First of all, before I start talking about this film I would like to tell you the story of how I got to know Three Below Zero because it is a very outrageous and comical event worth mentioning:

At the beginning of this 2020 and partly for a bit of not knowing what to do to entertain me I started watching the series Yellowstone (2018), I'm almost no longer put to watch as many TV shows as when I was a child and/or teenager, but I must say that I liked it a lot and its cast is doing a good job. The thing is that on one occasion looking for a video on Youtube I found this recommendation called Wes Bentley of 'Yellowstone' on His 22 Firsts | 22 Stars who appears in the series playing Jamie Dutton which is made a small dynamic by Paramount + where they ask him questions about his acting career, as well as his personal life, in one of them they ask Bentley which was his first kiss on-screen and he answers that it was with Kate Walsh in this film and ends up saying that none of us would like to see it and laughs, and I tell you something? When he says that I got a great inclination to see why he said that, it is as if he forbids it and I like a naughty child when they tell me that I should not do it I do it hahaha, at that moment I looked it up on Google and I found out that this was the first feature film with which he debuted in his career besides being at the same time the first starring role of Bentley, released in 1998 before he catapulted to fame thanks to American Beauty and I was surprised since I always lived with the idea that the film directed by Mendes had been his debut and also in the video they ask him what was the first dialogue he said when he was on screen for the first time and I thought he would say something about Three Below Zero but it was not so because he mentions that it was this one: "Come on mama, we are going to be late! " which comes from a short film from 1995 called Serendipity Lane this itself does not appear in the database of the Letterboxd site, which by the way although I know this has nothing to do I checked that what Bentley says is not true because at the beginning of it never says this dialogue, why he lies?? (Hahaha) or maybe I'm wrong and I heard another thing... anyway I will not deviate talking about it, although this fact if that left me perplexed 🤷

After this parenthesis let's talk about Three Below Zero. For days I started looking for it in my main sources where I am used to doing it as torrent sites or some streaming websites and when I imagined that I would not find it and it would be difficult to find it, also knowing that this was not even released on DVD in region 1 but only in Europe would be more complicated for me which discouraged me because I realized how almost unknown it is for many, but fortunately for me if I found it.

This one is the official debut of Simon Aeby, a director, producer, screenwriter and also someone who worked as an actor, born in Switzerland which I think nobody knows who he is or that he exists, is one of those people who tried to come to the United States to look for luck to see if they could get fame in Hollywood or at least make a niche in the industry of that country but never succeeded and were relegated to total oblivion.

The story takes place on the hottest night of the summer season in New York, where a boy who is part of a band, an old lady, and a housewife coincide by chance in the basement of the neighborhood block where they live. The three of them have felt the need to leave their house to clean their personal belongings because of the suffocating heat in the environment. Everything is going normally until the door of the room is locked and they accidentally get locked inside, because they are unable to force the latch from the inside.

As they are aware that they will have to stay for quite a while until someone arrives to rescue them, they begin to talk about the plans they had devised for the next day. The artist was planning to continue practicing the drums, the young woman had everything ready to leave for San Francisco to meet her beloved, while the old woman had organized an idyllic evening with her husband. Then they decide to inform each other of some of the most personal aspects of their lives, to participate in a game that consists of deciphering who they are. At times they lose their roles and despair at the situation they are experiencing, but then they reflect and realize that clearing their minds is the best way to get through the agony they suffer as the hours go by.

Believe me that with the small outline I have said about this film I am not giving big spoilers or telling you about several scenes that could ruin your viewing, I feel that rather than being a regular plot that tried to tell us a simple story I consider that its director intended to expose, make a kind of thesis or possibly show the human condition of three completely different people in a situation that makes them feel deprived of their freedom, A story which I would classify as a psychological drama with erotic touches which reminded me a lot of The Exterminating Angel, The Hole or other films about confinement or being trapped in a place, as this story makes them bring out all the honest, crazy and worst of themselves, perhaps not the most profound or complex story or characters with difficulty to understand and with the ing of the minutes this can become a little tiring and the twist ending With touches of surrealism & low fantasy would be very silly but anyway, like this one.

As for the performances, I enjoy them, providing good moments as simple as unexpected, but without a doubt, it is Bentley who wins all the honors. When I did my review about P2 (2007) I mentioned what a great actor he is and here it is demonstrated that since his beginnings he brought with him that charisma, personality, and attitude to shine under the lights and on a camera, I feel sorry that Bentley has not become the most famous or most recognized actor that Hollywood was looking for at that time, since his talent made him worthy of it and more, but well, in part, it was his problems that hindered and truncated his career as well as his artistic career.

I think a film like Three Below Zero should deserve intention, as well as be seen more and have greater recognition by the public. Undoubtedly one of those rare gems of the late 90s that exudes an air of nostalgia that for some strange reason I love without having to become a product that fell into the generic as many others that appear at that time, from its dark photography, its soundtrack so alternative as well as having a little famous cast at the time give me many memories of my childhood, which sometimes you want to return as this decade because was super cool. Underrated to the max IMHO.

Two days ago chatting on Twitter via DM with a friend of mine he showed me the poster and synopsis of this movie, asking me if I knew about it and the truth is that until that moment I didn't know about it, but it was how transgressive it looked what made me decide to do it and write about it.

This story tells us how on a strange night Jay and his family live a brutal and unexpected twist when he wakes up in a basement with three other prisoners. From that moment begins a desperate battle to solve the puzzle of his past and save the future of his family. In it we find an unhealthily entertaining story with scenes of explicit violence, I say this because The Dare is a film that focuses on torture and the suffering of the victims, it leaves us moments of respite in which we witness the evolution and the sad story of a poor disturbed mind. It does not innovate within its genre, but it does its job: make the viewer feel uncomfortable as the deaths are quite explicit and I for my part I appreciate that the gore is very violent without falling into the stereotypical, although that if, it is very similar that we can get is the skin mask of the antagonist that you can not help but Leatherface and is that many of the films of this type always end up reminding us of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in the performance of Richard Brake, an act that is one of the regulars in Rod Zombie's films, and yes, from here on out we'll see how it's a hodgepodge of The Collector, Saw, and Nightmare on Elm Street, but that doesn't make it annoying.

While this movie has some gruesome scenes it has a good backstory as throughout the plot we see a series of 'flashbacks' explaining what led up to it all: Imagine an innocent young boy at a camp trying to make friends but instead being humiliated and then dared to go into a spooky old house and never come out with one of the kids watching him get grabbed from behind. For the rest of his youth, he is raised by a maniac as a father and is told he is not wanted by his parents. He later discovers that his parents are dead. His new father has him train to be physically strong and mentally stronger. His father tells him that he will never be at peace until he confronts the sons who abandoned him. The motivations of the torturer, the way the story unfolds, and the gruesomeness that comes from brutality rather than clever gadgetry are the main points of difference.

I say this because I love to see when you can identify with a villain. The best villains are the ones you can relate to as they are the ones where you question whether or not you should be on their side. I'm going to be honest, as the plot of this movie unfolded I was torn on who I should root for. The movie deserves a lot of credit for the way it has done it. It put a lot of effort into showing the backstory and it paid off, I think the actor Robert Maaser gave a believable performance despite showing his face nor having any dialogue until the end his character grow up, anyway, the other actors gave good performances showing how far they can go just to survive to get far.

Unfortunately, the film loses a bit of steam in the second half. It runs a bit out of ideas and develops a bit too predictably for my taste. It also reveals its cards too early in the duration and is left with a little time to fill later and I think it is somewhat repetitive as a whole especially that of the confinement that is known after the why and the victims but then falls into the cliché of not finishing off the murderer when it should and thus continue to lengthen even so the final twist that comes with a nice surprise.

Despite its flaws and not being a great horror film, it perfectly fulfills its function of entertaining, for me in that sense did not decline at any time. I must it that I liked it more than I expected and despite not being a great or original work I see a huge potential in The Dare. It is worth seeing and I recommend it without hesitation if you are looking for an extreme experience.

I stumbled upon the existence of Cold Skin days ago when I entered the Letterboxd App because I noticed that a follower had made a review of it.

When I saw the poster and the synopsis I was very intrigued to see it, which ended up encouraging me to do so.

The film is an adaptation of the novel by Albert Sánchez Piñol (which like other films based on a book of which I have written reviews on the site I haven't read its literary version either 🤷). The plot takes place on a lost island in the middle of the ocean, two men defend themselves, night after night, sheltered in a lighthouse, from the siege of some strange sea creatures. Under extreme tension, without understanding the reasons for the attack, they will have to rethink how to face the unknown. The captivity and the continuous struggle lead to a journey to the center of their entrails, where lucidity and alienation, rejection and desire, cruelty and love, intermingle towards the unknown.

This Spanish and French co-production starts with an initial setting that reminds me of the most classic literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I am referring to those Jules Verne type adventure novels, as it gives us a story of terror and survival directed by the French Xavier Gens, a product that in general is good enough to entertain you throughout the footage that lasts, mainly due to the disturbing atmosphere it has, a well done visual setting and some action scenes with those sea monsters that are quite well shot and leave us a couple of remarkable scenes with their small doses of violence and blood, making you enjoy watching it in that sense.

Watching it I see that this fable (in my opinion), has several readings: it is a proposal very loaded with melancholy, internal loneliness, which brings out the fears against the one who is different that on the one hand, a peaceful young man forced to use weapons to protect himself; on the other, a rough and violent man who sought to isolate himself from the world and in the middle of all this are the creatures that inhabit the sea that we do not know well if they attack humans because they do or with a motive. All this creates (and this is my reading of the film) a metaphor of the violent nature of the human race, willing to kill the one who was already on that land instead of living together in peace, but the clearest is the contrast of two aspects of the human race: the desire for a peaceful coexistence of human beings with other races and, on the other hand, the warrior and vengeful spirit. Is the human being kind or savage? This question runs throughout the plot and is responsible for creating a micro-universe where it is suggested that we are probably not descended from the monkey, that perhaps we are much more linked to water than we think. From there the premise bounces on symbols related to our primitive past still in force, to that share of savagery that still invites us to the sea, to relate to it. For example, I notice the use of the lighthouse in Cold Skin as a representation of that tiny island that we carry inside us, deep down, we would all like to return to the source that sheltered us, it also speaks of selfishness, and what a person can do to not feel alone, even if it is in a very artificial way and how some people are willing to do to defend what they believe (wrongly or not) that is theirs and how the relationship between man and nature is also seen, wherein many occasions the only way we have to express ourselves as a species is by killing others.

Cold Skin is a work that detests the plot surface and insists on stressing that the message is not enough but must be presented in an entertaining format. By merging plot and message, things lose their consistency and many plot contrivances seem injected into the plot as demands of protocol (battles as a prime example). The story that is not often told, the one that escapes suggestively through a few words, or a few deliberate gestures; is the story that sustains Cold Skin and displaces it from a mere entertainment product. That subtle line between our wild and lonely side is in constant conflict with our desire to know about the other, to have him next to us so we can communicate.

Even so, the highlight of the film is undoubtedly the performance of Ray Stevenson, who was also an ally that encouraged me to see it, this actor, very prolific but little known in film and television which I knew for the series Roma (2005-2007). The film, in addition, has a Hollywood style, especially in of locations and photography, but it is also worthy of praising the makeup and CGI that is very successful. Another point to note is that the film gains in tension as it progresses and survival becomes increasingly difficult as ammunition becomes scarce and every night there is a fierce fight between the two men against the creatures. In addition, the atmosphere is rarefied by the alienated character of Gruner that makes it unbearable to live with him and in many moments Friend's life will be endangered not only by the creatures but by the enmity that is growing by the behavior of Gruner. Gens bravely undertake the adventure that he describes, saving a script that is difficult because it has practically only two actors who carry the weight of the whole film, and although its ending is quite predictable, it does not hinder the fact that we are in front of a worthy work of this French director.

