Change Your Image
badlydrawnhamster
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
Molli and Max in the Future (2023)
One of the best Sci-fi comedies I've seen in years, if not decades.
I caught this today at the London Film Festival and went in blind, not really knowing anything about it other than that it's been described as a sci-fi When Harry Met Sally. It's so much more than that though, but I don't want to risk spoiling the movie too much by explaining why, so all I will say is that this is a film which is incredibly inventive, and you can see it's a real labour of love as it's so playful and imaginative.
Best of all is the central romance however, and I say that as a die hard sci-fi / fantasy fan who loved the visual elements of the film. The central couple are given dialogue that made me laugh out loud an awful lot, and the performances are so strong that I fell in love with the characters very early on.
I'm a little wary of over praising this to the extent that people might have really high expectations of it, but despite that I can't help myself, and I had so much fun watching this movie that half way through I realised I was grinning inanely, and that didn't stop until the lights went up after the credits.
This is a low budget film so anyone going in expecting Marvel style cgi might be a little disappointed, but in many ways the lo-fi style and occasional stop motion sequences makes it all the more delightful, and as you can tell, I was well and truly charmed by this gem of a movie.
L'origine du monde (2020)
One of the best comedies made in ages.
An adaptation of an apparently very well known play which was inspired by the famous painting of the same name, this is now on Netflix but I hope that doesn't potentially put anyone off, and I think they just bought the distribution rights anyway. It centres around how fortysomething lawyer Jean-Louis one day notices that his heart has stopped beating, and after consulting a vet friend and speaking to his wife's lifestyle guru Margaux, he believes he has three days to either see or take a picture of his elderly mother's vagina or he will die.
Despite the fantastical set up it's grounded in reality, as it mixes farce with a hint of comedy of manners and makes a fair few observations about the lives of these individuals, and it plays out perfectly, this is one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time. In a very slight, minor way, it occasionally reminded me of a French version of Seinfeld, albeit without a Kramer type figure, and not just because one of the characters looks a little George-esque, and that's meant as a compliment of the highest order too as the three main leads do their very best to carry out the ridiculous plans they devise.
It's best watched going in knowing as little as possible so I'd avoid the trailer, and I really think this is an absolute must see, I know that my overhyping it might lead to high expectations but I'd be very surprised if this doesn't make it in to my Top 10 favourite films of the year come the end of December.
Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)
A great slice of turn off your brain and enjoy the mayhem kind of silliness
Karen Gillan's one of those violent types who goes around killing people like John Wick and whatever Bob Odenkirk was called in Nobody (I'm presuming it was Mr Nobody, but I could be wrong), in this very stylish, very fun movie. At 114 odd minutes it's overlong and takes a little while to get going but once it does it's enormously entertaining, the violence is inventive and nicely stylish, the rest of the cast (including Lena Headey, Paul Giamatti, Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh, Carla Gugino and Ralph Ineson) are all great, and this is a great slice of turn off your brain and enjoy the mayhem kind of silliness. 7.8/10.
The Sticky Fingers of Time (1997)
A film that starts well but fails to deliver
A low budget time travel thriller which partially feels Hal Hartley-esque due to some of the dialogue, score and a fairly meaty role for Hartley regular James Urbaniak, it starts very strongly but starts to flounder around the half way point. One of the actors the film centres around is unfortunately quite poor, and though Urbaniak's on form he can't save it from disappointing as it never delivers on the initial promise shown, and the ending is bland, all meaning that while I'd initially enjoyed it I ultimately felt pretty frustrated by it.
Seungriho (2021)
Engaging and fun if a little Star Wars-esque
A South Korean sci-fi film where the earth is dying, the elite live in paradise in a huge space station above the Earth, and Mars is due to be colonised. There's a problem with space debris and all the crappy old non-functioning satellites flying about though so the poor are employed to clean up space even though it's dangerous and pays badly. In to this comes a gang of reprobates, supposedly with no moral code, who discover a robot who looks like a young child who had previously been stolen by terrorists, and rather than hand it in to the police they bargain with its owner. But then it turns out to be a super magical mix of human being and nanobots, and they all become fond of it, much to the annoyance of Richard Armitage's very over the top but still amusing villain, in this film which might not be the most original thing in the world, and some of the action scenes are highly reminiscent of Star Wars, but it is an engaging watch that I liked a good deal. I'm not overly impressed with the very final couple of minutes and certain aspects feel like a cop out, but overall this is pretty damn thrilling and likeable stuff.
