By M. Night Shyamalan ? I honestly don't recall too much. Just that the subject was something about a family that's targeted by an invasion of grey people from other galaxy. Something like that we have also in "Dark Skies", but approached in a way that wants you frightened at least once at each 10 minutes. More precisely, we have a couple, with two kids, living somewhere in a suburb, in whose house + also in the their behavior, various unexplained phenomenons start to appear (e.g., firstly the family fridge is devastated; I'll leave the rest to be discovered, otherwise there's nothing left .. already the trailer shows pretty much everything). The development sounds quite known I guess. Maybe if it would have taken the already "classic" direction of poltergeist activity the result would have been better in terms of "unrecommended before sleep". But the "more original" motivation for the activity of invisible malefic forces - which is:"the grey extraterrestrial are doing experiments on people for many many years already", makes many of the scenes in the movie at least far from logic if not hilarious.

I have to admit though that despite the script that would have failed by itself, the directing and the way the movie is shot can give you the creeps from time to time. There are a few scenes, especially one towards the end composed from let's call them "alternate reality visions" which can create a pretty unpleasant sentiment related to what the brain can produce in the moments when it gets .. lost. So maybe after all is not the best recommendation to see in the evening before sleep if you're more sensitive (unless you have to work during the night). But again, all these are valid individually without relating with the motivation in the movie. Which fortunately is not reminded continuously so sometimes you can forget about it. But it's enough to remember in most of the cases that it's not about any demented spirit, nor a possession case, not even madness, but just about invisible aliens well organized with a work plan (even though we don't know it in detail). I repeat myself, but the so called "scary effect" for a horror has a maximum impact especially when it's related with something acting irrational/unpredictable with purely malefic intentions (= classic haunting for instance). If I imagine the 5th division of grey creatures, in which agent 57 reports about the "nocturne terror" experiment on the Barrett's and the results obtained following his visits disguised as Sandman (forgetting about the sudden hunger and emptying the fridge as collateral victim) and also asking for funds to detour three stacks of birds to the respective house, well it already starts failing the horror criteria above ... Which may not be bad if you don't want to be scared :) But the result in this movie is that it's not as dark as it wants to be and, absurdly, not sufficiently comic to take it as light entertainment = is as grey as the "imminent" danger about which it tries to convince us ...

Rating: 3 out of 5 (at the limit)

We Own the Night (2007)

I see that in the end I didn't manage to get rid of the 2nd option that I had last time (= still didn't see much this week). Therefore I'll stop to "We Own the Night" since I'm too lazy to dig in my brain for something more worthy to review ...

The movie is another "mafia/police" story, in a subgenre relatively often met in Hollywood, being somewhere at the intersection of "Brooklyn's Finest"/"Pride and Glory" with I don't know .. let's say "The Departed" (although I'm getting a bit too high with this reference). In brief, Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) enjoys the nice life of a successful night club manager. Until a police raid organized by his own brother (Mark Wahlberg) reminds him again why he calls himself Green (from his mother's side), and not Grusinski as the rest of his relatives in a blue uniform. Not that it would be any problem with the owner, a nice old guy with a business on importing furs straight from the mother Russia, but unfortunately the owner has also a nephew less orthodox in behavior (and his fellow thugs the same) who's spending most of his time in the same club. And like that Bobby gets trapped between a family for who he's the black sheep and another one for who he's quite close to get on a black list due to his kindred long arm of the law. How grey is the compromise he makes .. can be seen in the movie ...

I don't have too much to say. I've already made a comparison with other titles which positions the movie quite well. So, if you're in the mood for a thriller in this genre, without looking for something very special, it might be a good choice. We have a direction and a script by James Gray who (although I've seen only "Little Odessa" long long ago) seems to be quite "fixed" on this niche. As actors, except the ones mentioned (not in their best roles), I should mention Robert Duvall (who seems to give some class to the young generation) and .. well .. Eva Mendes (very very subjective on this :P). Except this .. I don't know .. a nice shot car chase and an ending maybe a bit too "correct" for a story that wants to be more close to what you see on the crime news section ...

Rating: 3 out of 5

A Bittersweet Life (2005)

Since I didn't manage to see much this week, I'm forced to resort again to older stuff. And from the more recently seen I don't have much choice - two mafia stories: "We Own the Night" made in U.S., without much to remark about it, and "A Bitersweet Life" from South Korea, which is even simpler as a subject .. but overall more powerful and more original. So I'll stick to the last of them getting back once more to the Asian cinema ...