There are very good positive points as well as intentions in Cold Skin: good direction, photography, cast, and moral messages to show. Unfortunately, although I count on it, this one did not manage to touch all the sensitive fibers in me enough to have ended up fascinated by it, leaving me, like its title, a little cold in general.

This is the 3rd time I've seen this movie (the first time was last year, then in July, and finally yesterday) and after going around in my head about whether to write about it or not I finally got the courage to say what I think about it. The story is about a teacher who has a twin sister who is locked within the padded walls of an insane asylum. The problem arises when she escapes and starts a crime spree.

The plot seems to have been seen a thousand times before, but I liked it nonetheless because it has a weird aura about it. Although the film is not purely horror, it has elements of suspense and some touches of comedy, I don't know if they are voluntary or not, but they are there and although in its first minutes the tension that is woven in it is not so attractive, I found it an entertaining story with several good elements such as the killer dog, I found every action of this animal simply great, unfortunately, the attack on the child is not seen, I guess not to displease the conventional audience, in the end, we have to result in a hybrid of psycho killer and slasher semi Giallo, a rare mixture that manages to entertain just enough. The ending reminded me (and I think more than one who has seen it will agree with me) a lot to the Canadian slasher, curiously also from 198 called Happy Birthday to me full of a lot of creepiness in its last minutes.

I think my taste for Madhouse has increased, and since I've seen it so much I've taken a liking to it. Undoubtedly we are facing a dark, demented and full of madness film, it is worth reaching the last half hour as it lifts the film improving it a lot. A good recommendation and if you are interested in the Video Nasties and do not want to get bored trying to see them, you will not be disappointed because it is certainly one of the most remarkable for sure.

In 2018 when this film premiered it gave a lot to talk about in my country and had a certain boom, especially because Netflix bought the rights to see it through its platform, since recently for about five years the issue of abuse against women has taken more and more strength in Mexico and believe me I wanted to see it at the time but for absurd dissidia of mine I left it aside and it is only now three years later that I'm late to see it, but well, it is never inopportune to rescue it and thus vindicate a film like this.

This drama mixed with a thriller is set in the violent and ungovernable Mexico City of the '90s, where a group of raped women seeks revenge through Aida, a vigilante who seduces, narcotizes, and tattoos therapists so they will never forget their crime. She is the sole survivor of a violent home invasion that took the lives of her husband and the housekeeper. The perpetrators slash Aida's pregnant belly and leave her bleeding to death on the floor. Unable to resume her career as a photographer, she fakes suicide and takes justice into her own hands.

I must confess that upon reading the premise of the film, a particular restlessness arose in me derived from my fondness for revenge stories in this case where a female plays the starring role as in Kill Bill, I Spit In Your Grave, or Carrie. The story of an urban avenger does not sound bad at all, besides this is a frequent theme in the cinematography of European and Eastern countries, but not at all here in Mexico or Latin America where unfortunately female-gender violence is an everyday thing and has already become a common habit to see in the various media.

During the first quarter of an hour we have great tints of Noir, Giallo, and B series where Diana Lein's performance is fine, but for my taste somewhat restrained. Imagine that not satisfied with having outraged her, they take away what she loves the most, isn't that enough reason to see her in a rage? Uma Thurman would have cut off their manhood with one blow without thinking twice and here all this is somewhat lukewarm. That dark and sober tone of the first act is replaced by a kind of combination of melodrama and black humor, for me, it would have been more effective the first than the second which some who see it will laugh at it taking it not so serious, but in my case, it was not so because it only hurts that the relevant message of the same is diluted.

So without losing the focus on the delinquent (for the authorities) and heroine (of women who have been raped), Tattoo of Revenge focuses the attention from a purely feminist/activist/pro-LGBTTTI community perspective on other female characters such as a radio hostess (Itatí Cantoral), a doctor who treats victims of rapists (Rocío Verdejo), a transgender woman (César Romero Medrano), Flor (Giovana Zacarías), a seamstress who believes in ghosts; and Eva (Victoria White), a "poppy girl" who wants to get even with the man who blackmailed her for an erotic video, all of which may increase the interest of the viewers more assiduous to Pedro Almodovar's films and decrease the interest of the mystery genre lovers, I'm not saying this is bad but as I said before, this makes the plot lose its course a little bit.

Regarding the male characters exhibited in this universe populated by victimized women (even by other women), it stands out the fact that the villains are grotesque, ugly, repulsive, and physically unattractive, very common or not memorable at all, while the only good man is (curiously) idealized through the figure of a handsome, good-looking and muscular guy played by Irving Peña, perhaps this is trying to create a stereotype of the nobleman? Is this portraying the idealization of perfection or could it be that the director sought to give himself self-pleasure by using this actor at the time of directing him? Whatever the reason, I liked the character of Vicente and in my opinion, Peña is for my taste, the other side of the coin as he represents the human side in search of the truth, the most neutral, serious character and that along with us the viewers witness as well as try to live the events that are narrated in it.

Tattoo of Revenge uses sensationalism as a vehicle for social criticism, since its director Julián Hernández, a contemporary Mexican filmmaker who has mostly made gay-themed projects, obtained more international projection thanks to Rabioso Sol, Rabioso Cielo (2009) and that in comparison to Tattoo of Revenge this one, in contrast, is the pure plot, baroque and gratuitously complicated. As for Malú Huacuja del Toro's script, it reminds me again of Almodóvar's incursions into the noir genre, but the director from La Mancha would have distilled the elements to a more basic and disciplined level. Hernandez abandons the lyricism of his long takes used in other works to embrace the formal conventions associated with the genre where he uses expressionistic swooping and intentionally disorienting dipping shots. The black and white digital photography looks neat and gives way to occasional color scenes that mark past events as well as help place us temporally in a narrative that jumps around the timeline with relative abandon, but as the film progresses, the rule is broken, contributing to some disorientation in the final stretch.

Unfortunately despite certain aspects mentioned a few paragraphs back which leaves me with a bittersweet taste and could be forgiven the film has other flaws that detract from a better viewing. First of all, it is very long its duration could save at least half an hour of the story or at least use the same to devote to more relevant issues that will push to help the plot, I for my part expected violent scenes and hard to see but falls short in this regard and only shows a rape scene that is not entirely relevant, also, no scene of women seeking revenge is shown explicitly nor even that of the protagonist, this makes you not feel empathy, understand or comprehend what they live at all and the reason for her anger or the women she avenges and as for its ending it becomes very simple which stumbles when trying to instill plausibility in its rapturous fiction as well as leave you with some kind of message to reflect on after it is over and therefore that denunciation that I tried to create is left halfway. Assuming that it is a "brave" denunciation of police corruption and the involvement of politicians in crimes such as pornography, rape, and human trafficking, this makes me ask myself, couldn't it have been contextualized in the present time to obtain a better result? Also, that subplot involving the complicity of a friend, to clarify logistical issues of Aida's actions, ends up being unnecessary.

In short, this is a very good film in of the messages it portrays because they are a great reality that exists in my country and is not far from what has been happening for decades in Mexico, but it does not end up making a great echo or enough noise to it and only ends up decreasing due to the shortcomings mentioned above.

I have known about The Strange Ones thanks to a good friend who lives near my house who is a big fan of the movie I Am Number Four (2011), which we both saw together with other pals when it was released in the cinema on that year, both flicks have in common that in them appears the actor Alex Pettyfer (who previously I see on The Last Witness weeks ago) and it was precisely the reason of why a friend who recommended me to see it since he told me that I could probably like it as much as he did and in a way he was not completely wrong.

This work began as a short film that was presented at the Sundance Film Festival six years earlier narrates the mysterious events that surround two brothers when they go on a camping trip. They are both driving somewhere. We don't know where they are coming from or where they are going or the reasons why they are where they are. Throughout the plot we see how they relate to each other and to the people they meet as clues to the mysterious reasons for the strange trip are revealed.

Although the film touches on very strong themes that we rarely see in films such as rape or patricide and tries to do so without falling into morbid or unhealthy, it fails to be effective at the beginning because of its slowness, but it is intriguing as the minutes go by. Besides, if they expected to surprise someone by discovering the truth, they were far from doing it, since it is always clear that the boy named Sam is a disturbed being and hides something.

I'm not going to explain too much what happens in it, just to say that it is one of those stories that give me a "kind of rush" during the whole movie because it's fascinating how telling us so little you have the whole movie pending of what happens and being a plot like this so open to interpretations I think I could give another point of view different from someone else who has also seen it. Both protagonists do a good job especially Pettyfer who brings out a talent that I had never seen in other films where he appears, it is seen that these introspective roles suit him well. Even so, I clarify that if someone wants to see it but if you do not like open endings do not watch it although I can tell you that in my opinion, everything that happens in the film does have an explanation and clues and/or theories are given in the same which I will not say because it would be giving spoilers, but if you like to go a little more there and reflect and draw conclusions from what you think it will be worth seeing.

Anyway, this is a psychological thriller that takes its time but with the desire to know what is going to happen next, with the good rhythm of those that absorb you, a story well carried and told, to the point of making it creepy by how surprisingly sometimes the "fiction" is close to reality. It may be a story that we have already seen or have been told many times in the history of cinema and not at all very innovative, but there are ways to do things differently and this is certainly one of them. The truth is that I still don't understand why it has little reception in movie websites like here in Letterboxd. No doubt this is the reason why films of this caliber are not being made, people only want big-name directors even if they are merely making popcorn movies, a shame that no one stops to watch independent gems like this and gives them a chance.

For me, The Strange Ones has been a proposal of those that form the beginning you do not expect absolutely anything from it and ends up being enjoyable to watch because of how different and interesting it is.

Yes... It is always difficult to make a remake or version of a movie that is not new to be to the liking (or not) of the public because everyone can expect everything: that people hate it and make comparisons of all kinds, that they don't take it seriously or that they think that only wanted to copy something already made just to achieve fame, money, and recognition, especially if you don't want to do this but the opposite which is to carry out work with more complexity, deep messages and not just create a horror that will merely scare you for 90 minutes and also dare to take it to compete at the Cannes Film Festival, as Abel Ferrara did in 1993 when he had the difficult task of making a new re-interpretation of the famous novel written by Jack Finney: I am referring to Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

This would be the third of the four film adaptations made (so far). The story is already well known by many and it may go without saying: in a military base, a family observes how their neighbors and friends behave strangely. Little by little, they will find themselves immersed in a terrible nightmare from which they will not be able to escape.

When it comes to Ferrara, one can expect anything depending on the degree of hang-up he has, from true cult gems for many like Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The King of New York (1993) or in this case, a film which had a hard time since the director is more inclined to personal works than rehashes. Despite having nothing more and nothing less than names like Larry Cohen and Stuart Gordon working on the script, in the end, it was Ferrara himself who took the cat to water and rewrote the project with his official screenwriter who was chosen from the beginning and I refer to him as Nicholas St. John. All this is to make it clear that we are before a film in which it is noted that too many people got involved, although despite everything here Ferrara sought to make a plot modification a priori outlandish that replaces the fear of nuclear panic and communism by acid and undisguised antimilitarist criticism, proposing the similarity between that extraterrestrial race incapable of projecting emotions or real feelings with the military discipline applied to soldiers, conditioned by unbreakable rules and an imposed dehumanization. But in this society shown, reduced and not very accessible, the sensation of real threat does not seem to be appreciated as much as in the previous versions, which placed it in the population, among ordinary individuals, where fear and distrust take a much more disturbing turn.

