strindbergman Reviews

Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday (2022)

A decent sequel with some funny bits

[6/10 · 15 October 2022]

I enjoyed this movie. Not the best action movie, not even amongst Scott Adkins's best, but still a fun watch. The first movie was a nice surprise when I saw it, and I didn't know there were going to make a sequel, so there goes another nice one.

Accident Man was a violent, well-choreographed martial arts thriller film, with some dark humour hints here and there, but the sequel is more of a comedy, making fun of buddy movies, secret agencies flicks such as 007 or Mission: Impossible and the like. It's like a spoof of many clichéd movies but still they were trying to make an original story and not a collage of previous actioneers.

Overall I think the first one was better than this sequel, but AC2 - Hitman's Holiday is a decent, funny, not too smart but not too dumb, reasonably enjoyable martial arts action flick that goes to show not every action flick is unworthy of your precious time. Watch it with a beer and some popcorn or chips and most of all, with an open mind and not expecting too much of it.

The Party (1968)

The best comedy E-V-E-R!!!

[10/10 · 7 January 2022]

I've seen it like 30 times and still holds up like second to none. The story (improvised over a few pages), the direction, the cast, the production design, the music (Henry Mancini in his prime), the photography... Everything belongs in its place and can't be improved.

Despite the racism, the animal mishandling (poor baby elephant coping with all that stressful washing) and the sexism, this comedy is so good you forgive and forget all those disrespectful details.

This film has many curious features (check all the trivia and DVD extra features), and beneath the shallow and happy times, lies magnificent and boldest filmmaking.

I can't praise this movie enough. If you haven't seen it, just leave everything you're doing right now and go watch it. If you like it, watch it again sometime soon - If you don't like it, watch it again and again until you do enjoy it.

I wish The Party were 2 hours long, at least.

Last Night in Soho (2021)

It's a giallo

[7/10 · 23 November 2021]

I didn't know what to expect about this movie, even having read the synopsis, but as I was watching it I realised it's pretty much a modern giallo. This is what someone like Dario Argento would shoot if he were young and beginning a career in Hollywood, and after having watched Mario Bava's classic Blood and Black Lace (1964), a masterpiece that permeates much of the footage from the second half.

I'm glad to notice what some interesting current filmmakers are doing right now, and that is watching gialli and taking the best of those classic European horror films to put in their movies.

The cast does a fine job, the soundtrack is great, the photography and production design are superb, and the FX is spot on. I liked the plot twists and how the mysteries are being solved.

This is a nice suprise and I'd recommend to watch it along with the aforementioned Bava's masterpiece and a couple of early Argento's classics (Deep Red and Suspiria).

Val (I) (2021)

Val was born to make this documentary happen

[9/10 · 8 August 2021]

This is definitely a great surprise for me. Both the story and the storytelling are superb. I didn't know Val has the habit of recording many moments of his long and interesting life, so there's footage since he was a little kid and shoot short films with his family, especially with his late brother Wesley. But also footage from his personal life and his job. The way all his life has been edited and directed in this documentary is also remarkable.

This is how you make a documentary respecting the subject and trascending any preconceived ideas.

Don't miss it, it's a very rewarding movie.

Notting Hill (1999)

A great romantic comedy that ages very well

[8/10 · 21 June 2021]

There's something subtle, some underground force in the movie that makes it better, much better than many of these easy boy-meet-girl flicks. Like Pretty Woman, Notting Hill stars Julia Roberts, who is maybe not the most beautiful girl in the world, but her presence fills the screen completely, and Hugh Grant does a fantastic job by being a rock covered by a silk scarf and a nail to hold on to.

This great romantic comedy is ageing very well, and every time I see it, it's a couple of hours well spent.

The inclusion of Al Green's How Can You Mend A Broken Heart in a pivotal moment was the right thing to do. And the long take resembling the one who made Theo Angelopoulos in his Le regard d'Ulysse was magnificent.

A modern classic.

