Films 201702

Ik heb een paar heel mooie films gezien, in februari. Het waren er ook iets meer dan de maand ervoor, om de eenvoudige reden dat ik nu meer kijk tijdens het trainen met de fiets, binnen. Double the fun!

  1. Doctor Strange / Scott Derrickson / 2016 / **
    A former neurosurgeon embarks on a journey of healing only to be drawn into the world of the mystic arts.
    Het is wel leutig om naar te kijken en zo, maar er zitten een paar gaten in het verhaal en het concept. Wat zeg ik? Het is zo lek als een zeef.
  2. The Edge of Seventeen / Kelly Fremon Craig / 2016 / ***(*)
    High-school life gets even more unbearable for Nadine when her best friend, Krista, starts dating her older brother.
    Och. Een zeer mooi filmpje, dit. Coming-of-age, zonder betutteling of overdreven zoetsappigheid. Schoon.
  3. The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years / Ron Howard / 2016 / ***(*)
    A compilation of found footage featuring music, interviews, and stories of The Beatles’ 250 concerts from 1963 to 1966.
    Jeugdsentiment (al was ik nog niet geboren, tijdens die Touring Years), uit een tijd toen alles nog simpel leek en het globalistische internet nog ver weg was. Zeer interessant en mooi gebracht.
  4. Hitchcock/Truffaut / Kent Jones / 2015 / ****
    Filmmakers discuss how Francois Truffaut’s 1966 book “Cinema According to Hitchcock” influenced their work.
    Fantastisch interessante documentaire, gebaseerd op het gelijknamige boek van Truffaut, dat ik me dan maar meteen heb aangeschaft.
  5. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children / Tim Burton / 2016 / ***
    When Jacob discovers clues to a mystery that stretches across time, he finds Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. But the danger deepens after he gets to know the residents and learns about their special powers.
    Schoon (inhoud en vorm), maar het is niet meteen mijn ding.
  6. Creative Control / Benjamin Dickinson / 2015 / ***(*)
    In near future Brooklyn, an ad executive uses a new Augmented Reality technology to conduct an affair with his best friend’s girlfriend…sort of.
    Wat een godverdomse onderschatte film is dit zeg. Mooie fotografie, bevreemdende inhoud, en confronterende standpunten…
  7. Aloys / Tobias Nölle / 2016 / ***(*)
    A lonely private investigator is contacted by a mysterious woman who pulls him into a mind game known as ’telephone walking’. Fascinated by her voice, Aloys discovers an imaginary universe that allows him to break out of his isolation.
    Nog zo’n mooi niemendalletje, alweer heel bevreemdend; een trip waar u zich kan in laten meedrijven.
  8. Low Down / Jeff Preiss / 2014 / ***
    A look at the life of pianist Joe Albany from the perspective of his young daughter, as she watches him contend with his drug addiction during the 1970s jazz scene.
    Pijnlijk, zo’n leven.
  9. Erasing Eden / Beth Dewey / 2016 / **
    A young woman sabotages her own wedding in order to reclaim her identity and obliterates her life in the process.
    Niet onaardig, maar biedt misschien iets te weinig houvast en achtergrond.
  10. Vampyres / Víctor Matellano / 2015 / *
    Faithful to the sexy, twisted 1974 cult classic by Joseph Larraz, Vampyres is an English-language remake pulsating with raw eroticism, wicked sado-masochism and bloody, creative gore. Victor Matellano (Wax (2014, Zarpazos! A Journey through Spanish Horror, 2013) directs this tale set in a stately English manor inhabited by two older female vampires and with their only cohabitant being a man imprisoned in the basement. Their lives and lifestyle are upended when a trio of campers come upon their lair and seek to uncover their dark secrets, a decision that has sexual and blood-curdling consequences.
    Een remake van de gelijkaardige cult classic uit 1974, die ik nog niet heb gezien. Niet echt fantastisch.
  11. Arrival / Denis Villeneuve / 2016 / ***(*)
    When twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors.
    Iets te gemakkelijk over dezelfde kam van het fantastische Close Encounters of the Third Kind geschoren, biedt deze film toch een geheel andere thematiek. Ik kan weinig vertellen zonder de boel voor u om zeep te helpen, maar dit is toch weer de moeite van het zien waard.
  12. Passengers / Morten Tyldum / 2016 / **
    A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. As a result, two passengers are awakened 90 years early.
    Stel u voor wat voor een goede film dit zou kunnen opleveren in de handen van een regisseur die zich niet zo door Hollywood de wet laat voorschrijven.
  13. Inception / Christopher Nolan / 20102 / ***(*)
    A thief, who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology, is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.
    Het was denk ik, van de release geleden dat ik deze film nog eens had gezien.
  14. The 9th Life of Louis Drax / Alexandre Aja / 2016 / **
    A psychologist who begins working with a young boy who has suffered a near-fatal fall finds himself drawn into a mystery that tests the boundaries of fantasy and reality.
    Ik had daar toch iets anders en beters van verwacht. Met Jamie ‘Christian Grey’ Dornan.
  15. At the End of the Tunnel (Al final del túnel) / Rodrigo Grande / 2016 ? **
    A paraplegic computer engineer that moves in a wheelchair and works in his basement starts hearing noises and voices of bank-robbers.
    Onderhoudend tijdverdrijf.
  16. The Fury of a Patient Man (Tarde para la ira) / Raúl Arévalo / 2016 / **
    A man who loses his wife during a vicious robbery at a jewellry store quietly plans to find and exact revenge against the robbers responsible while the anger grows within him.
    De ondertitel had gerust kunnen zijn: revenge is a dish best served cold.
  17. Teenage Cocktail / John Carchietta / 2016 / **(*)
    Feeling confined by their small town and overbearing parents, Annie and Jules hatch a scheme of running away. But as the girls soon find out, consequences can blindside you. Sometimes violently.
    nog een coming-of-age, maar dan minder creatief dan The Edge of Seventeen.
  18. Girls Against Boys / Austin Chick / 2012 / **
    After a series of bad experiences with men, Shae teams up with her co-worker, Lu, who has a simple, deadly way of dealing with the opposite sex.
    Een plottwist die ik al van vijf kilometer zag aankomen…

0 te vermijden / * slecht, maar bekijkbaar / ** goed / *** zeer goed / **** fantastisch (meer uitleg bij de quotering)

(films vorige maand)

Films 201701

De kop is eraf. Als ik er eentje moet uithalen, dan is het La tortue rouge van Michael Dudok de Wit. Zeker bekijken als u de kans hebt.