In any case, and even though the plot occasionally falls into already seen ideas and even into an unintentional self-parody, Ferrara, who in many moments manages to copy (unconsciously? ) those shots in an oblique way manages to print an alarming uneasiness to the story (for example in the appreciable sequences like the one of the nurseries or the revelation of the facts to Steve by Carol), driven in its last stretch by a frenetic rhythm, at the same time that inclines it towards more typical terrains of his cinema making use of melancholic characters trapped in an atmosphere of oppression and discomfort and radiographing the family relationships and their failure in this oppressive context besides having an ending... politically correct? For me, it is somewhat predictable and it can be seen with anticipation.

However, one of the aspects to highlight, apart from a curious added novelty, is the work of special effects that if they do not reach the level of impressive at least they are attractive while the cast, full of B or C list actors forgotten where only the presence of Forest Whitaker and R. Lee Ermey stands out (again playing a military man), is competent in their roles, led by lost-in-time and almost no longer required actors such as Gabrielle Anwar, Meg Tilly, Billy Wirth, and Terry Kinney, but despite their relegated status, they get the job done.

It has always been known that Ferrara, in his filmography, expresses his peculiar way of seeing cinema, accustomed to a more transgressive, crude, and not very "political" cinema, he shows us a film where the messages he wanted to convey are not completely defined, they only end up being simple foundations towards the concerns of the time such as the race for the control of genetics, the military supply, the use of viruses as weapons against enemy states, the control of the world, in short, they are just a sketch built with lukewarmness. If you are looking for moral & human messages I think it is better to see Siegel's classic (original) or Philip Kauffman's remake, much more accurate in its approach and serious in its development.

Although it is not the most remarkable thing Ferrara has done in his career as a director nor the most memorable version that has been made of this science fiction story, I do not feel that this film is as bad as critics made it seem at the time, it takes the basis of a good story and only sought to give it a more humanistic tone, although this goal was only half achieved by making it lack more charming.

I met Taxi to the Toilet on a torrent site where sometimes some retro films from other countries and of course, I let myself be carried away as well as feel identified in a personal way with it for three reasons: it is set in the school environment, it is Queer Cinema themed and that by its synopsis was noted very risky. To me, these aspects earned my attention to see it.

Frank is a homosexual elementary school teacher who teaches in a school in West Berlin and leads a double life. On the one hand, he keeps the obligatory social encounters with his work environment, and on the other hand, he seeks sporadic sexual relations in the toilets of the underworld as a regular scenario. In addition, he maintains a stable relationship with the sensitive guy named Bern Broaderup, who tries to convince him to lead a quiet life in the countryside, away from urban temptations. In this context, Frank must face the sentimental complications of life as a couple and work problems arising from his sexual orientation.

As I mentioned at the beginning, our protagonist is a man who seems to be a rather regular, serious, and even shy guy, but in truth, he is very extroverted and promiscuous, which shows us the x-ray of his life and he undresses physically and internally in front of the camera, in a jocular tone when he stands on the stairs without clothes when the door of his house closes, seriously driving alone through the streets of Berlin under the neon lights, while his voice exhales intimate thoughts.

The director & also the protagonist of this story Frank Ripploh emerges in the wake of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, it may not be as artistic, deep in messages, or melancholic but it sures him in boldness, daring, frankness, and uninhibitedness. Ripploh elaborates an equally exhibitionist but spontaneous journey, sometimes openly provocative, sometimes intimate, surprising both in the explicit sex scenes and for the total absence of modesty in the psychological part. Cinema has its language and that is something that many directors seem to be unaware of, but here is someone who does know what cinema is and its best statement of intentions, and we don't have to go that far to realize it, since from the first minute after the voice-over of the protagonist who tells us who he is, a close-up of a jar of Vaseline on the couch where the alarm clock rings are more than enough to give us an idea of what we will witness during an hour and a half of footage.

We could say that this film belongs to a late New German Cinema (Neuer Deutscher Film) of which Volker Schlöndorff, the aforementioned Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, and Wim Wenders maybe its most notable representatives and as it happens in that movement, the main concern is the situation of the individual before the society that wants to mark its courses. In this case, being a homosexual teacher who tries to live a free and happy life assuming his preferences far from social prejudices, it should be ed that , and especially Berlin, was becoming a progressive center of homosexual liberation. The director, of whom I know of no other work (but I swear I will investigate more about him), is brave and takes a risk in his proposal by including explicit sex scenes that the pacifist minds will label as pornographic. I liked the film more as it progressed until I, unfortunately, reached a scene in which there is a reference to pedophilia that I didn't like because I felt it was out of place. In cinema, I reject hardly anything, but in this subject of sexual relations with children, I feel that seeing it here was unnecessary. But curiously I get to the end of the film and I find the justification for the insertion of that fragment because, as it is said in the dialogue while two adults are watching the film, it is a fragment of the films that in West the Ministry of Education distributed in schools.

Taxi to the Toliet documents the pre-AIDS gay culture in West Berlin in the early 1980s, The title of the film means the place for casual gay sex. From what I got to read about it before watching it (as I am given to researching, reading, and documenting myself when I get too much into a film) is that it generated controversy for its explicit sex scenes, the use of school children as extras in the plot; the projection of a 70's propaganda who I talk before called "Christian und sein briefmarkenfreund" or "Christian and his stamp collector friend", a politically incorrect short film that deals with relationships between minors and adults, very curiously, it was a fragment that the Ministry of Education in West distributed in schools about child sexual abuse/pedophilia; it also has some off-color dialogues, such as the adoption of children with Down Syndrome.

In short, the whole proposal is staged in a very "amateurish" way, from the photography to the sets, the editorial cuts, and the direction of the actors; It could well be said that it is a gay German answer to John Waters' Pink Flamingos since the plot portrays the gay world as it is, with boldness, daring, frankness and uninhibition, but there are also drugs, transvestism, promiscuity, lots of sex, rectal exploration, as well as showing the homosexuality of the underworld, practiced in the bathrooms, and the worst environments, in the dark and hidden from society in a life on the edge.

Taxi to the Toilet is a daring film in how it exposes not only homosexual issues without any shame but also certain moral messages and that is why I gave it a four-star rating, for fearlessly launching itself as few film productions I have seen without thinking or caring about "what people will say". A solid proposal without a doubt.

I came across this low-budget made-for-TV quality indie film on a streaming site, and without knowing much about it I went to see it without any expectations (whether it would be good or bad).

The story is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel in which we are presented with a dystopian world in which a clone of the president of the United States is in the White House after the terrorist organization "Aramchek" tries to kill the real president. Meanwhile, a famous record company executive sees a series of apparitions in which a girl named Sylvia appears to him, warning him about the future of the country and what is going on in the government.

Before I start talking about it I want to say that I have never read the book and I don't know if the themes present here are as relevant today as they were when the original novel was written at the time, but even so, the plot handles in an intense and multilevel way the synthetic nature of the perception that Philip's character lives by, especially knowing that the author never gave up on talking about wilder theories without analyzing them, and in many respects is played with the kind of stoicism that playing with crazy notions of reality engenders to maintain sanity.

The film has an elegiac feel to it, not only because it's a story about the friendship between a man changed by a mystical & extraterrestrial experience and his skeptical best friend, but also because it's the kind of independent film that risks disappearing in the light of studios churning out only blockbusters and internet hits. It is also more overtly political in its commentary on surveillance, the loss of civil rights, and the need to resist as it is about giving ideas and how they can create an entirely different world and state of mind just by context.

The special effects without being the most mind-blowing are clever and interesting, better quality than the "cheesy" ones, but low budget and appropriate for the type of sci-fi film it is. The performances are good, especially from actor Shea Whigham, who plays a hilariously deadpan Philip Dick. Jonathan Scarfe is transcendent as Nicholas, convincingly portraying the character's altered states of consciousness and moral convictions. Katheryn Winnick as Rachel is protective to the point of being neurotically controlling, becoming defensive whenever he brings up the religious experiences that drive the plot just as it is somewhat odd to see Alanis Morisette is a surprising choice for Sylvia, but she fulfills the role and brings a certain musical presence.

It's worth mentioning that given the recent NSA revelations, the surveillance theme in this film is more interesting than ever. What I find striking about it, is the lighthearted way in which details about the dystopian society are revealed to us, basically as the characters discuss them over dinner or around the television. Instead of throwing action or special effects in your face, or showing extreme, grisly violence, this film creates an effective dystopia in a more subtle way, showing how ordinary people, who are not yet serious about truly scary societal changes, are drawn into the world. It's as if, all of a sudden, there are security checks and we have to do some soul-searching about everything the characters here say. If the film has a weakness, it's the fact that at times the plot lets itself be seen as a bit of a monologue, rather than a feature film making your experience somewhat tedious.

Perhaps Radio Free Albemuth will not be the most outstanding thing that has been done in this genre, it may be not so memorable on the side of ambition and cover several topics without being fully clarified but still is a very timeless proposal that does not bleed and if you are a fan of this author is needless to say that you should not hesitate to see it.

I had been looking for this film in several places since I read about it in a Facebook group and from that moment its synopsis intrigued me and finally last night I have seen it. The plot starts when a guy named Frank politely offers Andreas a car ride through Berlin, of which he is unaware that his decision will end in a violent journey between life and death.

Basically, this film is a rare debut directorial effort for actor Ken Duken and he is also part of the screenwriting team, 3 people actually, and none of them have written another full feature before that. It's less than an hour and a half long and has major corporate subsidizers like Sky and Warner Bros. Duken also stars here in what is a two-man show from start to finish as we have one character kidnapped by the other. The co-star is Tom Wlaschiha, who will probably be especially appreciated by Game of Thrones fans.

That being said they are the two of them the most algid point this film has and that is that for me the scenes in the car with the claustrophobia element are among the best components the film has to offer, and even these were shoddily executed at times in of script. For a rookie effort, I found Duken's direction to be decent. Painfully all the scenes outside the car were rather disappointing, especially the ones related to terrorism or religion as they are played a bit pretentiously, so I feel that on my part it's not that worth delving into. This was a plot point that never worked for me and I honestly never felt as much for the victim, let alone her daughter, as I wanted to (I won't explain this so I don't go into major spoilers). It should have been a much better movie in of the emotional component, but even the best scenes outside the car, like the one at the beginning with the police officers, felt to me like they could/should have had potential and could have been memorable if written with more attention to detail.

In the beginning, it still has its flaws, but also positive aspects that made me consider whether perhaps I should give it a positive recommendation. But this decision was taken away from me by the deterioration of it. On the other hand, I may be a bit biased with my comment towards it, as I have never really liked movies where Duken appears. Perhaps it is a bit boring at the beginning of the story but it slowly starts to get the adrenaline pumping after getting through the middle of the story. What we witness in this movie could be a portrayal where the audience could be easily misled, deliberately engineered by anti-Islamic elements. Where their thinking generalizes Muslims all over the world as a cause of harm in this land, so I don't know if this movie can't be considered as a "racist movie", because through it we can see the hatred of westerners towards Islam and closely related to white supremacy, in short, it is not until the end that everything comes together, but it is gripping and keeps the attention, but still manages to get its message across.

In the end, Berlin Falling remains a meager attempt at a study of terrorism. Nothing memorable to be honest 😕

I heard about it since last year and from then on I wanted to see it, unfortunately, since it was released only in some festivals around the world it was difficult to find it all over the web, but, finally yesterday I could get it by ing it from a torrent site its distribution has already become massive and it is easier to get it.

The plot is about Rose, who suffers from a terrible illness, lives in seclusion with her husband in some secluded place in the UK but the arrival of a stranger explodes the fragile shelter they have built both. I know this synopsis doesn't seem to say much but I recommend that you watch it so that you can partly deduce on your own what happens in it.