As I said, the subject is simple. A trusted man from a Triad is asked by the group head to watch over his much younger girlfriend while he's out of town, for three days. With the order to deal with the problem if he catches her cheating or at least to notify him in order to "take measures". Obviously, after not too long, the guy in charge with the "mission" catches the subjects together. But, being struck by mercy (after beating badly before the young Don Juan) he decides to do nothing from what his chief asked if the two break the affair. Somehow the boss finds out, and as result the first punished is his own employee. How is punished, how escapes and what happens after .. I'd rather leave to the viewer to discover. Again, the subject is quite simple = classic revenge story. What gives it a plus as story are several nuances sufficiently out of common to look taken from a script by Terry Gilliam collaborating with Tarantino (other better example I can't get now) = escape from the grave, Russian arm dealers with an IQ inverse proportionally with the motherland surface, battle scenes a la Bruce Lee = 1 vs. 20, etc.

I can't say that I liked the movie story wise. I'd rather have had a different ending. But I have to appreciate pretty much of the rest: directing (Jee-Woon Kim), cinematography, score, etc. The main role (Byung-hun Lee) as well as acting and script-wise, sort of remembered me about Alain Delon in several movies from '60-'70. So, to conclude, overall is a pretty bitter movie and relatively rough. Depending on your mood you might like it or not, but in any case is sufficiently powerful not to be forgotten quickly.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Olympus has Fallen (2013)

I've had a full weekend and I'm still not in my best mood for writing. So, I've decided for something light .. maybe too light. In general I prefer having entries that I can positively recommend, but since the ratings in the end are (in theory) from 1 to 5 I guess from time to time I can justify having here something like: "if you want to feel good about having an IQ above 50, watch this movie". So, in case is not clear yet, "Olympus has Fallen" also falls in this category. Details ...

Not to be completely against it I have give it credit for being .. funny. Unintentionally, but still if you take it as a comedy it can rescue itself. So, let's follow this line. We have him (Gerard Butler), Secret Service agent sent to the treasury security after he manages to save the life of the U.S. president from an accident. The reason for that: he didn't have time also for the First Lady, and the president suffers from depressive attacks remembering the scene when he sees the guy who rescued him. Our brave agent still cares though about the safety of the supreme ruler, and periodically tries to find out how things are going in the White House (ok, to be fair, this piece of beginning in the movie is actually acceptable, but still it deserves its dose of sarcasm for what followed). So, we get like this to a situation that wants to look like an alternative to the ultra-bashed Die Hard 5. In a sunny day, from the East, a big military transport plane (apparently a Hercules) gets like teleported into Washington D.C.'s air space, and cuts like cheese with an efficacy that would make Tony Stark's armed division proud, through two fighters sent to tell hello, after which also shreds the White House. Sufficient enough that the president, with all his staff, to retire in a secret subterranean bunker. And obviously, not to give a bad name to the U.S. hospitality, contrary to the protocol, he also invites the North Korean delegating which by chance was just visiting. Meanwhile, the Tatar Horde .. or better said, their much more eastern followers assaults the building at ground level. Obviously, the president is taken hostage immediately after the bunker door is sealed from inside so no one could attempt a rescue. But, we lost our hero. The treasury agent remembers that he never got a bullet for the one who dismissed him from the lead position of the presidential guard, and his conscience drives him through the bullets directly into Olympus (the code name for the White House in case it wasn't clear already). Since further than this is quite easy to grasp what follows, I think it's useless to lose time in more details.

But still .. I don't think I justified enough my sarcastic attitude towards this production worthy of a 5 star review in the Army Magazine. Well .. I didn't want to spoil the comic situations, but for me the motive of the terrorist attack was quite enough to form an opinion. Accessing a top secret protocol for ... disarming (yes, disarming) all U.S. nuclear warheads (altogether). Maybe it sounds a bit weird. My bad .. I've omitted a detail. It's not disarming in the terms normal sense, it's a destruction of the missiles through self-detonation (even if they're not launched). 4th of July fireworks TM design ;)

Rating: 2 out of 5 (to keep the spirit: 1 point goes to the hacker girl :P .. even if what she was doing was quite far from hacking, but let's get over it)