Change Your Image
ikills
Reviews
On the Yard (1978)
Pretty entertaining...
It was funny to watch. My girlfriend and I agreed this movie was entertaining. I have to say though it's one of the oddest treatments of the protagonist I've ever seen. The movie pretty much leads one to believe that Juleson is the main character, and with John Heard acting the role it seemed like the whole story would revolve around him... and it does, until it doesn't. That was an odd surprise and it definitely felt odd in the movie. The ending is unspectacular as well. They couldn't spend a few thousand more to get a proper ending? Felt like the ending to a TV show with a corny "oh well, this is us and we've got to live with each other" kind of vibe that wraps up in 30 seconds with a couple of one liners and a slap on the back. Using modern movies as a guide it's easy to look back on what to change so overall I thought it was a 6 or a 7 for the time period...
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
What is this movie really?
Thinking about this movie I'll tell you what I realized about it. We're basically watching poor John Wick get tortured for 3 hours. Shot at, beat, kicked, thrown, run over by cars, trucks, and fat Russians. By the end the guy is basically beat to death. Is this the story of a warrior or is it some kind of metaphorical journey through the circles of hell? I don't know. To me, it was the story of a man who has too much talent being used for that talent until it was all gone, and then being tossed aside when it was clear he had nothing left to give. I think that can kind of tell you what the story of the High Table is all about, it's the story of the abuse of man. It tells us how the rich and powerful use people up then stick them in graves with happy go lucky slogans on them. The irony of John Wick is that he knows what he's doing, who he works for, and how corrupt it all is but he doesn't care because he thinks they're all going to end up exactly where he does.
Dune (2021)
Very entertaining visual feast...
It is tough to make a movie about a book like Dune which is kind of an odd book to begin with. I can't say that I was too impressed with what I saw overall, but there were definitely some glimmers of good moviemaking scattered in there. I'm sure the financiers are thinking that they'll go broke if they don't Disney up this movie and make it appeal to the children of today who are simply here to breed with one another. Since that is what the AI has decided is meant to be done with them all to keep them alive. That is what humanity decided for itself I suppose. But why? No idea. I'll just say this simply, this movie doesn't quite work. It looks as if they cut corners, and it has weird lulls in it. The characters are unknowable, the plot is thin, and the essential quality of the book is mostly lost. It's kind of like a 3 hour trailer for a movie might be good... This will basically tell you why Dune has never been made into a movie, it's too complicated for film. It's a great example of the fact that film is a powerful medium but is second in that power to writing. Think about how long it takes to read a book like Dune, many, many hours. I remember re-reading parts of it because it was difficult to understand. Movie's can be rewatched but often aren't. Instead of trying to make everything so dumb a monkey could understand it on a the first viewing, maybe they should give viewers an incentive to come back to the movie again later? Wow, that might actually make them more money too. What a weird thought, not going broke and having your studio shut down! How many filmmakers actually end up working at McDonalds??? You don't want to know the answer to that.
Avanpost (2019)
Not a bad movie...
True it is a ridiculous affair, but the weird exposition about the origin of humanity was actually pretty interesting and in terms of science fiction actually among the more plausible concepts. Of course these themes have been explored in Hollywood many times but they kind of tied it all together at a more literal level in this movie. There is definitely a bit of lore from the "Aliens" franchise in here but with some twists. Fans of Aliens will also find some familiar scenery including ships that bear similarities to the organic stylings of H. R. Geiger. If I'm being honest I prefer the Aliens movies as entertainment but this wasn't so bad, although it paints humanity as pathetic and weak.