Although it's labeled as a horror movie, it's a more focused drama to me. A tragic love story of a married couple, who go to great lengths to keep the life they built together intact with a semblance of normalcy. The meat of the movie is slow, beautifully shot, and well-acted romantic story, that keeps your interest despite its pace, which could be a point against it making you lose interest if you don't pay full attention to it.

Although the script written by director Jennifer Sheridan and actor Matt Stokoe, who plays Sam, explores the nuances that develop in isolated relationships, it doesn't always succeed in presenting a full-fledged relationship, especially a heated argument in which he explodes with guarded reproaches, but it does offer a realistic and sensitive perspective. Yet you can feel the trust, knowledge and mutual love shared between Sam and Rose as well as the mutual belonging and acceptance that despite the circumstances, they are together because of the love that exists between them, each burdened by the comfort and happiness of the other.

For me, the main success of the film is its mysterious atmosphere, because when we watch it we intuit and know that something strange is going on, but we can't define exactly what it is. Little by little, we understand that there are strange things in their way of life, whether it is that they live away from society, or that Sam is extremely cautious with the security of the home, or that they live in a cabin where there is little light. However, the path of discovery is slow, and even then the answer is never clear and definitive. The film makes good use of tension and the imagination of the viewer.

Likewise, the last few minutes kept me unduly curious and a bit uncomfortable before ending with a chilling finale, but I felt it was rushed. The critical part of the story happens in just a couple of minutes. Although it unexpectedly changes paths, it arrives at the same place in the end. Still, the resolution gives rise to the creation of various theories that resonate when reflecting on the devotion between the protagonists.

In short, Rose: A Love Story is a solid film that is very well acted and directed, without being anything new under the sun, it will not win any awards or perhaps become a cult film, but I believe that if you have the will to see it you will find a more than worthy product.

I don't know why until now it occurred to me to talk about this movie. In the middle of the year I saw it because I found it on a website and I said to myself as soon as I finish watching it I will write about it and publish it in Letterboxd but I forgot it, but now searching the web was how I found it again and that's when I came to my senses. So here is what I think about it.

The story is about two teenagers who narrate how after the last day of high school and resigned to lead a monotonous life working in the factory of the town, they head to Los Angeles to forget sorrows and spend an unforgettable weekend. However, the difficult character of the young people will turn the adventure into a trail of senseless bloodshed and violence will take hold of them.

From my youth I already knew director Penelope Spheeris for having directed two comedies of family consumption for me very funny that I got to see in my childhood: The Beverly Hillbillies and The Little Rascals, although being honest, when watching her films more than one has these two reactions: either you hate them or you love them (as society likes to polarize). I didn't imagine until now that she has in his filmography films like The Boys Next Door, since this one is far from his more hooligan comedies. We have here than a simple and unpretentious film with very interesting and somewhat disturbing content and background: pure and simple violence, with no apparent reason that is easily camouflaged in a decadent society that is to see these boys quite socially maladjusted with great ease to commit crimes lacking the slightest empathy towards their victims. Spheeris emphasizes very well the violence of the prejudices of the characters that surround our pair of delinquents, noting the bomb ready to explode all the negativity that exists in the United States, but that, according to this story, are those who detonate it are called criminals.

In it we see a young Charlie Sheen away (for a moment) from his usual comic roles, (is this one of his best performances? Maybe yes) here he is more like his Platoon character, in this case, Bo, a naive boy easily absorbed by the maelstrom of violence and that from time to time the conscience manages to talk to him about his actions and especially those of his friend Roy, brilliantly played by Maxwell Caulfield who for me is who takes the palms since he is the most complex character of the film (so to speak) since he is the one who best exposes what this story is trying to expose.

In it we find a context of the most pessimistic that through his characters we see amoral messages such as greed and xenophobia (the Iranian gas station), homophobia (homosexuality or bisexuality unaccepted by the protagonist), envy (the "perfect couple" of boyfriends), jealousy (towards his friend for having found someone to have sex with) or simply "the old woman who fucks everybody" to whom the whole bunch of arrogant people on the beach bring her a barbaric desire to make her shut up in some way (but nobody dares), showing many times that little or no respect for others is tolerated as long as it does not "certain limits" as if violence in low but continuous doses would not do any harm. Everything within this hypocritical society is surprised by school shootings or serial killers. It is laughable to see for example the xenophobia of the "witness" of the attack on the Iranian involving blacks and Mexicans, or the recalcitrant homophobia of the detective who has to take charge of investigating the case of the "faggot" or simply the treatment of "good people" towards others. Issues that are deeply rooted in society and that make it sick. Perhaps all this denunciation or exposure is the best thing that the film has in its favor, which gives it value beyond its simplicity.

As for the technical aspects are correct and as well as an adequate direction that does not bore and keeps you in the mood to continue contemplating the lives of these two young people, contrasting that it is the boredom and disillusionment of the world that moves both characters. An excellent and very disturbing prologue that immediately puts in the channel for the viewing of the film, unfortunately, I feel that Spheeris is self-conscious and afraid to go further when it comes to the plot to the greatest possible extremes since it lends itself to more than one occasion to do so.

The truth is that I thought I would come across a film more raw and aggressive in its content but in the end, I found a plot of the softest, tamed, and perhaps too dramatized reaching almost to the satiric way and in the end, The Boys Next Door is still the typical American product that is only seen to entertain and no create awareness of what is happening in it. Even so, it is thankful that it has created some less mainstream that makes it worth the viewing.

This film, which at first glance looks like a quasi-short film since it only lasts 70 minutes, has been one of many films that I had wanted to see for a long time because the synopsis and poster of this one call my attention a lot but for one reason or another I put it aside as pending and ed it by to see it another time.

In it, a salesman named Sam tries to find clients in the Mojave Desert. However, no one is there. Not one person opens the door for him, and he can't see a single customer either way. It seems that everyone is hiding from him. But it won't be exactly like that; for some reason, there will also be someone chasing him, all alone, on the verge of paranoia, but people start to reappear and chase Sam as if he were the murderer.

With a certain experimental air, we are presented with this work that explains in a very original way a story of desolation and loneliness. It has certain touches of stark surrealism, without a hint of humor, just the absurdity of an initial situation, which later derives in the purest and simplest violence. In it we find ourselves in a "pre-mobile" world, which makes Sam's journey even more frustrating: he can't anyone, not even by phone. He leaves his business cards and also leaves messages on answering machines from phone booths, but no one will ever answer. His only "" with the world is a radio program that collects the complaints and indignations of listeners broadcast by a strange man named Eddy, since he is the only person he gets to "interact" with, and yet he is not much help. At some payphone, Sam tries to talk to Rita, his wife with whom he seems to have had a dispute but gets no answer. In desperation, he sends a birthday greeting to his daughter on the phone. Everything is very strange, unusual calls where no one answers or strange noises are heard on the other end as well as finding threatening messages on the windshield of his car.

The comment that this originality is given by what he explains and how he explains it. One of its virtues, although more than one may consider it a defect, is that it leaves total freedom of interpretation to the viewer. This makes it intriguing and extremely interesting. As it could not be less, its director Christopher Deroo also succeeds with a good script that s an effective direction showing us desolate, open, and endless landscapes, which serve as a backdrop for something surprising and even motivating.

When we see it, we realize how unclassifiable it is, since Sam Was Here is already a bit different from what we are used to seeing in today's horror genre. This transgressive bet raises its quality, making it move away from the classic canons of this type of cinema. It is more what is sensed than what is shown since the absence of visual gruesomeness enhances the psychological part as well as the bloody scenes, but all these are not at all gratuitous.

The actor in charge of this leading role is Rusty er who tackles the role of Sam well. When I did my review of Voiceless months ago I said that this actor had a lot of acting ability beyond always appearing as a ing actor and in this film, this is even clearer and less doubt that my idea is not wrong, but well, he does not have much competition so hardly another actor could do battle which has even more merit that is to have to bear the full weight of the film and come out unscathed further enhances his superb performance. Perhaps this film can serve him as a springboard for a successful career in the future (if he decides to do so) since he does not lack faculties.

As I said before, I have no problem seeing stories with free interpretation, but Sam Was Here ends up toeing the line without crossing the delirious border of David Lynch. With his first film, Deroo shows that he knows how to catch the viewer, but the ending he proposes, although not bad, disappoints a little, mostly because with each step he was making you expect a more powerful denouement. Although the film engages, its last minutes become very tricky, leaving the viewer free to feel cheated by a somewhat inconclusive story with many questions. The pity that I find in it, and this is what fails, in my opinion, of course, is that the denouement did not satisfy me at all. It's not that it was disappointing, which it is a bit, but I don't think it closed the plot well, leaving more doubts than you'd like, or maybe I just didn't understand it. In any case, I still recognize and praise the effort as well as what was achieved, because I think it has many more positive elements than negative ones.

In conclusion, we find ourselves with an interesting intrigue film, with a psycho killer in the background or perhaps in front, which during almost all the footage is well narrated, with pause, giving the viewers little by little enough data for each one to get an idea of what is happening and why. It has tension and hard scenes where the stark violence takes shape, shocking us and the poor protagonist.

I was pleasantly surprised with Sam Was Here. A nightmarish journey through the human mind where the contrary emotions of strangeness and instability are laid bare in the most horrifying way.

My review is based on the Director's Cut version that lasts 121 minutes with more explicit scenes.

I that at some point in my childhood I got to see this movie but rather than terrify me it made me sleepy and I ed little of it, now, many who see it recommend reading the book by Clive Barker first before venturing to see this adaptation and it may be true and they are not wrong because the book will usually always be superior in everything, but I in my case this has not been so and I decided to it and see it "again".

It all begins when some of a sect betrayed their leader, a magician of great power. Murdered by his followers, he promised to return to take revenge. Now, in the present day, Harry D'Amour, a private detective, conducts a routine investigation in Los Angeles. There he encounters a powerful and intriguing actor whose astonishing and mysterious performances full of suspense and mysticism captivate the world. But are they performances? When the world of magic begins to be peppered with strange murders, Harry begins to suspect that, behind the successful character, lies something unseen that comes from forces beyond.

The overall plot is very entertaining because from the beginning it hooks anyone who likes the fantasy and horror genre and of course, we are not facing the same quality of other adaptations that Baker himself has brought, and although this one seeks a result a little more "commercial" but without lacking the blood and personality of this author this one ends up having a little less charm than Nightbreeds or Hellraiser, as well as the bizarre characters, are not lacking, although in the same way in a much lesser extent than these two mentioned. The special effects are pretty good for its time when the computer power was not what we have now.

As for the actors, they simply do their part, among them we have ing actors such as Famke Janssen and Jordan Marder, but the film manages to have a special charm thanks to Scott Bakula and his performance since he alone is the only one who has to hold it up and indeed succeeds and that is why it stays afloat, and therefore never go downhill, if it were not for Bakula it would have been difficult to see it with total encouragement. As for the villain, he's alright but not as scary as he pretends to be, being his cult and his lair as well as some gore scenes much more sinister than himself.

Despite its length, the story and those gruesome scenes where special effects are used make up for the fact that it doesn't get too monotonous. I loved that touch of film noir that Baker used in here, that decadent touch of the American West, and mix mature horror along with his mythology that he has gestated that is certainly unique and fresh, especially is to recognize the fact that he had to take an outdated or old style of past decades and so modernize it and that you get it right that is already merit because here we have all the ingredients of film noir; the typical antihero, an investigation with its corresponding crimes, a dark and unhealthy atmosphere, at times a piece of music that takes you back to the era of film noir. The best part of the film is undoubtedly the final part since it was able to create a good climax to be able to get on the way to some very good last scenes full of action.