  1. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back / Edward Zwick / 2016 / **
    Jack Reacher must uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy in order to clear his name. On the run as a fugitive from the law, Reacher uncovers a potential secret from his past that could change his life forever.
    Tsjah. Ik blijf het moeilijk hebben om in Tom Cruise de Jack Reacher van de boeken te zien. Voor de rest aanvaardbaar gemaakt: leutig tijdverdrijf.
  2. The Jungle Book / Jon Favreau / 2016 / *(*)
    After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther, Bagheera, and free spirited bear, Baloo.
    Hier had ik niet echt nood aan.
  3. La tortue rouge / Michael Dudok de Wit / 2016 / ***(*)
    The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.
    Zeer mooi, zelfs wanneer het verhaal verrassend abstract-surrealistisch wordt.
  4. Carnage / Roman Polanski / 2011 / **
    Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.
    Een film die ik veel liever door Woody Allen had geregisseerd gezien.
  5. Frat Star / Grant S. Johnson, Ippsie Jones / 2017 / *
    “Frat Star” explores the alluring, superficial, manipulative, and dark world of Ivy League fraternity culture. An insecure, poor, and broken-hearted Nick enters freshman year with no interest in fraternities. This all changes when his old money roommate Billy convinces him to pledge.
    Voorspelbaar.
  6. Between Us / Rafael Palacio Illingworth / 2016 / ***
    Thirlby and Feldman play a couple confronted by the fear that settling down and getting married means their carefree days as city-dwelling young adults coming to an abrupt and depressing end. Both are tempted by the allure of another life before ultimately realizing why they fell in love in the first place.
    Atypisch voor mij, maar ik vond deze film eigenlijk wel interessant.
  7. Ouija: Origin of Evil / Mike Flanagan / 2016 / **(*)
    In 1967 Los Angeles, a widowed mother and her 2 daughters add a new stunt to bolster their seance scam business, inviting an evil presence into their home.
    Ik ben gelijk niet helemaal fan van Mike Flanagan. Ok, maar niet opmerkelijk.
  8. The Girl with All the Gifts / Colm McCarthy / 2016 / **
    A scientist and a teacher living in a dystopian future embark on a journey of survival with a special young girl named Melanie.
    Het is wel al goed geweest met die dystopische films. Gemma Arterton speelt niet slecht.
  9. Demon / Marcin Wrona / 2015 / **(*)
    A bridegroom is possessed by an unquiet spirit in the midst of his own wedding celebration, in this clever take on the Jewish legend of the dybbuk.
    Ondanks de op cliché afstevende premisse, is dit goed geacteerd en redelijk deftig uitgewerkt.
  10. The Autopsy of Jane Doe / André Øvredal / 2016 / ***
    A father and son, both coroners, are pulled into a complex mystery while attempting to identify the body of a young woman, who was apparently harboring dark secrets.
    Maar ja: een beetje verrassend zelfs (ik onthoud mij van de verassende woordspeling in het mortuarium).
  11. The Hollow Point / Gonzalo López-Gallego / 2016 / **
    A new sheriff of a small town along the U.S. & Mexico border investigates a drug cartel deal that went horribly wrong.
    Beter dan u zou verwachten (maar ook niet meer dan dat).

0 te vermijden / * slecht, maar bekijkbaar / ** goed / *** zeer goed / **** fantastisch (meer uitleg bij de quotering)

(films vorige maand)

Films 201612

In 2016 zag ik een pak minder films dan de 230 in 2015, maar we zweven wel mooi rond de 212 van 2014 (en nog steeds ver boven de de 107 van 2013). Iets boven de 200 per jaar lijkt een mooi gemiddelde te worden, en dan ben ik blij dat ik mijn series niet vermeld. Er zaten nog een paar pareltjes tussen, in december, kijkt u maar:

  1. Inferno / Ron Howard / 2016 / *
    When Robert Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Dr. Sienna Brooks, and together they must race across Europe against the clock to foil a deadly global plot.
    Afhankelijk van de generatie waartoe ge behoort, is Ron Howard u bekend als Opie Taylor uit The Andy Griffith Show (jaren 60), Richie Cunningham uit Happy Days (jaren 70), als regisseur van Splash en Cocoon (jaren 80), maar ook Apollo 13 (jaren 90), A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon (jaren 00) en de verfilmer van de Dan Brown boeken. Ik vond die boeken nog best te pruimen –louter als mindless ontspanning– maar deze laatste verfilming (ik had het boek nooit gelezen), was wel uitzonderlijk saai en voorspelbaar. Binnenkort dan maar eens Howards documentaire over The Beatles bekijken.
  2. Pete’s Dragon / David Lowery / 2016 / **
    The adventures of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliot, who just so happens to be a dragon.
    Vertier voor de familie, goede genrefilm, vooral genietbaar tijdens de kerstperiode.
  3. Slash / Clay Liford / 2016 / **
    Freshman Neil’s Vanguard stories are all he cares about…until he meets the older Julia, who pushes him to put his own fan fic online. When the website’s moderator takes a special interest in Neil’s work, it opens up a whole new universe.
    Mooie coming-of-agefilm, niks nieuws, maar in een wat modern jasje gestoken. Ondergewaardeerd.
  4. Perfect Strangers (Perfetti sconosciuti) / Paolo Genovese / 2016 / **
    Seven long-time friends get together for a dinner. When they decide to share with each other the content of every text message, email and phone call they receive, many secrets start to unveil and the equilibrium trembles.
    Een stukje moraliteitstheater, met zo’n maatschappelijk-sociaal-geëngageerde boodschap. Somwijlen hilarisch, maar voornamelijk bedoeld om u tot introspectie te dwingen. Niet mijn ding dus.
  5. Girl Asleep / Rosemary Myers / 2015 / ***
    The world is closing in on Greta Driscoll. On the cusp of turning fifteen she can’t bear to leave her childhood, it contains all the things that give her comfort in this incomprehensible new world.
    Mooi! Debuut van regisseur Rosemary Myers, en een zeer goede hoofdrol van Bethany Whitmore. Kijken als u de kans daartoe hebt.
  6. Things to Come (L’avenir) / Mia Hansen-Løve / 2016 / *(*)
    A philosophy teacher soldiers through the death of her mother, getting fired from her job, and dealing with a husband who is cheating on her.
    Intellectueel-links verfilmt zichzelve: niet mijn ding. Ik wil al lang Eden en Un amour de jeunesse van de regisseur zien, maar ik ben er een beetje bang voor geworden.
  7. The Eyes of My Mother / Nicolas Pesce / 2016 / ***
    A young, lonely woman is consumed by her deepest and darkest desires after tragedy strikes her quiet country life.
    Deterministisch-depressief gruwelsprookje, dit debuut van Nicolas Pesce. Een regisseur om in de gaten te houden.
  8. Pet / Carles Torrens / 2016 / *
    A psychological thriller about a man who bumps into an old crush and subsequently becomes obsessed with her, leading him to hold her captive underneath the animal shelter where he works. But what will the victim have in store for her captor?
    Wat zeldzame spannende momenten, maar vooral voorspelbaarheid, in deze film.
  9. Martyrs / Kevin Goetz, Michael Goetz / 2015 / *
    A woman and her childhood friend seek out revenge on those who victimized and abused them.
    Een onnodige en gekuiste remake van de gelijknamige (Franse) film van Pascal Laugier. Tijd om het origineel te herbekijken.
  10. Train to Busan / Sang-ho Yeon / 2016 / **
    While a zombie-virus breaks out in South Korea, a couple of passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.
    Knap gemaakte zombiefilm, die (gelukkig) niet echt focust op de zombies, maar op de intermenselijke interacties.
  11. Always Shine / Sophia Takal / 2016 / ***
    Best friends Anna and Beth take a weekend trip to Big Sur, hopeful to re-establish a bond broken by years of competition and jealousy. Tensions mount, however, leading to an unexpected yet inevitable confrontation, changing both of their lives…forever.
    Sophia Takal is misschien het beste bekend als actrice (bijvoorbeeld in een hele hoop films van Joe Swanberg), maar is evengoed een verdienstelijke regisseur. In deze meta-thriller, met een glansrol voor Mackenzie Davis, vaart een beetje in hetzelfde water als The Neon Demon (thematiek en ondefinieerbaar genre). Aanrader
  12. Frank & Lola / Matthew Ross / 2016 / ***
    A psychosexual noir love story, set in Las Vegas and Paris, about love, obsession, sex, betrayal, revenge and, ultimately, the search for redemption.
    Nog zo’n pareltje. Matthew Ross cast voor zijn (de facto) langspeelfilmdebuut niemand minder dan Michael Shannon en Imogen Poots, en de vonken spatten van het scherm.
  13. The Handmaiden / Chan-wook Park / 2016 / ***
    A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
    De regisseur zal het misschien beu zijn dat er steeds naar wordt teruggegrepen, maar zijn Oldboy is één van de filmische meesterwerken van deze eeuw. The Handmaiden haalt dat (net) niet, maar dat maakt er deze film niet minder goed om. Complex, verwarrend, en niet voor tere zieltjes, maar dat lijkt wel meer een handelsmerk dan een specifieke omschrijving voor The Handmaiden. Zeker bekijken.