Jigoku (1960)
A bizarre, unusual Japanese horror film
Japanese strangeness where Shiro is involved in a hit and run accident when friend Tamura refuses to stop after hitting a drunk Yazuka member, but later on the way to the police station to confess Shiro and his girlfriend are in a car crash with the latter dying. This is only the start of terrible times for the poor sod however, and when he visits his dying mother he meets his girlfriend's doppelganger, his father's mistress, the corrupt owners of the old people's home his parents reside in, and Tamura keeps on turning up at the worst possible time, full of impossible knowledge, and soon the body count leaps through the roof. The final forty odd minutes are then even more insane as everyone is subjected to the horrors of hell in an astonishingly surreal sequence that I imagine could well have inspired David Lynch, the first hour saw it hovering around the 6.5/10 mark but it gains a full point for the final act which is gloriously deranged.
Satanic (2016)
Slow, tedious and a contender for the most irritating film ever made.
Modern Family's Sarah Hyland has friends who are the most annoying idiots ever seen on screen, and after getting involved with a satanist eventually die. 95% of the film is either the characters being arrogant and talking absolute nonsense, or mopey and tedious, and then there deaths take place off screen so we don't even get to enjoy watching them painfully die. One of the worst films I've ever seen and not even fun to mock, it's so bad I think I hate everyone involved in the making of the film and hope they never work again.
South Park: The Scoots (2018)
One of the best episodes in a long time.
For a while I was thinking it might be time for South Park and I to part ways. We've had a lot of great times together and it's made me laugh an enormous amount, but this year I found myself not really gelling with the show anymore. And then "The Scoots" came along and reignited my love for the series.
It begins with narration from an older version of Kenny, in a parody of the recent adaptation of Stephen King's It, as we learn that this year Halloween was going to be different and would change them all. Mocking the way Scooters recently caused havoc in San Francisco, E-scooters suddenly appear all over South Park which everyone can use, like the Boris Bikes of Old London Town, and the gang are excited as they can use them when going trick or treating and get around faster than ever. But Mr Mackey is disturbed by their sudden appearance and wants to know where they came from, taking an instant dislike to them as he rants "I just think people should drive, okay, I don't think people should scoot, I hope the future isn't just scooting". It's made all the funnier by the fact that more and more materialise around him, with people on them crashing in to him, as an angry Mr Mackey is always the character at his best.
Kenny gets to do something for the first time in ages as well, with the gang telling him that as he doesn't have a phone to register a scooter he's going to slow them down so he should go with someone else. It's a surprisingly touching moment but then a gloriously funny one when Cartman tells him "I always told you one day that being poor was going to catch up with you, you didn't want to listen, you just kept on being poor", and he's rejected by other kids as well who have the same idea. When it turns out all the kids are planning to do this the parents gather together and panic and so it's announced that each household needs to be prepared with "at least six thousand dollars worth of candy". Cue Mr Mackey giving a big speech in an attempt to rally everyone together, which with this being South Park of course fails with the towns folk panic buying candy instead.
It's an episode filled with many highlights, including when Stan discovers the scooters need a credit card and Cartman says "Do you want to use your mum's or my mum's?", with Cartman knowing Liane's off by heart. Also great is when Mr Mackey takes all the scooters away and throws them off a cliff, it's an episode which for once contains some alluring visuals as the scenes are mostly in silhouette, and then it becomes even funnier when the next morning he awakes and finds them in his house and once again all over the town. There's also some beautiful scenes where all of the kids are in their Halloween costumes angrily staring each other out, which again visually is a delight.