Even so, it is inevitable to say that it has many problems, what are they? First of all, is that by giving us extensive and unedited mythology but leaving loose ends of certain events makes it pretentious, the second is that by not having a better structure is feels long to see, and finally is that although Barker is a genius of gore, when it comes to imagining, describing pain, inventing and deg creatures, when it comes to narrating it in a script and directing it, he falls short and does not end up capturing what he thinks and shot it on the camera and only limits or ends up impoverishing his work. It also has a 90's TV movie feel that may detract from its charm (although that's up to each person's particular taste).

Anyway, this story presents original elements, with its seal and of decent quality as well as a good leading actor, but, always with an irregular discourse. When analyzing it I think that the biggest flaw of Lord of Illusions was the enormous ambition of its director to give us an overly complex adaptation in a two-hour film when perhaps a saga or trilogy would have been a better option (Although this was never going to happen, unfortunately). If you are a fan of Barker or these themes about magic or occultism you will like it but if not I find it difficult to enjoy it completely.

I am very fond of this movie because as a child I got to see it and it scared me, although I have always believed that sometimes what scares you also gives you a sort of fascination and I still have in my possession an old DVD I bought a long time ago. Yesterday I saw it again and I think it hasn't aged badly at all, you can still feel the anguish of the possessed protagonists and the others trying to escape.

The film is based on a story called The Colour Out of Space by H.P. Lovecraft. That one was updated to be a doc to the '80s because originally this story dates from 1927, which many have forgotten that this version existed and only recognize the most recent version of 2019 starring Nicolas Cage (which by the way I have not seen), but, I must say that I have read the book and personally for me this is far from this eighties adaptation and I consider that sometimes it is difficult to take a Lovecraft story since sometimes they can be ambiguous when making interpretations because he was always someone who used to write in the first person.

The film is about a young boy called Zach Hayes (played by Wil Wheaton, who see recently in Rent A Pal) living his life on the farm which only means working hard for long and exhausting hours and enduring with resignation the violent family disputes that the irascible and fanatical character of his stepfather constantly provokes. Until one night, a meteorite falls from the sky on the farm's apple orchard, transforming their usual way of life. The meteorite is contaminating the entire farm and fatally poisoning the Hayes family.

Finding Lucio Fulci's name in the credits as producer hints at what is to be found in the hour and a half hour: dark and decadent moments. A production that shows with details and signs a story that embroiders the unpleasant in more than one moment, with a bad atmosphere and distressing horror scenes and also with amoral messages of the typical American family of that time such as the recalcitrant religion of the stepfather or the cheating on of his wife with another man at the beginning of the story. A film that generates uncomfortable sensations and, best of all, that remains in the memory long after its viewing. The truth is that being a B movie product it is surprising that most of its sections are at such a good level, highlighting the art direction (the farm), the viscous makeup (special attention to pimples and pustules), the special effects (which few but well achieved) as they do not ask anything to mega productions of the same era.

In the first 15 minutes, the film seems to be a family drama, but everything around the characters ends up being fatidic. Perhaps some of the actings are a little creaky at times and certain characters like the protagonist's step-brother can be a little too much to watch but the simple plot grips you once you get past the halfway point and provides some hilarious moments, perhaps the most chilling factor of The Curse is knowing that all the people you come to love and know are transformed into beings that have stopped being themselves because they didn't listen to the poor kid who was right for them. Although that's where the plot gets a ying-yang, because, if you know that something out of this world is causing weird things, why not be suspicious? This makes it all seem a bit unbelievable that the characters, out of ignorance, don't give importance to everything that happened, although I understand that this was also the reason to have done it that way: to show how fear can lead you to an unknown.

The Curse presents a narrative that lends itself to be creepy because it starts from a great story, and that, besides giving you a moment to entertain, it also fulfills its mission of handling moral situations mixed with cosmic horror well achieved if one leaves aside its flaws.

For months I wanted to see The Mend thanks to the recommendation of a friend who told me about it when he found it browsing here in Letterboxd telling me that he had already seen it, that he liked it and that I should see it because I could like it too when I saw it I did not pay much attention to it but I came across it again on a streaming website a few days ago so I could not avoid ing the opportunity and I did not miss it.

In it we find the first feature film by John Magary who is best known in the film industry for being an editor and screenwriter of independent short films, no doubt at the time I think it was an ambitious debut for him, not so much because he intended to position himself as an important artist with a relevant message to convey, but because he dared to sail adrift to try to capture some of the style/models of life called drifting that is very common in the United States and from which some filmmakers have taken inspiration to make some of their films.

The protagonist of this plot is a freelance web designer named Mat, who is a kind of drifter or urban nomad: he is about forty years old, lives seasonally in different cities, and carries all his belongings in a backpack. At the beginning of the film, his girlfriend Andrea, after a fight of which we only see or hear the final screams, throws him out of the apartment where he was babysitting their preteen son Ronnie. Mat wanders around town until he arrives, uninvited, at a party at his younger brother Alan's home, where his presence on the couch, chatting with the attendees, suddenly unsettles Farrah, Alan's girlfriend. As the story progresses we will become aware of the characters' opposition which will give way to a regressive fight that will have as collateral damage the looting of the aforementioned apartment. While Alan tries to be as straight and behave in the right way, his brother appears as an alcoholic beetle crawling to his couch, intending to stay screwed there as long as possible.

Watching it we notice a great smell on all sides of directors who have reflected these kind characters as Whit Stillman, Noah Baumbach, his wife Greta Gerwig, and why not? even the Coen brothers and the truth is not surprising since The Mend is a kind of memorable portrait that recent American cinema has given us of characters of this peculiarity, the typical New Yorkers without direction or who know what to do with their lives or existences, very similar to what we saw a few years before this in s Ha (2012) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) although this one is more sober and decadent. In social scope, s Ha is closely related to The Mend (in that it deals with people whom Mat mockingly calls "bohemians"), but that film is a celebration of s' life and her wanderings through the city, propelled by the frenetic energy of Gerwig's performance, while Inside Llewyn Davis is set in the Greenwich Village folk music scene in 1961, it is an elegy for its protagonist, who, ittedly, is at times as irresponsible and self-destructive as Mat, but who finds a kind of redemption through his music. The Mend is not a celebration or an elegy at all, but rather a caustic look at a group of characters living in suspense, alternating between ecstasy and terror at the age of time and their actions.

The performances and dialogue are in the same mode as we would find in these four directors, and you can tell that Magary knows how to emulate these with ease and we see it in the actors as they convey their emotions, whereof all the cast is once again Josh Lucas who with his personality takes over the story as Mat, a semi character study that grabs your attention. I've always felt that when he steps away from the mainstream and takes on more alternative projects like this one he's a joy to watch as he brings out the talent he possesses. In truth, I have always considered Lucas an underrated actor.

Unfortunately, although the idea the film is trying to put forth is a good one, however, it will not be fully exploited as I would have wished until the very end, to have this relationship between the characters take on an infantilizing movement, and have these adult bodies progressively act as children would. In the cramped two-room apartment, the men there shed their social characteristics as the opposition of characters becomes a physical confrontation. The reparation heralded by the title will not occur but will take place through a night out on the town with strangers and acquaintances & a strange threesome at the very end of the story.

This film demonstrates how sometimes human beings are too bizarre and insane making The Mend as unsympathetic a film as its two sibling protagonists. A case in point is the party scene, in which awkward flirting and inappropriate conversation ensues, acts early on as a yardstick for Magary's penchant for dissonance, as evidenced by the screeching violins of the original score. This unsettled side of the film, always between two genres and two feelings, never manages to be more than a pose, just as the loose structure of the script, instead of giving the film freedom, locks it into a false slow pace. In fact, at times it gives the feeling that the film lazily ticks the boxes of imperatives that must be met to please, stringing scenes together as if they were indispensable.

The Mend turns out to be an honest dramatic comedy about man's anger, desire, and madness, but it lacks in capturing the viewer as it attempts to not only expose these messages but to appropriate them and take them as its own to ultimately see itself reflected in it. If you are a fan of the directors mentioned above as references, you will love this indie work and even find it special, but if you are not, I find it difficult to enjoy.

Since the beginning of the year, I wanted to see this movie, but torrent websites which I frequent on a common and daily basis did not have it (this is partly understandable because it is a recent release) until a few days ago I found it and that's how I ed it.

This plot tells us about an event (of the hundreds that exist) that takes place on the border between Mexico and the United States, the son of a Mexican migrant is shot and killed by a young American due to a mistake. When he is pursued by the Texas police for the murder of the minor, the young man flees on his horse to avoid arrest. However, guilt accompanies him and he decides to make amends for his mistake by traveling to Guanajuato, where the migrant family is from.

No Man's Land reflects the consequences of human life on both sides of the border even though anyone's opinion on the issue that continues to be a topic of discussion at all levels of government can be varied. The film tells the story in a very simple way but without leaving aside the most important thing which is to see how these two families decide to handle the problems with their sons while dealing with the conflicts that arise along the border, although the script is a little predictable it could have had some adjustments for the ing cast and although the plot can fall into the simple, there are certainly many scenes that feel authentic and without becoming overly dramatic or over the top soap opera-type as it does manage some moments of rhetoric that speak eloquently about the current sense of discord, tempered with the hope that there can be reconciliation and could be filled with noble ideas about the value of listening and learning from the 'other side of the immigration crisis, but gradually the film becomes tiresome to watch.

The performances of the cast without being relevant are solid and keep the audience interested, starting with Jake Allyn who has just enough charisma to make him enjoyable to watch where he plays a talented baseball player from Texas with a future in New York, but who has a heart and is someone the audience will not hate the character at first but may later change their thinking towards him. Veteran actor and comedian George Lopez plays a Texas Ranger who is not bilingual in Spanish and is believable as he performs his police duties in each country. Jorge A. Jimenez plays the father of the young son who loses his life during the border crossing and his scenes of anger and anguish can be deeply felt by the audience. Andres Delgado is quite good as the evil young coyote and his performance is chilling, especially during a scene in which a bus is forced to stop and the engers are threatened. Frank Grillo (who in addition to acting serves as executive producer) and Andie MacDowell are playing Jackson's concerned parents and are a great addition to this ing cast. They are believable as parents, but they don't have a lot of screen time to dominate Jackson's story and can become forgettable by the end, although there is a powerful if a brief scene in which McDowell's character reminds us of when Texans and Mexicans were friendly to each other in the face of dramatic change.

Having said all that, what is the problem with this film? That although it exposes issues that touch very real fibers which happen on the border between these two countries the messages only remain in mere cursory attempts and instead of making the viewer think and that this is the one who draws his conclusions from everything he sees is the script which directs us not to do so, but rather to do the following the screenplay is the one that leads us not to do so but on the contrary and wants us to think only about what it only reflects and added to that it feels excessively long considering the lack of complexity of its plot and ends up looking like we are in a generic lecture instead of being in front of a movie.

No Man's Land is an unmemorable exposé of the ever-growing immigration crisis, and while it gives it humanity, it is its clichés, forced didacticism, and lack of depth that detract from the power of its missive.

I that at some point in the early 2000s I got to see this movie somewhere, I don't know if it was at a friend's house or a party. We are facing a semi-sequel to a flick considered by many as a cult animated film Heavy Metal, without knowing (even at that time) that in the 80s had already been gestated this first part which the truth is that I like it although I do not consider it one of my favorites. I have seen it again this "2000 versión" to refresh my memory knowing about it again on a torrent web.

The story is based on a key that drives crazy everyone who touches it, where a couple of diggers find it, one of them is Tyler and in doing so becomes the villain of this story, a sadistic, violent, impulsive, rapist who emerges from the personality of the miner once found the key and from here, begins the gore, the blood, the morbid of the deaths in spades. Abducting people to distill it because they have immortality water in their bodies, which is used to regenerate. He travels in search of the fountain of eternal youth, an unoriginal plot but shown in a wild way like these comics. The other character, the main one, the victim is called Julie. She is blinded by a thirst for revenge towards Tyler and goes on a journey to kill him, even if it is very difficult. The film revolves around her in a rather sexual way and with many deceptions as well as some plot twists.