Thunder Force (2021)

Barely funny

[4/10 · 15 April 2021]

There are funny movies (Bridesmaid), there are movies that are not funny (Fruitvale Station, The Help). There are movies that you think they would be funny and then they're not (Identity Thief), there are movies that you don't think they'd be funny and then they are (Spy, The Heat, Ghostbusters). And then there are the movies that you don't think they'd be funny, but because you've been there and eventually found them funny, you end up watching it, and then you find it is not funny at all. Thunder Force belongs to the latter one.

Spencer and McCarthy don't have chemistry as soromance/BFF, the acting direction does not exist in this movie, the story is kind of lame and weak, powerless. The directing is as standard as any mid-budget fantastic flick, with the same shots, the same camera movements, the same editing, the same CGIs, the same whatever.

I honestly thought that most of the people would be wrong about the negative reviews, but after watching Thunder Force, all I can say is that don't waste a couple of hours of your time by watching this flawed comedy.

Pixels (2015)

I'm having a ball

[8/10 · 31 July 2020]

This is what it is - A fun movie to have a laugh. The great thing about this movie is how they got nerds, vintage video games and aliens, put them into a blender and mix this caper, because they pulled it off!!! I find it organic. All these non-related subjects mingle so well everything fits and makes sense. I've seen this flick a bunch of times and I always have a ball. The cast pulls it off and Dinklage is very funny. So much fun!!!

The Climbers (2019)

Deceitful allure and wasted opportunity

[3/10 · 20 February 2020]

I love climbing movies and I saw Jackie Chan somewhere in the credits, so I sat down with a bottle of beer looking forward to enjoy this flick. What a waste of time!!!

First of all, this movie looks like it's been made by a trashy filmmaker, if you can call them so, a filmmaker. Every technical detail is dreadful - the CGI is lousy, some shots look like they were taken with a low quality camera (such as a GoPro) so they stand out against the rest of the movie, the cast is painful to see because the director did not know how to make them perform well... There are many sensitive secuences that end up being sappy and cheaply overemotional because of the poor directing. The epic feat did not receive equal justice in the film as the over-the-top tone of the film becomes too propagandist and shallow. And using Jackie Chan as a bait, when he only performs a few minutes at the end of the movie, right after the first end credits, it's deceitful and sad.

This is definitely a wasted opportunity. I haven't yet seen a great climbing movie (Everest and Werner Herzog's Scream of Stone, both fine flicks, could be the best ones I've seen so far), but The Climbers is such a bad movie I felt compelled to write this review.

If you don't mind about climbing, don't waste your time, but if you do like climbing movies and you'll see it anyways, it's not going to be a pleasant watch. You've been warned.

Cobra Kai (2018–2025)

A new horizon for the Karate Kid saga

[8/10 · 14 May 2018]

When I first learned that there was going to be a show in the shape of a spin off or whatever about the Karate Kid I was intrigued and thrilled, to say the least. Then I saw the trailer and I was looking forward to watching it, but somehow fearing it was going to be worse than the first two features. When I sat in front of my desktop with some cookies little did I know it was going to be a binge watch. This is a wonderful rekindle of a flawed but marvelous saga. The story is now about Johnny and then Daniel, just the other way around compared to the first movie. And now the drama becomes a comedy - or at least a dramedy. Pros: smart but not too over the top, suitable for kids and for adults who lived the 1980s, the main characters have more layers than the original film series (no one is the good or bad guy, everybody has a background story that justify their decisions), the jokes are subtle but very funny, it deals with the nowadays problems kids have but also deals with the classic topics... Can't say them all. Cons: it's a show, so the story is being developed within the 25 minutes time frame. Highly recommended - This is a nice treat! Can't wait for season 2!!!

Courageous (I) (2011)

Cheap movie about policemen who do believe in a deity

[1/10 · 1 August 2017]

I made the mistake of watching this movie a few years ago, and I felt I had to write this review to state that even this may be a flattering film for Christian people, but as a feature film, this is a bad one.