0 te vermijden / * slecht, maar bekijkbaar / ** goed / *** zeer goed / **** fantastisch (meer uitleg bij de quotering)

(films vorige maand)

Films 201611

  1. Jason Bourne / Paul Greengrass / 2016 / *
    The CIA’s most dangerous former operative is drawn out of hiding to uncover more explosive truths about his past.
    Maar nee. Way past expiry date. Tommy Lee Jones speelt zo voorspelbaar; Matt Damon speelt zichzelf, en zelfs Alicia Vikander past in het cliché. Stop met deze franchise.
  2. Mechanic: Resurrection / Dennis Gansel / 2016 / *
    Arthur Bishop thought he had put his murderous past behind him when his most formidable foe kidnaps the love of his life. Now he is forced to travel the globe to complete three impossible assassinations, and do what he does best, make them look like accidents.
    Had het iemand over cliché, daarnet?
  3. Kubo and the Two Strings / Travis Knight / 2016 / ***
    A young boy named Kubo must locate a magical suit of armor worn by his late father in order to defeat a vengeful spirit from the past.
    Alleen het einde is echt rommelig, maar voor de rest? Uitstekend! gaat dat zien.
  4. The Wind Rises / Hayao Miyazaki / 2013 / ***
    A look at the life of Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II.
    Een nogal zwaar gefictionaliseerde vertelling over het leven van Jiro Horikoshi, maar uitstekend in beeld gebracht. Een pareltje.
  5. Autumn Lights / Angad Aulakh / 2016 / *(*)
    An American photographer adrift in a remote Icelandic community becomes entangled in the lives of a mysterious European couple.
    Zo weird en gekunsteld en bevreemdend en slecht geacteerd dat het soms bijna goed wordt. ik weet echt niet wat ervan te denken. Het mist net die oempf om er een fantastische film van te maken. Jammerlijk gemiste kans.
  6. The Barkley Marathons: The Race That Eats Its Young / Annika Iltis & Timothy James Kane / 2014 / ***(*)
    In its first 25 years only 10 people have finished The Barkley Marathons. Based on a historic prison escape, this cult like race tempts people from around the world to test their limits of physical and mental endurance in this documentary that contemplates the value of pain.
    Fantastische documentaire over één van de meest pijnlijke en moeilijke ultramarathons –veel meer dan een loopwedstrijd.
  7. What We Become / Bo Mikkelsen / 2015 / *(*)
    A family of four is quarantined in their home as a virulent strand of the flu spreads into town and they are forced to the extreme to escape alive.
  8. 7 años / Roger Gual / 2016 / *(*)
    Four friends face an agonizing decision. One must go to prison. The other three must make the sacrifice worthwhile.
  9. Even Lambs Have Teeth / Terry Miles / 2015 / *(*)
    Two young women terrorized by a group of small town psychos seek revenge on their tormentors.

0 te vermijden / * slecht, maar bekijkbaar / ** goed / *** zeer goed / **** fantastisch (meer uitleg bij de quotering)

(films vorige maand)

Films 201608-10

Het is gewoon een lijst, een opsomming. Met The Neon Demon van Nicolas Winding Refn als grote aanrader. Sommigen zullen hem ongetwijfeld arty-farty vinden, maar dit is een fantastisch stukje bevreemdende film.

  1. Warcraft / Duncan Jones / 2016 / *(*)
    As an Orc horde invades the planet Azeroth using a magic portal, a few human heroes and dissenting Orcs must attempt to stop the true evil behind this war.
  2. Captain America: Civil War / Anthony Russo, Joe Russo / 2016 / ***
    Political interference in the Avengers’ activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.
  3. Bastille Day / James Watkins / 2016 / *(*)
    A young con artist and former CIA agent embark on an anti-terrorist mission in France.
  4. Now You See Me 2 / Jon M. Chu / 2016 / **
    The Four Horsemen resurface and are forcibly recruited by a tech genius to pull off their most impossible heist yet.
  5. Marauders / Steven C. Miller / 2016 / *
    When a bank is hit by a brutal heist, all evidence points to the owner and his high-powered clients. But as a group of FBI agents dig deeper into the case – and the deadly heists continue – it becomes clear that a larger conspiracy is at play.
  6. The Mechanic / Simon West / 2011 / **
    Follows an elite hit man as he teaches his trade to an apprentice who has a connection to one of his previous victims.
  7. The Legend of Tarzan / David Yates / 2016 / **
    Tarzan, having acclimated to life in London, is called back to his former home in the jungle to investigate the activities at a mining encampment.
  8. X-Men: Apocalypse / Bryan Singer / 2016 / ***
    After the re-emergence of the world’s first mutant, world-destroyer Apocalypse, the X-Men must unite to defeat his extinction level plan.
  9. Allegiant / Robert Schwentke / 2016 / *
    After the earth-shattering revelations of Insurgent, Tris must escape with Four beyond the wall that encircles Chicago, to finally discover the shocking truth of the world around them.
  10. Blood Father / Jean-François Richet / 2016 / *(*)
    An ex-con reunites with his estranged wayward 17-year old daughter to protect her from drug dealers who are trying to kill her.
  11. Miles Ahead / Don Cheadle / 2015 / *(*)
    An exploration of the life and music of Miles Davis.
  12. The Intervention / Clea DuVall / 2016 / *(*)
    A weekend getaway for four couples takes a sharp turn when one of the couples discovers the entire trip was orchestrated to host an intervention on their marriage.
  13. Breaking Away / Peter Yates / 1979 / ***
    A small-town boy obsessed with the Italian cycling team vies for the affections of a college girl.
  14. Swiss Army Man / Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert / 2016 / *(*)
    A hopeless man stranded on a deserted island befriends a dead body and together they go on a surreal journey to get home.
  15. Stripped / Mark LaFleur, J.M.R. Luna / 2013 / *
    Four friends head to Vegas for a 21st birthday in hopes of finding adventure, debauchery and memories that will last them a lifetime. Cameron, the scandalous one of the group decides to record the whole trip, determined to not forget the fiasco . A girlfriend of theirs begs for a ride, convincing them she will disappear as soon as they arrive. When they get to Vegas the guys devise an amazing plan for the night. Things take a turn for the worst when they call strippers that have them travel to a remote location. Little do they know, the strippers work for an organ trafficker. The guys fight for their lives, but eventually get Stripped.
  16. Complete Unknown / Joshua Marston / 2016 / **(*)
    As a man contemplates moving to a new state with his wife for her graduate program, an old flame – a woman who often changes identities – reenters his life at a birthday dinner party.
  17. Amanda Knox / Rod Blackhurst, Brian McGinn / 2016 / ***
    American exchange student Amanda Knox is convicted and eventually acquitted for the 2007 death of another student in Italy.
  18. Évolution / Lucile Hadzihalilovic / 2015 / ***
    The only residents of young Nicholas’s seaside town are women and boys. When he sees a dead body in the ocean one day, he begins to question his existence and surroundings. Why must he, and all the other boys, be hospitalised?
  19. The Face of an Angel / Michael Winterbottom / 2014 / *(*)
    Both a journalist and a documentary filmmaker chase the story of a murder and its prime suspect.
  20. Captain Fantastic / Matt Ross / 2016 / *(*)
    In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father devoted to raising his six kids with a rigorous physical and intellectual education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the world, challenging his idea of what it means to be a parent.
  21. Viral / Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman / 2016 / *
    Following the outbreak of a virus that wipes out the majority of the human population, a young woman documents her family’s new life in quarantine and tries to protect her infected sister.
  22. The Conjuring 2 / James Wan / 2016 / ***
    Lorraine and Ed Warren travel to north London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by a malicious spirit.
  23. Insensibles / Juan Carlos Medina / 2016 / *(*)
    Set in Catalonia, Painless weaves two stories: in one, starting during the Spanish Civil War and running through to the ’60s, an asylum attempts to rehabilitate children who feel no pain, by teaching them physical suffering. In the second, in the present time, a brilliant neurosurgeon who needs a bone marrow transplant, discovers this dark past when he searches for his biological parents.
  24. The Neon Demon / Nicolas Winding Refn / 2016 / ****
    When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
  25. Lights Out / David F. Sandberg / 2016 / **
    When her little brother, Martin, experiences the same events that once tested her sanity, Rebecca works to unlock the truth behind the terror, which brings her face to face with an entity that has an attachment to their mother, Sophie.
  26. The Wailing / Hong-jin Na / 2016 / ***
    A stranger arrives in a little village and soon after a mysterious sickness starts spreading. A policeman is drawn into the incident and is forced to solve the mystery in order to save his daughter.
  27. Ils / David Moreau, Xavier Palud / 2006 / *
    Lucas and Clementine live peacefully in their isolated country house, but one night they wake up to strange noise… they’re not alone… and a group of hooded assailants begin to terrorize them throughout the night.
  28. Don’t Breathe / Fede Alvarez / 2016 / *(*)
    Hoping to walk away with a massive fortune, a trio of thieves break into the house of a blind man who isn’t as helpless as he seems.
  29. Café Society / Woody Allen / 2016 / **(*)
    In the 1930s, a Bronx native moves to Hollywood and falls in love with a young woman who is seeing a married man.
  30. Tokyo Fiancée / Stefan Liberski / 2014 / **(*)
    A young Japanophile Belgian woman in Tokyo falls into a whirlwind romance with a Francophile Japanese student.
  31. Into the Forest / Patricia Rozema / 2015 / **(*)
    After a massive power outage, two sisters learn to survive on their own in their isolated woodland home.
  32. Independence Day: Resurgence / Roland Emmerich / 2016 / *
    Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind’s new space defenses be enough?
  33. Star Trek Beyond / Justin Lin / 2016 / ***
    The USS Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a new ruthless enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.
  34. Money Monster / Jodie Foster / 2016 / *(*)
    Financial TV host Lee Gates and his producer Patty are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor takes over their studio.
  35. The Shallows / Jaume Collet-Serra / 2016 / *(*)
    A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.
  36. Straw Dogs / Sam Peckinpah / 1971 / **(*)
    A young American and his English wife come to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment.
  37. Straw Dogs / Rod Lurie / 2016 / *(*)
    L.A. screenwriter David Sumner relocates with his wife to her hometown in the deep South. There, while tensions build between them, a brewing conflict with locals becomes a threat to them both.
  38. Road Games / Abner Pastoll / 2015 / **(*)
    The sun drenched days of summer turn dark and ominous for hitchhiking duo Jack and Véronique when they become inexplicably entangled with a mysterious married couple and a local road kill collector in rural France.
  39. Femme Fatale / Brian De Palma / 2002 / ***
    A woman tries to straighten out her life, even as her past as a con-woman comes back to haunt her.
  40. Nerve / Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman / 2016 / *(*)
    A high school senior finds herself immersed in an online game of truth or dare, where her every move starts to become manipulated by an anonymous community of “watchers.”
  41. Elle / Paul Verhoeven / 2016 / ***
    A successful businesswoman gets caught up in a game of cat and mouse as she tracks down the unknown man who raped her.