For the change of millennium and to modernize a proposal that in 1981 served, in addition, as a field of experimentation for several incipient digital effects applied to the animation was sought to create in this second part and a tribute to the tribute of the popular and free Canadian science fiction magazine and eroticism, translation of the French Métal Hurlant. From what I read on the web the new creators of the project gave up the mosaic of comics of the first part to develop only a single futuristic story and leave aside the anthology aspect (which for me is more than understandable) as they only wanted to focus on making a much more developed story giving more personality to the characters, this one was based on The Melting Pot, a graphic novel from outside the magazine but with a similar sensibility, created by Kevin Eastman (co-author of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and editor-in-chief of Heavy Metal since 1991), Simon Bisley and Eric Talbot, and which is quite reminiscent of the Taarna segment of the previous one, even with the reference to the inverted striptease of the feisty and voluptuous heroine, which doesn't surprise they recycled this one again since that story was the best of them all from the 1981 film.

Like his first part, Heavy Metal 2000 presents the struggle of good against evil propitiated by an object of greenish glow (also reminding us of the Loc-Nar of the previous one) that promises eternal life, added to epic family revenge and all this with the same air of sword and sorcery comic. In this story, the characters do not try to understand the world around them, or even to solve an enigma that explains the origin of the world or the universe. They accept the world in which they are immersed and adapt to it without questioning it, both the protagonist and the villain have a goal, and to achieve it they will do anything. However, the film is agile, respects the hour and a half of duration without going down other paths, and maintains the level of entertainment.

A positive aspect is that it has a better animation of the drawings of the time, although unfortunately, it starts to be contaminated with some digital shots that take away dynamism and when watching it in 2021 you end up noticing it less digital than it seems but more handmade which many may see or consider it as "old", despite only having 21 years of having been made. I can say that it is a worthy sequel to Heavy Metal that although it does not follow the structure of its predecessor in of exposing several stories, this aspect did not bother me (and that I am a lover of anthologies) because the plot is very well carried and entertains from beginning to end, from the first minutes easily gets us right into the action and this does not disappear, besides there is a lot of blood splatter and deaths, but unfortunately, its biggest flaw is that although the film is fun I missed seeing more moral or social messages that if there were in the original as well as having a more nostalgic feeling for the characters that are presented here.

I can say that Heavy Metal 2000 is a nice futuristic fable without many complications and in general, it is a solid movie, although unfortunately it doesn't end up convincing and becomes "another animated sci-fi flick of the bunch" because it lacks something to become epic or memorable, it won't be a movie that innovates or leaves a mark like its predecessor. If you are a diehard fan of the first part you may end up seeing more flaws than virtues but to see it casually to let yourself be carried away by a mind-blowing time without many complications is more than correct.

Will this be the most controversial review I have ever written (so far) in Letterboxd? Believe me, I tried to make it as objective, unbiased, and respectful as possible. I'm ready in case if anybody wants to cancel me 🙍

I at some point in my adolescence I got to see this film directed by the very divisive Neil LaBute. At that time I ed it boring and without any sense to the point of thinking it was another bad movie of the bunch, one of those that you can find on any TV channel, but well, it is normal that when we are in puberty we see, think and feel things very differently compared to when we reach adulthood and therefore our maturity makes us change the perspective of how the world can be very different from how we imagine it, and more than three years ago I again with this film thanks to my dear Eli Hayes (R.I.P.) since he mentioned it in his list called 80+ of the Scariest Non-Horror Films I’ve Ever Seen although to be frank, I found it very little disturbing since I thought its approach would be more crude and offensive.

In this film, we are treated in a moderately cynical and ruthless way the life of two men with thoughts that we could call sexist and recalcitrant who only think of taking emotional revenge on women. When watching it we find a plot in which these two men (apparently) make a deal to play seduce a poor deaf girl, a co-worker, with the only goal of abandoning her the moment she falls in love with both of them. Unfortunately many when they see it get carried away by the morbid as well as by how toxic it can be appreciated and it is partly true that the film leaves you with that feeling but if you watch it more carefully you might realize that precisely the most interesting thing about the film and that, unfortunately, is not fully developed (in some part because of its director) in the story is not precisely the plot that the two guys plot against the disabled girl, but the real objective of the revenge of Eckhart's character towards his "best friend".

When watching this film we notice how it contains many of the constants that identify LaBute's works, such as his sarcastic dialogues or his amoral characters, and part of the success of this type of productions is based, above all, on how his script is elaborated, since Labute exposes how in the world there are people dedicated to doing evil to others just for the simple fact of harming, for no reason at all. Undoubtedly, the director's debut film was so good that it would be difficult for him to direct something equal or superior to this, especially with such silly films as Nurse Betty or the failed remake of The Wicker Man. However, for me, this film fails in one of the basic pillars: the dialogues, without being bad, are not up to par and end up being somewhat redundant, which irremediably damages the whole film and the actions that occur in them.

As for the performances we see Aaron Eckhart tackling his role as the alpha male or macho of the bunch of men in the office and I could assure you that here he gives us one of his best performances, if not the best of his career. He is despicable, obnoxious, hateful and all the adjectives would fall short to describe how evil his character can make you feel. Alongside him an unknown Matt Malloy, as the weak and manipulated by his supposed buddy, who gives us a good and convincing performance playing the wimp who is convinced by Eckhart to hurt any woman who crosses his path just because of an experience he had. The female part comes from the hand of Stacy Edwards, the truth is that her performance has touched fibers in me and is more than correct, a discreet actress who has surprised me very pleasantly here and with whom it is impossible not to feel identified at the end of it. In it, I found a simple but cruel and real plot that will leave you wondering how there are people who can behave like this in life and sleep well at night.

This is a black comedy about misogyny, cynicism, and the coldness with which various issues related to the male gender are handled, leaving certain questions in the air such as do all men act like this and are we the same? Should our manhood be synonymous with power and courage? What makes us men: our genes, the environment, the context, the life we have had to live, or is it a mixture of all of them? Even so, I feel that the objective of the film, which is not exactly to make people laugh (obviously), is achieved with the main characters and their participation in such a game, with the implications of playing with someone's life, even so, I consider that the director does not judge or the actions of his male protagonists but rather makes us see their perspectives and therefore we give them the benefit of the doubt of why they act like that, I clarify that I do not justify their actions nor am I on their side nor do I say that everything they do is good but at the end of the day. .. what is and what is not? 🤷

Giving my very personal point of view I would say that maybe because of the theme we are watching I would say that more than being a purely sexist film we are facing criticism of American corporate culture and the people you can find in these places and how their power corrupts them, but however this does not generalize or should generalize us as men, it could be that many have similar ideas as well as ways of thinking and acting in life and act so with those around us but that does not mean that we are nefarious human beings.

In The Company of Men will not contain scenes with blood or physical violence, but perfectly describes a psychopathic behavior, a film which I think should be seen more than twice as this story puts several issues on the table and give to talk and discuss various points of view where each person according to the life that has can generate different comments, in part that's the interesting thing about cinema: every person has an own point of view. Let's say that this film is the male version of Promising Young Woman although less obscure and without providing or selling political or social messages since both are counterparts or a kind of Ying Yang of the same theme: exposing inequality towards the female gender.

Undoubtedly this film deserves more attention from the public because here we are facing an atypical work since stories like this are no longer made in our time since they have unfortunately become almost extinct in the film industry, although thinking about it, I prefer that this one remains hidden from the knowledge of the viewers because if it had more visibility perhaps they could cancel it and I think it would not deserve it and it would not be fair, because something that life has taught me (and is something I have always thought) is that whoever wants to be offended and feel upset by a movie, character, or thing without reason that it is only a sign of how little thinking we are and how we should not take things so much seriously.

I have decided to see this film with the reason of looking for an experience in it as well as to see how and in what way they portray these issues since Priest does what cinema should really achieve and does not always do so: make you think as well as reflect everything observed in it, which is directed by Antonia Bird, a very provocative woman when exposing issues without fear of what the viewers think of her works.

Our narrative centers on Father Greg Pilkington, a young Catholic priest, who arrives in a village in Ireland to replace the recently deceased former parish priest. He will soon have to face two thorny problems: the secrecy of confession, even if they are reportable crimes, and his homosexuality, which he keeps secret.

A film that is almost three decades old, it deals with themes that transcend all time barriers and are always relatively topical: the church, religion, homosexuality, faith, sexual abuse, the secrecy of confession, power, rejection, intolerance, fear, shame as well as guilt and forgiveness. All of these topics have their place in this story in which a young priest plays in the context of a peaceful society and an extremely orthodox Catholic Church as far as its dogmas are concerned.

Knowing this, it is curious, moreover, the dilemma that gives rise to one of the plot lines: the protagonist knows that he must denounce a crime, but this would mean violating the secrecy of confession and it is also striking that he is so scrupulous with this last rule, and yet he has little problem in transgressing his vow of chastity is just one of the many contradictions of this film. It is not the intention of the film to fully address the issue of religious faith, to offend it, or to create any kind of scandal about it beyond the questions that the characters ask themselves; it does make clear the position that the church has historically assumed with cases such as the one developed and how it seeks to hide and remove "the problem" from the scene without setting positions on the matter.

I believe that it is not necessary to have any theological training on the subject to be able to make any analysis of the issue or enter into any talk regarding the dilemma in which the protagonist quickly enters, who is torn between his faith and his religious training, on the one hand, and his feelings, guilt, and disbelief on the other. Priest is an ideal film for those who enjoy debate and the exchange of ideas from a rational point of view, free of any religious or ideological fanaticism. That will make some people who profess some religions not want to see it but, as I have always said: those who want to feel offended or uncomfortable will do so because that is how they want it for themselves.

Now based on all of the above, what is my purely personal opinion about it?

All I will say is not with an offense, since I am only criticizing what my eyes see: I feel that the protagonist, as well-drawn as he is, is not even presented as he should be, that contrast between his beliefs, personal faith, and preference does not end up blending at all. The narrative is surrounded by characters that are not so well treated with stories whose actions within the story have any structure, I say this because of the subplot of the girl confesses that her father abuses her, but refuses to tell her mother even though as soon as her mother finds out everything is simply solved she blames the priest for not telling despite being such a dreadful mother herself. The protagonist sleeps with a man at the first opportunity in a bar even though his sexuality must be kept secret only to treat him with total contempt until he gets fed up with him and looks for another and then the priest repents: suddenly, for no other reason, they love each other (needless to say that the love story is not even minimally developed at all). Also, the traditional priest accepts the homosexuality of the protagonist as soon as he finds out without even thinking about it (there is no tension whatsoever). But well, in any case, the only interesting thing in the film is the religious doubt mixed with the homosexual identity, although every time it seems that it is going to be treated with the slightest style, the story dodges it and becomes monotonous again: since both exposed worlds that are religion and homosexuality never collide, it seems as if they seek to avoid morbidity and it is understandable but if you dare to expose it... What does it cost you to do it properly?

Even so, I think it is worth seeing because it is made without creating scandals and with great care so that the story is not distorted by images that could have been morbid and manipulative. It also has actors who have been devoted to their interpretation, such as the (probably) only leading role that Linus Roache has had in his entire acting career (the poor guy is always relegated as a secondary actor), perhaps this was one of the reasons that encouraged me to see it because he has been given that opportunity, as well as finding some secondary characters that give the opportunity despite lacking more development such as Robert Carlyle (as his hidden partner) and Lesley Sharp (the mother of the abused girl).