The filmmaking is shameful, made by a guy who seems to only have seen bad films. The story may be interesting, but the shots, the acting, the music, the editing... Everything is cheap in this film. Maybe the director was too busy directing himself instead of being in his spot watching the monitors. Definitely not a multi-task dude.

I must say I laughed a lot when the main character "dances" with(out) his daughter. It's not just a campy, tacky thing that you would do alone by yourself when no one's watching and make sure to not show it to the world - It's also they way it is actually shot.

Do yourself a favour and avoid this film. If you believe in a deity, go to the church instead and do your share of good deeds. If you like watching good films, watch others, there are a bunch of them, believe me.

I reckon the effort, but they should have got a higher budget to hire a better director, a better cast and a better crew.

I only recommend this movie if you want to know how a bad film looks like, whether it's Christian-themed or not. Nobody is going to remember this film after a few years.

Woodlawn (2015)

Cheap American High-School Football as an excuse for Christian proselytism

[3/10 · 1 August 2017]

I started to watch this film thinking it was going to be as good as Remember The Titans or Friday Night Lights (the TV show), or at least it was going to try, but what a disappointment.

This film uses American High-School Football as an excuse to convert you into Christianity, or to make you feel good if you are a Christian already. The guys who made this film didn't have in their minds making a good film but to make a film about Jesus and to earn some bucks to pay the bills.

But if you are a film lover with a little bit of good taste, refrain from watching this film, unless you are a die-hard football movies fan and/or you love Christian-themed flicks and don't care much about quality. But even then, it's not worth your time, there are better movies out there.

• Acting: Although you may find an experienced cast, such as Sean Astin and Thomas C. Howell, all of them are very badly directed by the team of brothers who are the actual filmmakers. The only one I could spare would be Jon Voigt. The characters are flat, their personalities lack any hint of human complexity... It's just good or bad, no grey area whatsoever. The main character, coach Tandy Gerelds played by Nic Bishop, is a copycat of Friday Night Lights' coach Eric Taylor (played by Kyle Chandler), but worse. Unless every high school coach behave the same.

• Cinematography: It looks like this film had a low budget. Then it looks the film crew is used to make movies with low budgets... And it shows. Some shots are "cheap", especially the ones in the football matches, where the Production team may not have all the dough to pay the extras, they probably had just one day to shoot with a large crowd, so sometimes you don't see people cheering in the background. Some shots, especially the ones after a touchdown, have these low-angle shots that are too obvious. And the shots with rain are just ridiculous.

• Music: They tried to be "epic", but they failed miserably because the chosen score is too epic for what appears on the screen. It's not a matter of not being epic the things that happened in that high school, it's about how it's filmed this feature which makes it too "cheap" for such "epic" music. Doesn't match at all.

• Screen writing: The events described are treated in a very unnatural, gauged way. Instead of filming greatness through humbleness, they do the opposite. Everything looks fake and too easy, and perhaps it wasn't that easy at all for some black people back there in Alabama in the early 70's.

• Filmmaking: The movie is way too long. Maybe if it were 90 minutes long, the filmmakers had some good taste and some experience with good filmmaking and knew how to direct the cast, the film would be a 5 or 6 out of 10.

• Subject: The theme of this film should have been how black people struggled to be accepted by white people through football achievements and with a little help of a preacher, but instead it is a vehicle to show how good Christianity is and how much good could do with your life, when there are wars, refugees, torture, lots of dead people and whatnot in the rest of the world created by the same deity. They should have left the Christian web page at the very end of the credits, not at the beginning.

So, this movie is for people who are not very bright, or haven't seen any good film in their lives, or are too fanatic with Christianity that are too blind to see.

I know the hard work it is shooting a film, but they tried too hard to make a bad movie. The positive reviews on this film are not trustworthy.

Be smart and don't lose 2 hours of your precious time watching this cheap crap. Trust me.

