Ni wa wa

Been running through a lot of movies, not much grabbing me... wait a minute, what's this Taiwanese horror? 

While investigating a house (to be the scene of a video game), a cursed doll is broken, and so of course a spirit escapes. It gets into the wife of one of the programmers (never take your work home), and all it wants it blood. And a new body. Surely, not much to ask for right?

It's always tricky to say what grabs you, but this opened well and held my interest. It gets nice and spooky straight away, and keeps up the weird horror. However, there is one really odd aspect of a character suddenly being in scenes, knowing what is going on and... when did they get involved? Why does the husband know to get in touch with him? ... is this part of a wider movie franchise? (Doesn't seem to be, although maybe it is trying to spawn one.)

The effects are well done, and everyone is acting well. Apparently this was a domestic hit and sure, I can believe it. Will there be more from this director? (First time doing a film, but has done horror before.) Will I find out about it? No idea... 

[END]

Read more!

Martary Oussistant

With success of small scale horror movies, let's try this video game adaptation. 

Rebecca is a new Mortuary Assistant (hey, I wrote the name of the movie!) and weird things are happening at this mortuary. A demon is possessing bodies of the dead (or newly making them dead? the movie isn't clear), but that's all right, the main mortuary guy knows how to deal with that... unfortunately, he hasn't properly told Rebecca, and she's partially possessed herself. So, small issues, but I'm sure all that mortuary assistanting will help... except that isn't in any way relevant any more.

I've seen people play the game, so I know some of what, and I will admit that the movie does have bits of that certainly here. There is the scene of marking down marks. And there is checking for name sigils. And there is weird things... but these are not cohesive, but very different moments. And there is a ton of backstory now for what Rebecca is the way she is and how things fit together and... I know the game maker was involved in the script, but I don't know how much, and wonder how much was actual lore in his head and how much was just pulled out for the movie, but it feels like a lot.

Willa Holland is the Rebecca and... oh, she was Thea in Arrow/Flash! That's where I know her from. And no-one else I recognise. The demon figure from the game image is definitely there, and looks decent even in light. The make up effects are decent on the dead people, and the graphic moments aren't too graphic (but kinda gory). But...

The additional story, the way this whole thing was shot, the cheapening on every aspect that isn't directly tied into the game... this movie just isn't good. Shame, but... there you go. 

[END]

Read more!

Gunche

I was waiting for this to be more easily accessible, and here it is! 

A scientist decides that humanity has gone too long without proper communication, so unleashes a bioterrorism threat in a building that turns people into... well, sort of zombies, sort of hive mind, definitely creatures that mindless attack people and slowly learn to properly organise. Against that is a group of people that are trying to get out alive, and secure the "vaccine" to get rescued, but are comprised of variously people that slowly get killed off.

I'm not huge on zombie movies, but Korea is doing good work in being more than just that, although I was reminded of [REC] and Dawn of the Dead. The ending is signaled so although it is a bit cheap, at least you know it is coming and not something just pulled out to make everything easy.

Lots of white makeup crud everywhere, and very gooey walls, the effects are easy enough, no real need for major special effects here. The actors are fine, and I might have recognised someone, but I can't see a full cast list to check.

Worth checking out, but it could have easily been more 90 minutes than 120. 

[END]

Read more!

Sp'd'r-M'n's New Day

You know, Spider-Man is better at crossing over with MCU products than the MCU is! 

I'm not going to talk about the story because you are likely going to see it anyway, and I don't want to reveal anything that you've already seen in trailers, but I do want to talk about something else: there is a lot of story in this movie. Yes, it's a long story, but there is a lot happening.

It's more like this is a mini-series, in the format of a movie. You could almost see the episode break up "this is the episode where we focus on Peter and MJ" as well as "the special guest star this episode is... Bruce Banner!". I know of people who could do that edit, I might suggest it to them...

Tom Holland and Zendaya have great chemistry together, even when MJ has to play "who is this guy?" because of the previous movies (which are referenced more than once). Mark Ruffalo is rather hard done by, with his appearances being very one note. Tramen Tillman oozes extreme screen presence all the time. And Sadie Sink is... eventually in this movie!

As I said, you've already decided to see this movie (or not), and while I did feel some pressure to get to this as soon as possible as people are gonna talk about it, it's not like that was a great hardship or anything. 

[END]

Read more!

Leg End of AAaanngg

It's been a while, although it was a bit less as this leaked, but now it's actually out there properly.

Aang is feeling sorry for himself and his lost Air Nomad culture, when he is attacked by the Denied (I think that's their name.) They are after something from a previous Avatar, so Aang goes on a journey to get their first, first finding a new friend, and then a new artifact. I guess everything it looking happy for Team Avatar then!

This feels like a few episode ideas stuck together into one story, or a comic arc (which I've read). So for that it is fitting, but since it has to fit into the continuity of Korra, you know there has to be some Return To Normal going to happen (but not entirely). It's nice to see Team Avatar back, but I can't say this really feels like a story that had to be told, more like something for a sequel movie or so. There are a few callbacks, and sudden dips to jokes, but fortunately they are limited.

The cast is fine. I know not a lot of the original voice cast was invited back, but they get close enough that I'm happy with them (it's been a while since I saw the cartoon). The animation isn't quite as I recall, but again it's close enough.

So this is a close enough movie. Not needed, but fine. 

[END]

Read more!

Datclosure Day

It's Spielberg, so it has to be great, right? ... Right? 

Margaret gets activated at exactly the same time as Daniel makes a run with evidence, so it's on for the two of them to a) keep away from the bad guys, and b) get the information released. Fortunately, they are up against the most incompetent bad guys ever seen for a long time, and people who are willing to do whatever you say as soon as you say their name. Yay, super easy, barely an inconvenience!

So this is Spielberg so it looks great. Lovely shots, well composed, great use of camera and light. But, as you might be able to tell, I was less enthralled with the story. No so much plot holes (although I gather there are many) so much as these are the biggest idiots ever to be bad guys. Not that the good guys are much better. Everyone gets by on such incredible luck. With the luckiest of all being the aliens, they've been working on this for around 80 years, and they roll the dice on just two people surviving long enough to eventually deliver their purpose. (Were they aiming for those two people all this time? Is that why there was only ever alien incidents in the US, nowhere else in the world?)

Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor were definitely onscreen, but I wasn't buying what they were selling acting wise. Colin Firth is the best runner up, but even he gives up towards the end.

There is a much better script for this story, hopefully we might see it come day. 

[END]

Read more!

Gando and Morgu

In the exhibition there was a contest, say how many Mando and Grogu minifigs there were (and where they were) and enter the contest. I hope there were zero, as that was how many I saw. Anyway, the movie! 

Mando is doing jobs for the New Empire and ends up saving the life of a Hutt while hunting down a bounty. However, the Hutt's uncles aren't best pleased and hunt him down.

I'm not going in big on the plot, because it really is just an excuse for a number of set pieces, even more so than the tv series was. We get a lot of action sequences features Pedro Pascal...'s voice, and his body and stunt double, and lots of puppet works. And the theme of the movie is...

Here's the really annoying thing. There could have been a theme, whereby Mando learns that Grogu is capable of taking care of himself when needed to, but... it isn't! At most we get one line that is more about their father/son relationship than about Grogu being a self-capable being. The movie is too much into Pew-Pew and Merchandise Opportunity (which, admittedly, is standard Star Wars fare) to actually be about anything. 

Although, from looking through IMDB trivia, this movie is really about referencing as many SW products as possible.

It Is The Way. 

[END]

Read more!