0 te vermijden / * slecht, maar bekijkbaar / ** goed / *** zeer goed / **** fantastisch (meer uitleg bij de quotering)

(films vorige keer)

Films 201605-07

Niet zoveel tijd gehad om films te bekijken, de voorbije drie maanden. Niet zoveel goede films ook eigenlijk.

  1. Die Hard / John McTiernan / 1988 / ***(*)
    John McClane, officer of the NYPD, tries to save his wife Holly Gennaro and several others that were taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
    De eerste van een steeds verder uitdeinende franchise, was zonder meer een meesterwerkje. Vol sprankelende oneliners, feminisme en eurotash… what’s not to like.
  2. I Am Wrath / Chuck Russell / 2016 / *(*)
    A man is out for justice after a group of corrupt police officers are unable to catch his wife’s killer.
  3. London Has Fallen / Babak Najafi / 2016 / *(*)
    In London for the Prime Minister’s funeral, Mike Banning discovers a plot to assassinate all the attending world leaders.
  4. 13 Hours / Michael Bay / 2016 / *(*)
    During an attack on a U.S. compound in Libya, a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos.
  5. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice / Zack Snyder / 2016 / **
    Fearing that the actions of Superman are left unchecked, Batman takes on the Man of Steel, while the world wrestles with what kind of a hero it really needs.
  6. Enragés / Éric Hannezo / 2015 / **
    After a bank job goes badly wrong, three desperate criminals take a young woman and a father and child hostage – it’s the beginning of a frantic and violent road trip that not all of them will survive.
  7. Criminal / Ariel Vromen / 2016 / *(*)
    In a last-ditch effort to stop a diabolical plot, a dead CIA operative’s memories, secrets, and skills are implanted into a death-row inmate in hopes that he will complete the operative’s mission.
    Dat viel eigenlijk wel mee, behalve dan dat het toch wel heel sterk doet denken aan Self/less, dat… ook met Ryan Reynolds is. Die daarmee twee keer tegen een idiote tegenspeler komt te staan: hier met Kevin Costner en daar met Ben Kingsley. Bah.
  8. Anomalisa / Duke Johnson & Charlie Kaufman / 2015 / ***
    A man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary.
  9. Marina / Stijn Coninx / 2013 / **
    The true story of Rocco Granata, an Italian coal miner’s son who followed his passion for music against his father’s wishes and social barriers.
  10. Mr. Right / Paco Cabezas / 2015 / **
    A girl falls for the “perfect” guy, who happens to have a very fatal flaw: he’s a hitman on the run from the crime cartels who employ him.
  11. De Surprise / Mike van Diem / 2015 / *(*)
    An eccentric multimillionaire signs an agreement to have his life ended. While selecting his coffin he meets a young woman who has signed up for the same arrangement. Trouble ensues when the couple falls in love and wishes to get out of the contract.
  12. Elvis & Nixon / Liza Johnson / 2016 / *(*)
    The untold true story behind the meeting between Elvis Presley, the King of Rock ’n Roll, and President Richard Nixon, resulting in this revealing, yet humorous moment immortalized in the most requested photograph in the National Archives.
  13. The Brass Teapot / Ramaa Mosley / 2012 / **
    When a couple discovers that a brass teapot makes them money whenever they hurt themselves, they must come to terms with how far they are willing to go.
  14. Girl on a Bicycle / Jeremy Leven / 2013 / **
    Paolo (Vincenzo Amato), an Italian who drives a Paris tour bus, has just proposed to his true love, the German stewardess, Greta (Nora Tschirner), when the young French beauty, Cécile (Louise Monot) pulls up beside his bus on her bicycle – and, in short order, Paolo, following some very bad advice from his friend, Derek (Paddy Considine), finds himself with a German fiancée, a French “wife”, two Australian children who call him “Papa”, and his life upside-down.
  15. The American Side / Jenna Ricker / 2016 / *(*)
    Following a mysterious suicide at Niagara Falls, a low-rent detective unravels a conspiracy to build a revolutionary invention by enigmatic scientist, Nikola Tesla.
  16. Manhattan Nocturne / Brian DeCubellis / 2016 / **(*)
    A well-known reporter becomes involved with a mysterious and seductive woman while trying to find the truth about her husband’s death.
  17. Layer Cake / Matthew Vaughn / 2004 / **
    A successful cocaine dealer gets two tough assignments from his boss on the eve of his planned early retirement.
  18. D’Ardennen / Robin Pront / 2015 / *
    A brutal home-jacking goes hopelessly wrong. Dave, one of the two robbers, manages to run off, leaving his brother Kenneth behind. Four years later, Kenneth is released from prison and much has changed. Dave has his life back on track and is trying to help Kenneth however possible, but is witnessing how the highly strung Kenneth tries to win back his ex-girlfriend Sylvie.
  19. The Family Fang / Jason Bateman / 2015 / ***
    A brother and sister return to their family home in search of their world famous parents who have disappeared.
  20. Anesthesia / Tim Blake Nelson / 2015 / ***
    Multiple lives intersect in the aftermath of the violent mugging of a Columbia University philosophy professor.
  21. Demolition / Jean-Marc Vallée / 2015 / **
    A successful investment banker struggles after losing his wife in a tragic car crash. With the help of a customer service rep and her young son, he starts to rebuild, beginning with the demolition of the life he once knew.
  22. The Witch / Robert Eggers / 2015 / ***(*)
    A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
  23. Fragile / Jaume Balagueró / 2005 / **
    At her new job in a rundown children’s hospital, a nurse desperately tries to keep her patients safe from a plague of random, mysterious attacks.
  24. Another / Jason Bognacki / 2014 / *
    A beautiful young woman is driven into a dark underworld of demonic possession, desire, and extreme indulgences when she learns she may be the devil’s kin.
  25. The Other Side of the Door / Johannes Roberts / 2016 / *
    After her young son is killed in a tragic accident, a woman learns of a ritual which will bring him back to say goodbye, but when she disobeys a sacred warning, she upsets the balance between life and death.
  26. I Spit on Your Grave 3: Vengeance Is Mine / R.D. Braunstein / 2015 / *