Kenny gets to be the hero of the piece which is lovely to see, as when he goes to Mr Mackey for counselling the two team up when Kenny tells him that you can't use the scooters without a phone and it gives them an idea on how to save the day. I don't think the two characters have teamed up before (but could be wrong, my memory isn't what it was) but it works effectively, and there's a lovely line about how Kenny is often forgotten with Mr Mackey making a great case as to why this is something of a shame. From that point on in it gets better and better in what's already a fantastic episode, the moment where the kids all fight for scooters and descend upon the houses is almost painfully funny, with Cartman's statement "We have to get more candy than everyone else, even if we die" being the icing on this particularly gorgeous cake. There's even a (sort of) appearance of Jason Voorhees, and an ending which left me grinning a ridiculous amount.
I'm so glad to finally like a new episode of South Park after all this time, both plot lines are really effective and merge together splendidly, and it's a story without any heavy moral message, it's just kids being kids and a bunch of characters doing stupid things which is always when I think the show is at it's best. It plays with various horror tropes in a delightful manner and is easily the most packed with jokes and appealing visual gags episode we've had in a long time, and it makes me wish they'd drop the topical element and stick to such joyful idiocy. It's doubtful that this will happen but the episode shows that Parker and Stone are still more than capable of making great comedy, and so I plan to stick with the show for a good while yet.
Stan Against Evil (2016)
It's good, but not quite as good as it should be.
I've struggled with Stan Against Evil in the past, I've wanted to like it as the concept appeals and I'm very fond of the two leads, John C. McGinley and Janet Varney are good value in every episode, but it felt a bit too by the numbers and the monster of the week episodes were always rather a tad predictable. It also came off second best when compared to Ash Vs Evil Dead which was far more inventive and playful when it came to over the top comedy horror. So I've missed the odd episode over the past two seasons (despite their only being eight each time) but tuned in to the season 2 finale as I heard it was a strong one.
In it Stan attempts to travel back in time to save the life of his dead wife Claire, and whilst Evie discovers it appears to work as she turns up at Stan's house to find Claire alive, Stan himself turns out to have been deceased for a year so Evie has to travel back in time herself to save him. This leads to Leon (Nate Moody) being decapitated, and a touching reunion between Stan and Claire, but despite their best efforts they're unable to save her life. I'm not quite sure how this adds up as we saw her alive in the revised time line, and Evie didn't turn up on the scene until after she'd been killed, and adding to the confusion when they return to the present day Evie thinks Leon might be alive despite the fact that she saw his head separated from the rest of his body. I was willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt and presumed they'd answer such questions in the next episode, but unfortunately that isn't the case.
Instead the series is preoccupied with the fact that when they returned to the present everything has gone terrible wrong, with hell having taken over Earth. The first four minutes of the new episode are a recap of the previous two episodes which is a bit much considering it's only a 21 minutes show, but I guess they're hoping new viewers might be along for the ride so I'll forgive them this time but I hope it's not a regular feature of the series. After that we pick up straight away from the previous season's cliffhanger with Evie attacked by a demon who she quickly dispatches. But then Leon turns up and arrests her and it's revealed that she actually killed Stan and so ends up in a psychiatric hospital, which is always the kind of plotline I hate the most in supernatural shows. At least they don't spend too much time there, and it's explained that they're trapped in their own versions of Hell with Stan looking like a demon to everyone he meets. The whole thing is resolved with ease though, and in a way which isn't that satisfying either.
There are a good few things to like about the episode, the jovial doctor who treats Evie produces some strong laughs, and Stan's dialogue is amusing from time to time, but it's without a doubt still a flawed piece. Leon as always is a little too dumb, a little too idiotic for my liking given that he passed police training (and I've seen all of the Police Academy films so know how difficult that is) and it's a frustrating element and a real shame they went down this particular road with the character. And as mentioned, plot wise everything's resolved a little too quickly and it doesn't feel like the characters have done enough to save the world. It is hinted at that this storyline isn't yet over so I'm willing to give the show a chance, but I really hope it ups it's game in the third season or I may well find myself once again only watching it from time to time.
Afternoon Delight (2013)
A dull, self-indulgent film
I've previously been a big fan of the director's work, The United States of Tara and Six Feet Under especially, but this is a tiresome piece which doesn't really go anywhere. Or anywhere interesting, at least.
