John Carpenter has always been about transcending what ever form of storytelling he pursued. Even when paying homage toWesterns or remaking something like “Village of the Damned,” Carpenter never approaches it conventionally. With “In the Mouth of Madness,” he had every chance to repeat the same meta-beats as “They Live,” but he ends up delivering a genius, beautifully loony, often brilliant piece of cinema that’s both a tribute to literature, a meditation on the power of the imagination, and our own state of being and reality.
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
La nuit a dévoré le monde (2018) [Fantasia 2018]
Overnight, Paris is overrun by zombies. Seemingly, everyone has turned into the undead while Sam slept after a party. As he finds himself alone, he finds ways to survive and not lose him mind.
Beast Stalker (2008) (Ching Yan) [New York Asian Film Festival 2018]
After a gunfight and car accident, a cop pursuing a long time criminal foe is involved in the death of a child. His guilt pushes him to chase the criminal even more fervently. The child’s mother, a prosecutor, pushes for the most severe punishment for this criminal.
Dynamite Graffiti (Suteki na dainamaito sukyandaru) (2018) [New York Asian Film Festival 2018]
In this biographical film, the viewer follows the rise and fall of porn magazine creator and runner Akira Suei.
Written and directed by Masanori Tominaga and based on the autobiography by Akira Suei, the film starts in the 1980s and goes back and forth in time, showing important moments in his life, from his childhood, including his mother blowing herself up, to his meeting his wife to his life painting cabaret billboards and then building his pornographic magazine empire. The film shows this in a light that lets the viewer makes up their own mind about Suei and his work and in a way that does not condone or condemn any of it. It shows things as they were and raises a few questions about censorship and morality policing.
The Forest of the Lost Souls (A Floresta das Almas Perdidas) (2017)
In a forest known as a prime suicide location, two strangers come upon one another and their lives are deeply affected.
Rampage (2018) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
At the very least, video games seem to be evolving to where they’re no longer abysmal and are gradually edging toward entertaining. “Tomb Raider” was a blast, and “Rampage” is a fun ninety minute diversion. Based on the pretty plotless classic video game of the same name, Brad Peyton’s movie injects science fiction, action, giant monster movie madness, and yes, even features the game’s iconic monsters rampaging through civilization, bringing down buildings left and right. It’s bits and pieces of “Mighty Joe Young,” “King Kong,” and “Jurassic Park” that tries to deliver on many levels.
Siberia (2018)
A man goes missing and his diamond business partner goes looking for him in Siberia. While there he meets a woman that changes everything for him.