    Jennifer Hills is still tormented by the brutal sexual assault she endured years ago. She’s changed identities and cities, reluctantly joining a support group where she begins to piece together a new life. But when her new friend’s murderer goes free and the tales of serial rapists haunt her, Jennifer will hunt down the men responsible and do what the system won’t – make them pay for their crimes in the most horrific ways imaginable. Only this time, no jury may be able to save her.
  27. The Dyatlov Pass Incident / Renny Harlin / 2013 / *(*)
    A group of 5 students go the location of the infamous “dyatlov pass incident”, to make a documentary but things take a turn for the worse to reveal the secrets as to what happened there.
  28. Before I Wake / Mike Flanagan / 2016 / *
    A young couple adopt an orphaned child whose dreams – and nightmares – manifest physically as he sleeps.
  29. La corrispondenza / Giuseppe Tornatore / 2016 / *(*)
    Focused on the relationship between an astronomer and his lover, who spend their years apart.
  30. 20 ans d’écart / David Moreau / 2013 / *(*)
    The thirty-eight year-old ambitious and workaholic editor of the fashion magazine Rebelle Alice Lantins returns from Brazil to Paris and loses her flash memory in the airplane. However, the student of architecture Balthazar Apfel finds it and calls Alice to tell her. She schedules a meeting in the bar where Balthazar is drinking with his friends but he tells her that the device is at home. He offers a ride in his scooter to Alice and while he is putting the spare helmet on her, two coworkers of Alice see from an angle that make them believe that Balthazar is kissing Alice. They take a photo and posts it in the Twitter. On the next morning, everybody is laughing at Alice but the chief editor and her boss Vincent Khan loves the idea that Alice is dating someone twenty years younger. Alice decides to impersonate that she is in love with Balthazar to get a promotion in the magazine. But soon she learns that she should not trifle with love.
  31. 10.000 Km / Carlos Marques-Marcet / 2014 / *(*)
    Alex moves to Los Angeles for a new job; Sergi stays in Barcelona. They love each other, but maintaining a relationship through technology proves challenging.
  32. In Your Eyes / Brin Hill / 2014 / **
    Two seemingly unconnected souls from different corners of the United States make a telepathic bond that allows them to see, hear and feel the other’s experiences, creating a bond that apparently can’t be broken.
  33. Goodbye to All That / Angus MacLachlan / 2014 / **
    When his wife unexpectedly informs him that she wants a divorce, well-meaning but oblivious husband Otto Wall finds himself thrust back into bachelorhood, where he searches for the real thing amidst a string of one night stands.
  34. No Stranger Than Love / Nick Wernham / 2015 / **(*)
    What is stranger than the big hole that opens up in Lucy Sherrington’s living room floor? As it turns out, love.
  35. 10 Cloverfield Lane / Dan Trachtenberg / 2016 / ***
    After getting in a car accident, a woman is held in a shelter with two men, who claim the outside world is affected by a widespread chemical attack.
  36. Cloverfield / Matt Reeves / 2008 / **(*)
    A group of friends venture deep into the streets of New York on a rescue mission during a rampaging monster attack.
  37. Midnight Special / Jeff Nichols / 2016 / ***
    A father and son go on the run, pursued by the government and a cult drawn to the child’s special powers.
  38. Signs / M. Night Shyamalan / 2002 / ***
    A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.
  39. The Secret / Vincent Perez / 2007 / **
    A wife and mother passes away, and spirit returns in her daughter’s body.
  40. Scenic Route / Kevin Goetz & Michael Goetz / 2013 / *(*)
    Tensions rise between lifelong friends Mitchell and Carter after their truck breaks down on an isolated desert road as they start to attack each other’s life decisions with unwavering brutality.
  41. The Ones Below / David Farr / 2015 / *(*)
    A couple expecting their first child discover an unnerving difference between themselves and the couple living in the flat below them who are also having a baby.
  42. Green Room / Jeremy Saulnier / 2015 / ***
    A punk rock band is forced to fight for survival after witnessing a murder at a neo-Nazi skinhead bar.
  43. Avant l’aube / Raphaël Jacoulot / 2011 / **
    Frederic is a young man in social rehabilitation. He has just found a night internship, in an isolated hotel in the mountains when, one evening, he sees his boss, Jacques, together with this son, hiding a car in the parking lot. The day after, he learns that one of the clients left the hotel without notice…
  44. Sneekweek / Martijn Heijne / 2016 / *
    Six friends go to party for a week during the “Sneekweek”. But they are haunted by a secret from their past.
  45. Pour elle / Fred Cavayé / 2008 / **(*)
    With no legal means left to him, a high school teacher devises a daring plan to rescue his wrongfully imprisoned wife from jail.
  46. A Bigger Splash / Luca Guadagnino / 2015 / ***
    The vacation of a famous rock star and a filmmaker in Italy is disrupted by the unexpected visit of an old friend and his daughter.
  47. Cien años de perdón / Daniel Calparsoro / 2016 / *(*)
    A group of thieves led by a man called El Uruguayo stalk a bank in Valencia to steal as many safety boxes as possible and later flee through a dug tunnel that communicates the building with an abandoned subway station. However, the press officer of the Prime Minister discovers what the thieves are actually after: they want to get their hands on box 314, property of Gonzalo Soriano, a former member of the government who slipped into a coma after a severe accident, left documents with compromising information. The gang’s plans start to go awry when the tunnel is flooded by heavy rain, leaving them with no escape, plus to discover that the box really doesn’t contains documents, but an external hard drive full of data about important names in all levels of the Spanish politic. At the same time, a fixer of the government receives the mission to assume the control of the negotiations, looking for recover at any cost the box 314 and the information before the robbers flee with it.

