Dead Snow (2009) & Red vs Dead (2014)

I've had before Norwegian movies on my blog. And I think I said that they're not really on "my frequency". Well, I've finally found the exception .. a double one = "Dead Snow" & "Dead Snow 2" ...

The first movie follows a "classic" plot. A group of medicine students decide to spend a winter vacation on a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Of course, that's a bad idea ... The original part comes with the bad things that happen. More precisely at the end of WW2, in that area, a nazi platoon didn't just quietly packed and left, but decided to stay a bit longer ... years longer ... as zombies ;) Obviously, I won't get into details, but to follow with the 2nd movie I have to give a spoiler = in the first, there's a lone survivor...

... And the lone survivor has a personal vendetta to carry on in the sequel. If the first film seems to you to be just another zombie movie, with more original zombies .. the sequel is so innovative that at some point mocks itself declaring during an exchange of lines that what's going there can give birth to a new movie genre :). The trailer gives some info, and more than that I just can say that "red" in the title links again to ww2 ( guess how ;) ).

Both movies are very bloody (e.g., we have a tribute to "Evil Dead" on cutting an arm with a chainsaw). Both movies have "outrageusly awful" scenes ( I prefer to not give examples :) ), but usually caught in a sufficiently funny context, that you can forgive them. Both movies have something different to other zombie movies, the comic side which actually works here. I think just "Shaun of the Dead" managed to pull this off, "Warm Bodies" being the counterexample I prefer to give (we don't count "Fase 7" or "Cabin in the Woods" - those are not pure zombie movies). And the second movie manages this that well, that's mandatory to also see the first to catch every bit of what the sequel offers ;)

Rating:
Dead Snow - 3 out of 5
Red vs Dead - 4 out of 5

iNumber Number (2013)

There are movies on which I can say "this will be good" after three minutes. Well ... in some cases it happens that I'm wrong. Not with "iNumber Number".

Simple story. In the corrupt world of South Africa's law enforcement, two cops try to make a difference. Until the day one of them gets tired risking his life for rewards stolen by superiors, and decides to push a bit further his undercover work = to move forward with a robbery planned by a gang, get them caught only after the hit, and "lose" some cash evidence in the process. Hardly, he manages to convince his partner to back him up eventually. But, of course, things go wrong ...

What we have here is a South African indie budget movie, that I had the opportunity to catch at a local film festival. I really hope this gets a wider release, since it's way better than many action movies made in Hollywood. Top notch directing and casting (despite the fact I don't know any actor). But what makes this movie really shine is the camera work and the editing ... I think is the only movie I've seen by now where I really liked the use of kinetic camera for the action sequences. It happened before in some rare cases to be neutral/ok, bun generally I hate this ... Because usually is exaggerated, chaotic, and gives headaches. What I've watched here can get in a cinematography course on how to dose "the shakiness" both as time and as movement direction. Besides this, the cinematography it's overall simply superb. There's much to say .. I'll resume only on how the English subtitle track is integrated, which I think comes along the original movie reel (= was the same on yt trailers & in cinema). The text is not placed in the classic bottom/center, but occupies the most appropriate space on the running scene. At some point it gave me the (positive) impression, I have a rolling comic book in front of my eyes.

Although as I said the story is simple, the movie is action packed + even if you probably expect the classic happy-end, there are many some small details that complicate the situation and keep you focused. I've already gave a (predictable) light spoiler on the movie ending, and that's probably the weakest point in the whole film. Too idealistic :) ...

Rating: 4 out of 5

Enemy (2013)

If you're scared by David Lynch, you should not watch "Enemy" ...
If you're arachnophobic, you should not watch "Enemy" ...
If you're given chills by syndromes like multiple personality disorder or schizophrenia, you should not watch "Enemy" ...

Maybe you should watch "Enemy" ...

What could I say more than the clip and trailer posted below ? I don't know... Jake Gyllenhaal plays a double part, a lonely history professor who discovers he has an identical lookalike in a B-movies actor. As expected, up to the end you'll probably get sort of convinced that the two are one and the same. Sort of .. because unlike, let's say "Fight Club", here the movie doesn't bother that much to connect the dots in order to avoid loopholes (well ... you probably can explain everything as a hallucination of the main character = problem solved).

I'm not really in the mood to get into other details on the subject. I still should point other stuff though. The movie is directed by Denis Villeneuve ("Prisoners"). I doubt it could've got any better on the script it has = yet another proof that the director's quite promising. Besides that I can add also the brilliant cinematography (Nicolas Bolduc - never heard of him before). It's simply put in perfect tone with the subject. And the comparison with David Lynch in the beginning comes mostly from the atmosphere created that's mainly based on the visuals.

I'd keep for myself the end note philosophy, but... At least, I'd like to believe that the movie ending interpretation is that people with some kind of problems, at some point, and with somebody close to them, can become aware. If not about themselves, at least about the effects on others around them. The reality is chillin' though. And .. that's all.

Rating: 3 out of 5 (subjectively ...)