The Absent (2005)

i've been deceived

[3/10 · 21 September 2005]

along the history of cinema, there's been a few films that deceived the viewer, such as hitchcock's "stage fright", alejandro amenábar's "abre los ojos", David fincher's "the game" and this one "ausentes" ("absent"). to begin with, i don't like this kind of films, i feel like somebody is trying to pull my leg.

furthermore, after seeing this film one doesn't know what happened, is such a confusing film. kubrick's "the shining" may be a better or a worse movie, but definitely is more honest than this load of pretentious and dubious situations.

technically is fine -nice photography, fair performance and so on, but the script is so poor i wonder what did the producers see to carry on and shoot this crap.

and this film remarks the 3 guys that wrote the script (calparsoro, loriga and quiroga) are lost in cinema trying to make a masterpiece -or trying to do something to fulfill their stomachs, awaiting for more personal projects.

Batman Begins (2005)

a new beginning

[7/10 · 20 June 2005]

this is a very nice movie. wonderful script, great photography, excellent characters playing... nice shooting.

i didn't see the last ones because i got fed up, but with this one i just can say i've recovered the faith in batman.

Christian bale plays a nice part, michael caine and morgan freeman are excellent as well, and the rest of the characters are quite fine.

on the other hand, i've found a couple of things annoying: the music (too much for this guy), fighting scenes and katie holmes -she plays a nice part but maybe i had someone else in mind.

but overall, this is an excellent movie. one of the best movies featuring superheroes ever, along with spiderman, x-men, hulk and yes, the incredibles.

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE NEXT ONE!!!

Bitter Moon (1992)

eerie life, arcane love

[10/10 · 21 March 2004]

when i first saw this movie in 1992 i found it shocking by its erotic scenes and burn-out love story. i noticed it was a good movie, but that was the end of the story.

now i bought it in dvd and saw it for the 2nd time. it's a masterpiece.

everything blends perfectly in this film: 1990's paris, the colours of the film (etalonage), the excellent vangelis's music score, the evolution of a love story, the roles played by the 2 couples...

emmanuelle seigner is great playing the role of a nymph and a sorcerer, peter coyote is magnificent playing the part of a regular guy who gets insane, hugh grant becomes a perfect boring middle-class british bourgeois and kristin scott thomas her discreet wife looking for action.

one of the best amour-fou stories, along with louis malle's "damage". as rui wrote before, a must see.

Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise (2001 TV Movie)

very funny indeed

[19 January 2004]

i´ve just seen this film once, last year, and i must say i found it very hilarious. timothy spall plays a big role. the way he teaches his new colleague and his lifestyle made me cry (laughing).

in fact it is a black humour film, very bright and funny on the surface but very sad at the core.

i recommend it with no reserves. it´s sense of humour may be thick, but it´s still worth the seeing.

Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

you'll never see something like this

[10/10 · 19 January 2004]

this is one of my top ten all-time favourites. i´ve seen it about 20 times, and i still find overwhelming things on the screen. for me it is a sheer and utter masterpiece.

there is no film alike, or at least i haven´t ever seen a movie like this. music and photography are memorable. "memento", "novo" or some atom egoyan's features, among others, could barely ressemble. but this is much more, this is serious.

i understand some people may find this flick boring, long, pointless, pedantic, void, aesthetical emptyness, etc. could be...

every interpretation of what you´ve read is right, i agree with all of the above (anybody liked the music as i did, huh?). it is about aliens, or vampires, or dead men, or lovers, or a fantasy, or a dream, or a cinema experiment, or the myth of orpheus or about the way we remember things, or just "about a persuasion" (as alain robbe-grillet pointed long ago). whatever you want.

i could write the 1000th interpretation: it is a metaphor of man-woman relationship. one of them is more in love than the other one, so the 1st one has always to remind the other they love each other. in this case, albertazzi is more in love than seyrig, so he spends most of the time telling her she loves him.

the funniest thing of all is that it can happen to you.