0 te vermijden / * slecht, maar bekijkbaar / ** goed / *** zeer goed / **** fantastisch (meer uitleg bij de quotering)

(films vorige maand)

Films 201603-04

  1. Patriot Games / Phillip Noyce / 1992 / ***
    When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.
  2. Clear and Present Danger / Phillip Noyce / 1994 / ***
    CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.
    Hoewel hij in 1982 al Heatwave had gedraaid, kwam regisseur Phillip Noyce pas echt in de spotlight toen hij in 1989 de filmcarrière van Nicole Kidman helemaal lanceerde, met Dead Calm. Hij strikte Harrison Ford als Jack Ryan –ter vervanging van Alec Baldwin– in de twee vervolgfilms op John McTiernans The Hunt for Red October (gebaseerd op de gelijknamige boeken van Tom Clancy).
  3. The Game / David Fincher / 1997 / ***
    Wealthy San Francisco financier Nicholas Van Orton gets a strange birthday present from wayward brother Conrad: a live-action game that consumes his life.
  4. Carol / Todd Haynes / 2015 / ***
    An aspiring photographer develops an intimate relationship with an older woman.
  5. Frank / Lenny Abrahamson / 2014 / ***(*)
    Jon, a young wanna-be musician, discovers he’s bitten off more than he can chew when he joins an eccentric pop band led by the mysterious and enigmatic Frank.
    Lenny Abrahamson stond recent vooral in de spotlight voor zijn film Room, maar deze Frank, met fantastische prestaties van Michael Fassbender (in de titelrol), Domhnall Gleeson en Maggie Gyllenhaal, staat toch wel op een iets hoger niveau.
  6. Emelie / Michael Thelin / 2015 / *
    A couple’s replacement babysitter turns out to be more than they bargined for when she subjects their kids to a series of twisted activities.
  7. The Uninvited / Charles Guard & Thomas Guard (als The Guard Brothers) / 2009 / **
    Anna Ivers returns home to her sister Alex after a stint in a mental hospital, though her recovery is jeopardized thanks to her cruel stepmother. Her dismay quickly turns to horror when she is visited by ghastly visions of her dead mother.
    Ik zag de pointe al van vijf kilometer ver aankomen. Helaas.
  8. Midnight in Paris / Woody Allen / 2011 / **
    While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée’s family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s everyday at midnight.
    Ok, maar zeker niet de beste Woody Allen film, met deze toch wel zeer dunne plotlijn. Interessant concept, maar dat volstaat niet.
  9. Dementia / John Parker / 1955 / ***
    This film, with no dialogue at all, follows a psychotic young woman’s nightmarish experiences through one skid-row night.
  10. Vampyr / Carl Theodor Dreyer / 1932 / ***
    A drifter obsessed with the supernatural stumbles upon an inn where a severely ill adolescent girl is slowly becoming a vampire.
    Beide vfilms gezien met live orkestbegeleiding in De Bijloke, en dat was een fantastische ervaring.
  11. Triple 9 / John Hillcoat
    / 2016 / **
    A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town.
  12. Deadpool / Tim Miller / 2016 / ***
    A former Special Forces operative turned mercenary is subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopting the alter ego Deadpool.
  13. Unknown / Jaume Collet-Serra / 2011 / **
    A man awakens from a coma, only to discover that someone has taken on his identity and that no one, (not even his wife), believes him. With the help of a young woman, he sets out to prove who he is.
    Typische Liam ‘Taken’ Neeson-prent.
  14. The Revenant / Alejandro G. Iñárritu / 2015 / ***(*)
    A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
    DiCaprio heeft alvast zijn oscar niet gestolen!
  15. Ratter / Branden Kramer / 2015 / *
    Emma, a graduate student living alone in NYC, is being watched by a stalker who hacks into the technology that surrounds her – laptop, cell phone, and other web connected devices. This obsession continues to grow as the hacker records Emma’s most intimate moments. When the thrill of watching isn’t enough, the situation escalates to a dangerous and terrifying level.
  16. Red Lights / Rodrigo Cortés / 2012 / **
    Psychologist Margaret Matheson and her assistant study paranormal activity, which leads them to investigate a world-renowned psychic who has resurfaced years after his toughest critic mysteriously passed away.
  17. Backtrack / Michael Petroni / 2015 / (*)
    Psychologist Peter Bower’s life is thrown into turmoil when he discovers a strange secret about his patients. Risking his own sanity, Peter delves into his past to uncover a terrifying secret which only he can put right.
  18. Cannibal / Manuel Martín Cuenca / 2013 / **(*)
    Carlos is the most prestigious tailor in Granada, but he’s also a murderer in the shadows. He feels no remorse, no guilt, until Nina appears in his life and love awakens.
    Zeer sereen.
  19. L’homme qui voulait vivre sa vie / Eric Lartigau / 2010 / ***
    Paul Exben is a success story – partner in one of Paris’s most exclusive law firms, big salary, big house, glamorous wife and two sons straight out of a Gap catalog. But when he finds out that Sarah, his wife, is cheating on him with Greg Kremer, a local photographer, a rush of blood provokes Paul into a fatal error. Standing over the corpse of his wife’s lover, Paul knows that his perfect life has gone for good. But by assuming the dead man’s identity and fleeing for an isolated part of former Yugoslavia on the beautiful Adriatic coast, Paul gets another shot at being himself and, at last, seeing the big picture.
  20. Hush / Mike Flanagan / 2016 / **
    A deaf writer who retreated into the woods to live a solitary life must fight for her life in silence when a masked killer appears at her window.
    Onderhoudend, maar daar houdt het dan ook op.
  21. In the Cut / Jane Campion / 2003 / *(*)
    New York writing professor, Frannie Avery, has an affair with a police detective who is investigating the murder of a beautiful young woman in her neighbourhood.
    Al veel beter uitgevoerde versies van dit plot gezien.
  22. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 / Francis Lawrence / 2015 / *
    As the war of Panem escalates to the destruction of other districts, Katniss Everdeen, the reluctant leader of the rebellion, must bring together an army against President Snow, while all she holds dear hangs in the balance.
    Eerlijk? Dan kijk ik liever naar Twilight.
  23. The 5th Wave / J Blakeson / 2016 / **
    Four waves of increasingly deadly alien attacks have left most of Earth decimated. Cassie is on the run, desperately trying to save her younger brother.
    Allez, hop. We zijn weer vertrokken voor een nieuwe franchise. J Blakeson is dezelfde regisseur die in 2009 The Disappearance of Alice Creed maakte.
  24. Breathe In / Drake Doremus / 2013 / **
    When a foreign exchange student arrives in a small upstate New York town, she challenges the dynamics of her host family’s relationships and alters their lives forever.
    De onvermijdelijke clichés zaten er natuurlijk wel in, maar al bij al viel het nog mee. Met Felicity Jones.
  25. 6 Years / Hannah Fidell / 2015 / **
    A young couple bound by a seemingly ideal love, begins to unravel as unexpected opportunities spin them down a volatile and violent path and threaten the future they had always imagined.
    Slechte karakterschets. Van dezelfde regisseur die eerder al het barslechte A Teacher afleverde.
  26. Little Dead Rotting Hood / Jared Cohn / 2016 / *
    The residents of a small town discover that something more sinister than killer wolves is lurking in the backwoods: first the wolves start turning up dead…then people.
    Jared Cohn maakt meer slechte films in een jaar dan Pier Aspe gelijkaardige boeken.
  27. The Forest / Jason Zada / 2016 / *
    A woman goes into Japan’s Suicide Forest to find her twin sister, and confronts supernatural terror.
    Daar had ik nu eens zo veel van verwacht. Helaas.
  28. The Invitation / Karyn Kusama / 2015 / **
    While attending a dinner party at his former home, a man thinks his ex-wife and her new husband have sinister intentions for their guests.
    Het begint zeer traag en understated, maar culmineert in een mooi einde en een binnen de verwachtingen vallend eindbeeld.
  29. The Girl in the Photographs / Nick Simon / 2015 / *
    A bored young woman in a sleepy community called Spearfish starts receiving photographs of brutally murdered young women. Are they real or staged? The culprit is either a serial killer or some creep with a sick sense of humour.
    Een mooie, uitnodigende titel, maar een ontgoochelende film.
  30. Rest Stop / John Shiban / 2006 / *
    The film follows Nicole Carrow, a young woman who is threatened by a maniac serial killer, after her boyfriend Jess, is abducted in a rest stop.
  31. Holidays / various / 2016 / *
    Holidays is an anthology feature film that puts a uniquely dark and original spin on some of the most iconic and beloved holidays of all time by challenging our folklore, traditions and assumptions.
  32. The ABCs of Death / various / 2012 / *
    A 26-chapter anthology that showcases death in all its vicious wonder and brutal beauty.
  33. Julia’s Eyes (Los ojos de Julia) / Guillem Morales / 2010 / **
    The story of a woman who is slowly losing her sight whilst trying to investigate the mysterious death of her twin sister.
  34. Remember / Atom Egoyan / 2015 / **
    With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
    Goed geacteerd, maar ik had de pointe al door na vijf minuten.
  35. Het Diner / Menno Meyjes / 2013 / **
    Two well-to-do couples with plenty to lose have dinner to discuss the gruesome act their teenage sons may or may not have committed together.
    Het boek was beter. Dacht ik toch.
  36. Blood, Sweat, and Beer / Chip Hiden, Alexis Irvin / 2015 / **(*)
    A documentary exploring the explosive growth of the craft beer industry and the struggles of two start-up breweries.
    Interessant, maar zeker geen must see.
  37. The Trust / Alex Brewer & Benjamin Brewer / 2016 / *
    A pair of cops investigating a drug invasion stumble upon a mysterious bank vault.
  38. Made in France / Nicolas Boukhrief / 2015 / **(*)
    After the horrible terrorist attacks that rocked Paris, this daring investigation thriller plunges you inside the extremist muslim groups that grow inside western countries and can strike at any moment.
    Gemaakt vóór de aanslagen in Parijs, werd de release van deze film verscheidene keren uitgesteld. De fictie ging de realiteit vooraf. De moeite van het bekijken waard.
  39. Le tout nouveau testament / Jaco Van Dormael / 2015 / **(*)
    Did you know that God is alive and lives in Brussels with his daughter?
    Een typisch Van Dormael-universum, deze film. Zeker de moeite.
  40. Schneider vs. Bax / Alex van Warmerdam / 2015 / ***
    On his birthday, a hitman reluctantly takes on the easy task of killing a writer, only to find the job a lot more difficult than expected.
    Heerlijk!