Bored housewife Rachel (Kathryn Hahn) seems to be trudging through every day life without taking much pleasure in it until she meets a stripper with a heart of gold (or so it seems at first) and invites her in to her home. After discovering that said stripper is also a sex worker she becomes more obsessed with her, until, inevitably, events take a darker turn.
The first half hour of the movie is fairly amusing and well written, albeit with thinly sketched characters that it's hard to care about. But after that the film is painfully self-indulgent, predictable, and transforms in to a tedious mumblecore flick where we're supposed to care for the central leads despite them having no depth at all. An incredibly over long and agonisingly dull party scene seems to go on forever and from that point on everything is hit home with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, until the film eventually ends and you'll wonder why it couldn't all have been summed up within 45 minutes.
Centering around the idea that "You don't appreciate what you've got until you've lost it", it could be of interest if it wasn't for the badly drawn characters and frustratingly predictable plot developments, that ultimately lead to an ending you'll have seen coming a mile off. It's a real shame as the first thirty minutes show promise, but it truly fails to deliver on it.
The Revenant (2009)
Deserves To Be A Huge Cult Classic
Despite winning a lot of awards at various festivals (check out the wiki page for the impressive full list), The Revenant was frustratingly not given a proper release for far too long.
It deserves to become a cult classic (in the best sense of the phrase) though as it's a very intelligently written new take on the zombie genre, something with a lot of genuinely fascinating ideas which are explored beautifully. Ultimately a horror film with a comedic edge, it has a lot of fun with it's concept, whilst still managing to pull off some truly horrible scenes. Yet it's also got a very strong emotional core, and certain moments are surprisingly tender and touching.
I won't say much more as part of the fun is seeing how the film develops, but ultimately I loved this and would really recommend it to any film fan - and not just those in to horror films.
The Sorcerers (1967)
Intriguing stuff
Warning: Mild spoilers below.
I was intrigued by the premise of this, as it's a fairly odd film, in which a professor and his wife have perfected a machine which allows them to hypnotise and then control someone. They lure Ian Ogilvy in to being their first test subject, and it allows them to control him even when he's not near them, and feel and see everything he experiences.
At first it's quite an interesting exploration of sixties life, with the elderly couple enjoying the thrill of living life through Ogilvy's eyes, but soon they become more and more obsessed with controlling him. At this point there's a nice bit of social commentary going on too (especially concerning the disenchantment of 'the youth' of the sixties, and how long such a golden age could possibly continue), but the second half becomes a disturbing horror flick as the wife suddenly becomes excited and obsessed by the ability to force Ogilvy to commit acts of violence. Her mind's stronger than her husband's it seems, and so he's unable to stop her - especially when she physically stops him from trying too.
The first half is a really quite enjoyable if slightly flimsy piece of cinema, but the second half is what makes it pretty unique, as it becomes much much more darker as the wife forces Ogilvy to kill time and time again. The interplay between Karloff and his wife is great, and the ending's fittingly neat too. Perhaps it's not quite the insight in to voyeurism / obsession that Michael Powell's Peeping Tom is, but it's certainly got a lot going for it with a sharp script, great acting (especially from Karloff) and some interesting imagery and choices of camera angles too.
So The Sorcerer's perhaps by no means a classic, but it's definitely an intriguing film, and it gets 7/10 from me.
Crimewave (1985)
A great cult classic
I'm a huge fan of the Coen Brothers, well, up until Intolerable Cruelty, and Raimi as well, and think this is one of the best films all three have been involved in.
Admittedly Crimewave won't be to everyone's tastes, but it is a great, unpredictable slapstick comedy with some fantastically funny dialogue, and truly bizarre moments in it.
Bruce Campbell's superb in a cameo role, showing how adept he was at diverse roles long before his recent 'comeback' in Bubba Ho-Tep, Paul L Smith is a truly frightening villain, and even Reed Birney's great, though sadly his career seemed to falter after this.
If you like your films to be unusual, entertaining, and ones that you'll want to watch again, then Crimewave's definitely for you!