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Pickman’s Model 2022 ★★★★
The artist who gets enchanted by a piece of art. Right up until the point where he starts having hallucinations who end up endangering and even hurting his family.
Nothing shocking, but well done. Solid execution and good gore. And Crispin Glover is always good as a creepy weirdo.
Sometimes They Come Back 1991 ★★˝
The crew behind the King-adaptation looks promising with the director of Jason Lives, one of the leads from the seventies version of the Body Snatchers and... holy shit, it's Grady!
Is it entertaining? Yes. Is it well acted? Yeah. Is it scary? Hmmz.
There seems to be somthing odd about King-adaptations. While I will never question the genius of Stephen King's books, the movie adaptations of his books always seem to be all or nothing. Either they work and the movies become iconic (Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, The Shining, Carrie,...) or they don't… live up to their full potential. This one falls into the second category (together with, say, Tommyknockers).
For some reason, King-adaptations are either briljant or veer towards the silly. The moment you are not fully invested, it's easy to consider the movie as silly and goofy. McLoughlin does not moment to make the scary atmopshere and the acting is too over the top to be scary, though the three greasers, and especially Robert Rusler, show that they are capable of being scary.
Kiss the Girls 1997 ★★˝
A decent serial killer flick, albeit a bit too by the numbers to stick out and the final reveal was a bit too predictable to earn the third star.
Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman were solid leads. And Cary Elwes had an easier task keeping up the accent than in Saw.
Good as a popcorn churner.
Anna and the Apocalypse 2017 ★★★
Title and trailer are solid gold.
The acting is solid. Ella Hunt makes you care for Anna and Paul Kaye is a great heel.
The idea is good for a chuckle and the execution is pretty good. The zombie kills were well done and the makers had some of the tropes of the zombie genre down, like the self sacrifice and the emotional farewell. Heck, some of the songs even had a good hook or a decent groove...
But, at the end of the day, it's still a solid zombie film wrapped inside a musical. And musicals and me... To me, musicals is still that one scene – I can't remember the movie: one character is telling the other to be quiet and then, two minutes later, the both of them are lustily and boisterously singing.
This is about as close as I can come to enjoying a musical, and that's an accomplisment in itself as well. So kudos to them for that.
Djinn 2013 ★★★★˝
What a pleasant surprise.
It immediately started with the opening credits. Tobe Hooper? Has to be one of his last directorial efforts, right? Let's imdb. It's his last? Right on.
It focusses on a family who recently lost their child due to unclear efforts. As a reaction, they decide to leave the US and move back a place called Al Hamra on the outskirts of Dubai. Well, decide,... the therapist and her husband pretty much coerce the main character Salama into doing so.
Immediately, everything about their new home is off. Resulting in an eerie, offputting atmosphere with nods to both The Omen and The Shining. From the ever present fog to dogs keeping Salama from leavng the hotel. Or the other people in the hotel. Sammy and his eerie politeness seems to channel Lloyd the bartender while Sarah the neighbor has bits of the seduction scene in The Shining. The only comic relief being Salam's father. A walking dad joke with a matching belt size. Expecially when he “threatens” the ghosts in the desert. Man, you ain't even shooting Urkel, let alone these mofos.
Having read the other reviews, the final reveal was pretty clear from the get go. And I guess the perspective worked (too) well on me. But I will not apologise for enjoying it and being suck(er)ed in by mister Hooper.
Dolores Claiborne 1995 ★★★★
An emotionally intense drama in which two women deal with troubles, demons and traumas.
Selena, who is repressing them, running away from and at first lashing out at people who bring it up.
Dolores, who knows what she did and why she did it and does not feel the need to justify her actions to people who in her eyes don't know anything.
Two broken women come together and find each other in a beautiful story. The hearing scene went a bit too far in the melodrama, but that is pretty much the only piece of criticism I can come up with.
Jennifer Jason Leigh is solid as Selena and Kathy Bates really excels as Dolores. The sort of great performance one can expect from the woman who won an Oscar for Misery.
Is this a good King expectation? I can't say since I have not read the book yet.
Is this a good movie? That I can certainly confirm.
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