0 te vermijden / * slecht, maar bekijkbaar / ** goed / *** zeer goed / **** fantastisch (meer uitleg bij de quotering)

(films vorige maand)

Dubbelfilmconcert in De Bijloke

Een week geleden zaten we in De Bijloke voor een dubbelfilmconcert: twee films met telkens live muzikale begeleiding. Niet de minste films, en niet de minste begeleiding.

Het feest –want jawel, zulks is een feest– opende met Dementia (1955), een expressionistische film noir van John Parker. Het is meteen ook de enige film die de man heeft gemaakt (op een postume kortfilm na), en over Parker is voor de rest eigenlijk zo goed als niets gekend.

Dementia is een waanzinnige tocht in het hoofd van het hoofdpersonage (gespeeld door Adrienne Barrett) –dat geeft misschien een vermoeden van arty-farty, maar is het helemaal niet. De sfeer in de film is erg beklemmend en meeslepend; de kijker bevindt zich mee in de droom (of nachtmerrie), en laat zich daarbij gewillig op sleeptouw nemen. Er zit geen dialoog in de film, er waren enkel muziek en wat sound-effects voorzien. In de oorspronkelijke film kwam die muziek van George Antheil, en er zat een gastoptreden in van Shorty Rogers, tijdens een bezoek van The Gamin (het vrouwelijke hoofspersonage) aan een jazzclub.

Nordmann (film: Dementia), De Bijloke, Gent, BE, 19.03.2016

De muziek en de soundeffects werden zaterdag geheel gebracht door Nordmann, dat ijverig inpikte op de speelsheid én de donkere sfeer van het hallucinante verhaal. De effecten waren toepasselijk zonder kitcherig te zijn, maar het was vooral de incidentele muziek die bijdroeg tot het opzwepende tempo van een intens uurtje film.

Na de pauze kregen we een tweede droomfilm: Vampyr (1933), van Carl Theodor Dreyer, die voornamelijk bekend is door zijn iconische La passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928), en verder ook Day of Wrath (1943) en Ordet (1955). Vampyr wordt beschouwd als een van de beste horrorfilms aller tijden. (Wie meer zulks fraais wil bekijken, kan hier inspiratie uit putten: Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920), Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922), Psycho (1960), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), The Shining (1980), Let the Right One In (2008) –en ik zie heel wat over het hoofd.)

Vampyr is inderdaad een vampierenfilm, maar verwacht u niet aan veel bloed en lange snijtanden, maar aan een film die, zoals Dreyer wenste, zich vooral in het onderbewuste afspeelt. We komen, net zoals bij Dementia, opnieuw terecht in de grijze, onafgebakende zone tussen werkelijkheid en droom, waarbij de kijker bewust in het ongewisse wordt gelaten (maar niet nodeloos misleid, waar de minder goede films wel eens schuldig aan zijn).

Contrabasssss (film: Vampyr), De Bijloke, Gent, BE, 19.03.2016

Vier contrabassen (normaal gezien zelfs vijf, maar Kristof Roseeuw had nog twee andere verplichtingen die avond), stonden in voor een no-nonsense soundtrack. Het fundament was een zwaar doorgetrokken drone, waarbovenop subtiele accenten werden gelegd, gaande van afwijkingen door één of verschillende baslijnen, de typische keelstem van Peter Jacquemyn tot het voorlezen van de (Duitse) verbindingsteksten die in de film verschenen. De live soundtrack stuwde een spanning doorheen de film, die soms werd opgedreven, maar sowieso aanwezig bleef. Dat klinkt vermoeiend of stagnerend, maar in feite was het een bijna onmisbare grondtoon die een duidelijke meerwaarde bracht.

Het was feest, schreef ik bij het begin. En ik herhaal dat graag. Het was feest.

Nordmann (film: Dementia), De Bijloke, Gent, BE, 19.03.2016 // Mattias De Craene (tenorsaxofoon); Edmund Lauret (gitaar); Dries Geusens (basgitaar); Elias Devoldere (drums)

Contrabasssss (film: Vampyr), De Bijloke, Gent, BE, 19.03.2016 // Peter Jacquemyn (contrabas); Lode Leire (contrabas); Pieter Lenaerts (contrabas); Yannick Peeters (contrabas); Kristof Roseeuw (contrabas)