In conclusion, I feel that instead of delving into the doubts of faith and contradictions of the priest protagonist (which could have made for an interesting drama), this film is limited to being a criticism of the church and its rules, particularly celibacy. This would be acceptable if there were some effort to justify the views put forward, but here there is nothing more than an eagerness to expose tough issues but never quite bursting. We are made to see that the two priests of the parish are extremely caring and very committed to their community, but suffer the intolerance of the Catholic hierarchy and bourgeois society, which does not allow them to marry or have sexual relations. But rather what any viewer would end up thinking when watching it: wouldn't it be easier for him to leave the church and marry whomever he wishes? As far as I know, today no one is forced to become a priest or a nun, even if you profess a religion with fervor, it is not and should not be obligatory.

Priest does not handle a completely new theme, since many classic films of the past have dealt with the theme of the secret of confession, but here it is interesting the union with the theme of homosexuality. Undoubtedly this is one of those productions that beyond the personal tastes of each person in of acting, direction, etc., will leave you thinking (whether or not you agree with the arguments presented) which is, without doubt, its strongest point.

To be honest, I confess that even though I consider myself a big fan of the Slasher genre and watch a lot of these movies since I was a kid I had never seen Tourist Trap in my life (does this make me not deserve to be a fan of this archetype?), yes, I already knew about it before, I have read reviews about it for a long time in other sites and I have even spoiled myself in something of what happens in it. Now that I've seen it I think it needed a review from me written here in Letterboxd to redeem myself.

The plot is about a group of young tourists who arrive at a house in the middle of the countryside where they are greeted by an old farmer. However, the hospitable good man is a psychopath who possesses telekinetic powers. To make matters worse, he suffers from a certain obsession with his mannequins, which he makes from the human bodies of his victims.

From the very beginning, the plot grabs you and there is no moment of boredom, what is left over, there is only tension, terror, and panic, you can tell that its director David Schmoeller (who a few years later would be in charge of the mythical Puppet Master) had very clear what the goal was: To terrify the viewer with less than 7 minutes of footage, in which we see what happens to a young man who was traveling with a group of friends and after suffering a flat tire in his car (they travel in 2 vehicles), he leaves his girlfriend in it and goes to look for help with the tire on his back, finds a house in the middle of the countryside, enters it and it is the last thing he does in his life, then we will witness how the rest of the four young tourists are at his mercy, and when the group disperses, the terror begins and the action is frenetic and unpredictable.

Although its story has a remarkable simplicity and there are no deep or complex messages we see how it is a perfect blend of the Slasher subgenres and the paranormal, another example that in cinema everything is possible and you can use anything to do something (if you want), plus the fact that our villain is not a common killer/psychopath but has a special gift gives a touch of distinction that seeks to move away and not be compared to others and that, sometimes it is not necessary to have a good story well written, but it must be complemented with a good director who has the spirit to create something with goodwill as well as a good creation of scenes in conjunction with a good soundtrack, in addition to providing performances which despite not being of a famous or celebrated cast also contribute much to the good achievement of this film. When watching it we also realize how in it, being less than a B series, there were no expensive digital effects and the few that there were almost not "special" at all, although for me there was no need for them since it is delirious, nightmarish, ingenious and overwhelming, especially in its last half hour.

In addition to the elemental terror that is given in it, there is also a desolate feeling of seeing some poor young people feel vulnerable and at the mercy of a hidden but close predator, it is certainly one of the most transgressive and disturbing films of this genre and psychologically charged that I having seen in this genre along with some others like The Burning (1981) or Stage Fright (1997) as this work subverts the rules to which during much of the footage pretends to conform and when the viewer is more confident, It is precisely at that moment when it shows how sinister it can be, as it is a maneuver capable of surprising viewers who believe they have already seen many films supposedly loaded with shocking revelations or unexpected twists.

Tourist Trap will not be of great quality, will have some flaws in its editing, and will not have the great production resources that make it a top-notch product but it has plenty of entertainment in the form of constant suspense and twisted terror as well as having the best purpose of making its small but significant contribution to this genre.

I have known about this little independent film thanks to the lists I have come across in Letterboxd, last year I had it written down the title of this one on a piece of paper with the desire to see it another time but until a few days ago I ed it again when I found it.

In it, we find a crime thriller that follows the story of Chase, a man who, by decisions of his youth, ended up working as a hired killer. Chase enjoys his job and has a strict set of rules that have made him one of the best in his trade. In it we are taken into the world of an assassin's trade, but also into his daily life, which he tries to keep separate, but they inevitably intertwine.

The main thing that makes Chase a good film and that is its main objective is that the interactions between the main characters are effective to have interest in it. For example, it is essential that the viewer cares about the relationship between Chase and Miles (played by Aries Spears, better known for having appeared on Madtv), who is arguably his boss and his best and oldest friend, so that one can understand the nature of their jobs and how and why the disagreements between the two are born. Also important are the interactions between Chase and his girlfriend Blair and adopted son Micah, which allows us to see that soft and loving side of the bloodthirsty killer and presents the dual and unsustainable world that Chase tries to maintain to give deep layers to the characters as well as a reason why certain moral situations occur but for a running time that doesn't even reach 80 minutes it is difficult to draw with better fullness to the characters.

The way the story is presented by writer and director Michael Matteo Rossi is interesting, with a steady pace and a visual style mixing dark shadows and neon lights. This visual game is ed by a magnificent soundtrack and performances that without being anything out of the ordinary are solid, especially that of its protagonist Damien Puckler who manages to capture the viewer's attention, he has talent and charisma in what he does and knows how to take ownership of the character and represent it as if it did not entail any effort and I must it that he helps everything in the film to flow without becoming tedious.

However, there are some decisions in the script that are a bit out of tune with the rest of the film. Something I would have liked is that the violent scenes (which are few) were more explicit, the moments that seemed to be the most interesting occur off-screen and are left to the imagination of the viewer to intuit or get the idea of what could have happened. Despite this, something that caught my attention is that this film avoids the use of women who need to be saved, but on the contrary, in this film, they are very strong personalities.

Without being the greatest thing Chase is an entertaining film, presented in a very attractive way. Yes, I know we are presented with a character that we have seen before and which has been overused and almost overexploited in the movies in different ways, but it explores him in an area that has not been seen much, and that is how he handles his daily life and how his work can affect him. Perhaps this one could have enjoyed a more daring narration and scenes because the plot lent itself without much effort, but overall it's a well-made film that does expose human values.

The first thing that many may come to mind (like me) when seeing the title is to associate it with the 2013 film directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Scarlett Johansson, but the truth is that I did not think that there had already been another film called Under The Skin and besides the title both have in common the portrayal of the search for the sexuality of its protagonist. I knew about it thanks to a blog of film suggestions and sometimes the same site gives you links to it and this was one of them which allowed me to see it.

The story centers on Iris and Rose, two very different sisters. Rose is pregnant and is overly dependent on her mother, while Iris thinks her older sister is hogging all the attention. When they receive the news that their mother has a tumor, they both fight for her to receive chemotherapy sessions, but she refuses, which leads to her death. From that moment on, the combative relationship between the two sisters worsens.

Although Under the Skin focuses on a young woman's relationship with her mother and sister and her grief and loss, the film casts a wider net as well as other themes to discuss. The narrative journey is intensely marked by the central character's search for self-integration and love. It is curious but this film does not end, as many feminist films do, with the discovery of a rage that mobilizes the female protagonist and empowers her. On the contrary, it begins with Iris's antagonism and moves through the various expressions of rage that lead her from abjection to the discovery of her voice and a mode of behavior that connects her to others. It is curious that although this film was written and directed by a woman, in this case, I am referring to Carine Adler produced by another woman and focuses on female characters, it does not explain a woman's point of view more satisfyingly but in it bares a reality that moves away from stereotypes towards this gender.

Actress Samantha Morton plays the British version of a sexually "used" American man. She worries about calling a lover, is mistreated when she does. She makes poor choices when it comes to choosing lovers and ultimately loses out on most of them. The plot presents a realistic portrait of how sexual escapism only serves so much purpose, how it only paints the faintest illusions of comfort and companionship. It is only a silkscreen for the real problems of the need for emotional and sexual fulfillment as part of companionship where Iris's real lack is her self-esteem and self-worth as a human being.

What makes Morton's portrayal so powerful is her complexity of character. After the death of her mother, her character goes through a series of transformations. First, it is she who does, who chooses. She is the one who dumps her boyfriend, the one who also decides to cheat on him, the one who sleeps with the man she fancies, plus she is the one in control, while her sister Rose is an emotional wreck. She's having a baby, she thinks her husband likes Iris, she's worried about her looks, her weight and she can't find her mother's ashes. Depdues poor Iris tries to get back with her boyfriend but discovers he doesn't love her. She runs out of money and has no one to turn to except her poor sister.

It is during this series of transformations from power to the humiliation that Morton shines. The frankness and realism of the film are also striking. A true window into the world of random hookups and how love is often not so easy to find after all, and from this story we learn how sometimes sexuality can be real and intense, and her desperation as a woman spiraling out of control was effective and poignant. We are left with no choice but to follow a protagonist unable to cope with a traumatic experience, the death of someone very close to her. We follow her down the path of estrangement, wondering if she will ever find peace.

Watching it makes me realize how sadly true eroticism is no longer portrayed well in movies these days, at least in the United States, basically because the studios lack the guts. The scene where she has phone sex with her lover and tells him what she wants to do to him is breathtaking as if a male director would have avoided depicting a woman's sexuality in such a frank and aggressive way.

Unfortunately in the end after losing control for most of the film, Iris resolves her problem with the ing of her mother and a conflict with her sister as well. But Under The Skin does a much better job of depicting Iris' problems than it does explaining them, or explaining how things are resolved in the end, which to me the film showed a lot of potentials, but to me was somewhat disappointing.

Under The Skin is full of sad, melancholic, human, and sincere lyricism but there is something in it that doesn't connect 100% enough to consider it a wonderful work, but it is still a good option if you are looking for an alternative British cinema of the nineties full of naturalism.

Well.... destiny is strange and without realizing it we come across films like this. I have known about them thanks to a friend who asked me to help her to look for them since she wanted to watch them since she got to see them in her adolescence. The thing is that I found it in OKRU (which this year has gained a special strength to see films not so well known by all). So, in the end, I decided to watch it with nothing to lose.

This story based on true events in North Carolina tells of a woman named Dot Hutlemeyer who discovers that her husband Joe, an insurance executive, has been cheating on her for three years with his secretary Lynn. Dot files suit under the Alienation of Affections Act, a 200-year-old law that, ironically, was written to protect men at a time when women were treated as property.

The film begins with a discussion of the court case in a restaurant, and the story is told in various (I would say many) flashbacks. First, we see how Dot and Joe met at a dance club, then we see events that are very common in this type of home movie, and then Lynn is introduced as a wallflower who has an unhappy marriage and wishes her life was like Joe's. The film goes back and forth between lively restaurant discussions and scenes from the past, and finally, we see the courtroom testimony, which leads to more flashbacks (and don't think we won't go back to the restaurant).

We then see how it is that Joe and Lynn began their relationship after Joe was promoted to head of his company's Burlington office and Lynn started trying to look sexy. Circumstances may or may not have forced them to travel together. Eventually, Lynn became vice president, although her duties didn't seem to change. Dot had no idea, but the office workers began to gossip. If it weren't for the restaurant scenes, the movie would have been nothing but mediocre. Still, going back and forth from the restaurant to the courtroom to the flashbacks was at times confusing.

The truth is that it's a movie that I didn't expect to dislike, maybe the beginning is a little slow, but it picks up the pace and raises many interesting moral questions as to how American society is and acts. It is a movie that many may like, I don't like courtroom movies, but I was very ired by the character of the wife and the power of action she took since I like movies about people who fight for what they believe in whether they are wrong or not.