Films 201602

  1. Sunshine / Danny Boyle / 2007 / **(*)
    A team of international astronauts is sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057.
  2. Dissonance / Till Nowak / 2015 / *(*)
    A genius musician lives a lonely life in a surreal, floating world. He plays the piano every day in a gigantic concert hall, but there is nobody to listen. One day his animated world collapses and reality breaks out. The film seamlessly transforms from an animation into a live action drama, reflecting the journey from his psychotic mind into the real world. He only has one wish: To play for his daughter, which he is not allowed to visit.
  3. Alex of Venice / Chris Messina / 2014 / **
    A workaholic attorney is forced to reinvent her life after her husband suddenly leaves.
    Mooie rol voor Mary Elizabeth Winstead in dit debuut van Chris Messina.
  4. Silver Linings Playbook / David O. Russell / 2012 / ***
    After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.
    Verrassing van de maand, met zeer mooie prestaties voor Jennifer Lawrence en Bradley Cooper –zelfs Robert De Niro viel een beetje mee.
  5. Playing with Dolls / Rene Perez / 2015 / **(*)
    A serial killer is purposely released from an asylum for the criminally insane so that he can continue his rampage.
    Veel beter dan de score op IMDB liet uitschijnen. Vooral de fotografie is opmerkelijk goed, en er zit ook geen preuts gezever tussen. De synopsis is echter weinig relevant –dit ding is een slasher, vol bijeengesprokkelde clichés, maar zo onderhoudend!
  6. Lazer Team / Matt Hullum / 2015 / **
    Four losers are thrust into the position of saving the world when they stumble upon a UFO crash site and become genetically equipped to the battle suit on board.
  7. Steve Jobs / Danny Boyle / 2015 / ***
    Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac.
    Danny Boyle levert een biografie af, die in ijltempo vooruit gaat. Michael Fassbender overtuigt (alweer!), net zoals Kate Winslet. Zelfs bekijkbaar al u niet in Apple of Jobs bent geïnteresseerd.
  8. Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine / Alex Gibney / 2015 / *(*)
    A look at the personal and private life of the late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.
    Welk een contrast, deze veeleer saaie blik op diezelfde Jobs.
  9. The Walk / Robert Zemeckis / 2015 / *(*)
    In 1974, high-wire artist Philippe Petit recruits a team of people to help him realize his dream: to walk the immense void between the World Trade Center towers.
    Er was echt geen nood aan deze bijzonder karikaturale portrettering van Philippe Petit. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is een goed acteur, maar dat Frans accent was echt niet nodig. Bekijk alstublieft gewoon Man on Wire.
  10. Misconduct / Shintaro Shimosawa / 2016 / *
    When an ambitious young lawyer takes on a big case against a powerful and ruthless executive of a large pharmaceutical company, he soon finds himself involved in a case of blackmail and corruption.
  11. Cabin Fever / Eli Roth / 2002 / *
    A group of five college graduates rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a horrifying flesh-eating virus, which attracts the unwanted attention of the homicidal locals.
  12. Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever / Ti West / 2009 / 0
    A high school prom faces a deadly threat: a flesh-eating virus that spreads via a popular brand of bottled water.
  13. Cabin Fever / Travis Zariwny / 2016 / *
    A group of five friends are terrorised at their getaway cabin. A remake of the 2002 film, ‘Cabin Fever’.
  14. Cabin Fever 3: Patient Zero / Kaare Andrews / 2014 / (*)
    When a group of friends enjoying a bachelor cruise in the Caribbean stumble upon a research facility on a remote island, a deadly virus is unleashed. The group must find a way to survive before the flesh eating virus consumes them all.
  15. Match Point / Woody Allen / 2005 / ***
    At a turning point in his life, a former tennis pro falls for an actress who happens to be dating his friend and soon-to-be brother-in-law.
    De parallellen met Irrational Man zijn niet uit de lucht gegrepen.
  16. Room / Lenny Abrahamson / 2015 / **(*)
    After five-year-old Jack and his mother escape from the enclosed surroundings that Jack has known his entire life, the boy makes a thrilling discovery.
    Niet onverdienstelijk, maar minder goed dan de hype zou laten vermoeden. De moeite waard, dat wel, en Brie Larson heeft ongetwijfeld haar oscar verdiend. Ik ga binnenkort eens naar 3096 Days kijken, waarin Antonia Campbell-Hughes de rol van Natascha Kampusch op zich neemt.
  17. The Big Short / Adam McKay / 2015 / **
    Four denizens in the world of high-finance predict the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s, and decide to take on the big banks for their greed and lack of foresight.
  18. Spotlight / Tom McCarthy / 2015 / **
    The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
    Boeiend, maar ook niet meer. Bekijk eerst All The President’s Men, over Watergate.

0 te vermijden / * slecht, maar bekijkbaar / ** goed / *** zeer goed / **** fantastisch (meer uitleg bij de quotering)

(films vorige maand)

Cabin Fever (x3)

Cabin Fever (2002)
A group of five college graduates rent a cabin in the woods and begin to fall victim to a horrifying flesh-eating virus, which attracts the unwanted attention of the homicidal locals.

Regisseur: Eli Roth
Schrijvers: Eli Roth, Randy Pearlstein
Met: Jordan Ladd, Rider Strong, James DeBello
IMDB

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvaqm76Q4fY&w=560&h=315]

Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009)
A high school prom faces a deadly threat: a flesh-eating virus that spreads via a popular brand of bottled water.

Regisseur: Ti West
Schrijvers: Joshua Malki, Randy Pearlstein, Ti West
Met: Rider Strong, Noah Segan, Alexi Wasser
IMDB

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL9REcSH3IE&w=560&h=315]

Cabin Fever (2016)
A group of five friends are terrorised at their getaway cabin. A remake of the 2002 film, ‘Cabin Fever’.

Regisseur: Travis Zariwny
Schrijvers: Randy Pearlstein, Eli Roth
Met: Gage Golightly, Matthew Daddario, Nadine Crocker
IMDB

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A10CG-eXCKY&w=560&h=315]

Wat heeft mij in godsnaam bezield, om deze drie films te bekijken? Cabin Fever was het regiedebuut van Eli Roth, en werd destijds in de pers geloofd als een frisse wind binnen het genre. De versheidsdatum was ondertussen reeds lang overschreden, en production designer Travis Zariwny mocht in de regisseursstoel plaatsnemen om de remake te filmen.

Fotografisch is de remake alvast interessanter –al hoorde ik mijn zoon bij de opening credits virtueel (want hij kijkt voorlopig geen horror) in mijn oor schreeuwen: “een drone, ze hebben een drone gebruikt!” (En nadien nog eens, bij de aftiteling.) De beslissingen van de shots lijken veel bewuster gemaakt, en een aantal acteurs hebben ongetwijfeld ergens in hun leven reeds acteerlessen gevolgd. Al blijft er nog steeds een ruime portie overacting aanwezig.

Maar hoewel het er allemaal professioneler aan toe lijkt te gaan, mist de film toch een aantal (soms cruciale) elementen uit de oorspronkelijke versie. De achtergrond van de personages is grotendeels verdwenen (de relatie tussen twee van de protagonisten, toch een mooie rode draad in de film, werd veel te weinig uitgewerkt), de humor is veel saaier. Het lijkt wel dat door de professionaliteit, de ziel uit de film werd weggeschrobd. Geen irritatie meer over het ergerlijke karakter van de nu bijna afgelikte Bert, geen schijnbaar preutse onschuld bij Karen, en Old Man Cadwell (Robert Harris) werd vervangen door een jonger, saaier, exemplaar (George Griffith).

Het verhaal pretendeert gelukkig niet te zijn wat het niet is, en dat maakt beide films bekijkbaar. Origineel zijn ze evenwel allesbehalve. Het is vooral te betreuren dat ze een schizofrene afscheiding van elkaar lijken, en dat Zariwny er met zijn remake niet is in geslaagd om de kwaliteiten van beide versies te combineren. Hoe paradoxaal dat ook mag klinken.

Oh ja, dan is er ook nog de sequel. Die heeft met de cabin eigenlijk zo goed als niets te maken. Het is een slecht ontwikkeld puberverhaal, vol verdoken morele boodschappen, gemaskeerd door bloedkotsende tieners en een hele keure vunzigheden. Te vermijden. (Naar het schijnt is er ook een deel drie, maar ik heb de moed niet meer om ook dat nog te bekijken.)

Wat mij heeft bezield? Ik weet het niet, en al zeker niet, nu ik ontdekt heb dat ik beide films al eerder had gezien (en negatief beoordeeld). Volgende keer toch maar wat beter mijn archief raadplegen.