The whole thing plays out predictably, with the scenes of cheating, final confession, and divorce that you would expect. There are only two possible outcomes and when the verdict comes I found it somewhat arbitrary and not worth the wait. There is no major plot point that introduces conflict, other than the obvious adultery and legal issue, which the viewer knows from the beginning.

Besides its moralistic message from my point of view, the best thing about this movie and what kept me to keep watching it until the end is to see two actors rather unnoticed in the film industry that appear here and I am referring to Ray McKinnon as his character full of acid humor gives life to the story so that it is not entirely monotonous and last but not least Timothy Carhart, an actor who unfortunately never shined in the movies like McKinnon and ended up relegated to making ing appearances in TV series where he was best ed for seeing him in The X Files or Star Trek: The New Generation. His character of an unfaithful man is interesting and makes you question many of his actions.

Unfortunately, as you watch it you realize how the movie is played more like a mindless comedy and less like a drama: the central characters of the love triangle are very serious, but the characters of the office employees are played bigger and more absurd than reality, which achieves a goofy effect, not that it bothers me but it just makes the plot unbalanced. Perhaps the creators of the film felt, probably rightly, that this is a somewhat absurd law. Adultery may be wrong, but it is only possible with the consent of the wayward spouse, who must share the blame. So, while the premise of the film is intriguing, it doesn't present it as something the viewer can care about, which limits the emotional impact the film can ultimately achieve.

I think that with this film we should not put barriers. It is worth watching The Price of a Broken Heart because, despite its TV movie quality, it fulfills its purpose, especially because it exposes the case of a woman who stands up and fights for a cause, but if you decide to watch it, don't demand more than you know it will not give you. Other than that, it will please you.

Disclaimer: this review is based on the original Uncensored Director's Cut who runs 88 minutes.

This is the second time I see this movie and more than anything I did it for the nostalgia that gives me because in 2016 when I entered Letterboxd I the first list that I gave like on the site, which was called "Forbidden Films" and in it chronologically listed films from around the world that have been betas from certain countries for containing explicit or scandalous scenes, but for some reason this disappeared overnight (who knows what happened to the who created it), anyway, in it was The Dorm That Dripped Blood AKA Death Dorm AKA Pranks a slasher film that was part of the infamous catalog of The Video Nasties in the UK for certain scenes of nudity and gore that in that decade on that country were seen as "too grotesque".

It all begins as Joanne, Patty, Brian, and Craig prepare an old building for demolition, when they turn out to be pursued by a killer, using a wide range of methods from a drill to an industrial steam stove. Despite not having a heavy plot, it relies on the use of atmosphere, ambiance, and locations, and the director focuses more on that than on developing the characters (well, except for two of them in the last minutes but I won't mention them in order not to give spoilers).

The story in general keeps the suspense throughout the film. The deaths although not many are very good it has special effects worthy of the era which stand out, above many other things, for being violent and bloody. With an imaginative killer at the time of the killing, a very good simple, and effective soundtrack that reminds us of the classics like Friday the 13th, with intelligent characters and have some common sense (something quite rare within the subgenre), good suspense, propitious scenario for the carnage, and an ending that probably can be the best of the movie for being atypical in this type of plots breaking with certain molds established in this genre but that even so I felt it let come predictably from its last half-hour, even so in future decades they would emulate this formula and perhaps if they knew about it in our present the Millenials or new audiences would try to cancel it (those who have seen it will understand me and know what I mean).

The Dorm That Dripped Blood will please if you are looking for a mature Slasher in the style of Nightmare!, The Stepfather, or some kind of Giallo as well as something that is not so worn out or full of gags common in this kind of stories. Anyway, I ed it better, but it's still not bad, although it won't be anything special either.

After having embarked on the filmography of director Gerard Johnson a few weeks ago with Muscle (2019) which I must it that I found quite interesting his methodical way of directing, so I decided to take another step with this one that was initially made as a short film in 2005 and four years later Johnson decided to formalize it by turning it into his first official debut film using the same actors.

Our protagonist and antihero are Tony, a lonely guy with an unhealthy obsession with action movies, usually seeks the friendship of drug dealers in his neighborhood and the girls who in phone booths, as well as neighbors, television inspectors, gays, and drug addicts, are always welcome in his apartment, provided they behave well. But when a neighborhood kid disappears, his peculiar lifestyle makes him a suspect, and his secrets will eventually come to light because he is also a serial killer, and does not hesitate to kill anyone who ends up displeasing him.

In it we find a "semi-documentary" style thriller quite particular because rather than telling us a story that has a beginning, development, and denouement, we are described to this shady person, so we are in a character study in the purest style of psycho-killer. At first glance, this man looks very introverted and quite clumsy when it comes to interacting with people, but none of that prevents him from frequenting with "negative" people around him, and during the film we also get a sketch in the form of a social and personal portrait of a person, but also of the environment and the neighborhood where he lives and where he moves.

When watching it is inevitable not to lose sight of Tony played for me by a very underrated actor such as Peter Ferdinando who manages to create something that if it had been embodied by other actors the result would have been very strident and out of place, as Tony will make us experience a wide range of mixed feelings: on the one hand, fear for the deeds he commits; and on the other a certain empathy and pity for the abuse and mistreatment suffered by our main character, in addition to the fact that it has moments in which it generates tension and others in which it allows us to get closer to Tony's mind.

The photographic shoots are well cared for in of lighting and camera position, although it has some frames that are affected by shaky movements that can dizzy but are a particular seal in Johnson and as for the theme of the deaths, these are portrayed in a fairly dry, slow and very minimalist way without reaching the aggressive gore or be grotesque.

The script is simple but has some gaps in its structure and that is where Tony's most serious problem lies, which ends up deriving two other deficiencies even or equally severe: 1 Both the depth of the main character, as well as the secondary ones and the actions that occur end up being null when these could have exploited more and with better issues & 2 which is related to the first and is that the duration of not even reach the hour and a half makes it difficult to give the plot a chance to go further, the truth is that I still do not understand why starting with a short film of 14 minutes does not expand and in the end only wants to tell us a stark, cold and sordid story about a matter that shocks and that could have opened other doors as it is seen in the last minutes but that opportunity became a miss.

To conclude I can say that Tony is a film that above all faithful to the beliefs of a director who does not hesitate to capture darkness behind the lens of a camera and also has a leading personality that despite not innovate within the archetype of murderous psychopaths (because it is really difficult for this to happen) has an actor who encourages to see it, but you can tell that this was a debut and that there were still things to polish.

It is thanks to reading the review of the Rafael Jovine that I knew about this film because if it wasn't for him I would have never come across it unless I found it somewhere else. I it from the beginning that I am not a big fan of dramas and thrillers that mix sports but somehow I got carried away with this one and have watched it blindly, in the sense of not expecting anything good or bad about it.

In this story, we meet a boxer and his manager, two loser brothers with broken hopes and dreams. The two must travel across the country for one last fight, always swimming against the tide and outside the law to try one last time to honestly reaffirm their familial relationship, but an unexpected traveling companion exposes the cracks in their relationship along the way.

When we enter Jungleland will find a simple and small film that uses many clichés about boxing movies, from the beginning it must be said that the story will not see anything new, there is no impressive twist, only the slow downhill of two brothers trying to get ahead, however where it shines is in the dynamics of the relationship between the two brothers, being realistic, raw and detailed, making a good study of that relationship. As much as we are presented with two characters who have lost a lot, have had no opportunities, and are desperately looking for something better while with each attempt to get out of the well they are sinking deeper and deeper, but also with some talent and determination on the part of the two to pursue their dreams.

As for the three performances, they are in themselves solid because all of their shows very intense, serious, and honest but the one that shines above all is that of Charlie Hunnam, in which for me this must be one of his best roles to date as it is the most complex and best-crafted character of all, it is also very interesting how Jessica Barden will be the reflection of one of the brothers, as she realizes that Lion is a person who can be used and even manipulated easily as Sky is a kind of Yoko Ono for the two brothers, which generates that the relationship between the two is crumbling. Although for me the character of Jack O'Connell is someone that maybe when the audience sees it will feel divided towards him because although he is a simple man in the background so exposes his role with an obvious dramatic force never ceases to be a puppet, first of his brother and then of the girl. I still don't understand how they pretend to show us that the trip is for him to emancipate himself, but he ends up being the wild card of one and the other. Besides, in the film industry/Hollywood, the story of the character who betrays himself just to end up falling in love or having sex with someone has been told a thousand times before.

Its director Max Winkler succeeds as a director getting the best out of these actors as well as presenting us with many interesting stylistic elements as it is intimate at times, violent at others, the film in the end I think leaves a good taste in the mouth because it goes from less to more, although it doesn't elaborate enough the plots, it gives us a film that if it is appreciated in the background is very sad, that has a clear atmosphere with some scenes of action and tension that in the sense of exposing the characters in front of their loneliness and unhappiness I think it could have been better achieved in that aspect but to me what most hinders the film is its pace, because it slows down the story at times so that it loses much of its intrinsic interest even so it is also true that every few minutes something important happens as well as some scene that raises the average quality of the film.

After finishing watching Jungleland it is clear to me that I am in front of a film that I could call a mixed bag: it presents us with a good story full of humanism and two great actors committed but even in it there is something that does not quite captivate me. Without a doubt, I recommend that it should be seen without haste and with more tranquility to enjoy it better.

I want to start my review of this film by telling a very strange anecdote since every time I have seen Puncture (this would be the fourth time watch this one) that this memory comes to my mind and I think that has also encouraged me to write about it: when it was released in March 2011 I saw it because a friend invited us to a screening since he got a copy brought from the United States (I don't know how he got it) and it's funny but in that year a very curious event happened, because seeing Chris Evans here I realize how he would give us (in my very humble opinion) his best performance to date with this film as well as realizing how under that image of a handsome, muscular man and with a pretty face in Hollywood, BUT, precisely in the month of July (four months after the release of Puncture) Evans would become known for lending his voice to the Captain America videogame launched in a lot of consoles and after that in August he would star in the movie about this mythical Marvel super hero, bringing him to worldwide fame and unfortunately leading him to be typecast in this same role from which he has hardly been able to get out of nowadays.

The story is a courtroom-type drama that exemplifies a kind of allegory/representation of the struggle between David and Goliath. A drug-addicted lawyer engaged in a legal battle against a large pharmaceutical supply corporation must also face his demons.

I'll be frank at the outset and confess that this is not an excellent film, first of all, because I am not one to watch political, judicial, or legal plots in a film and beyond fiction, Puncture takes on a case that did go to court in the United States. Not only does it attempt to expose the corruption of big business in the health care industry, but it also offers a thoughtful look at the worldwide consequences of this damaging management, but it falters when it tries to transform it into more than a film that also talks about it.

Puncture has in its favor the attractiveness of a good film based on real facts without falling into ridiculous dramatization, a good rhythm without falling into clichés of many similar films, and a theme treated with respect and reflection as well as good contrast between all the characters, situations and moral contradictions of all of them are exploited to generate mixed feelings: we can hate them, praise them, feel sorry for them or feel indignant with all of them and especially certain situations that occur in it has given me food for thought. We are facing a story that shows very human beings that force you as a viewer to form your judgment as it captures the helplessness of all of them in their struggle since each of these know perfectly well that they are right and defend a noble cause, but those who know they are wrong command, helplessness, and indignation.

Needless to say that without a doubt the one that stands out among all of them is the role of Evans because he knows how to get the most out of it, he understands and knows what he is doing, he knows the feeling of getting into the skin of a drug addict character, drowned by debts, abandoned by his wife and questioned by his professional colleague, since Mike is a man who is out of a certain way of the usual norm for this type of cases, a peculiar and atypical lawyer with a catastrophic and ferocious life of chaotic and run over behavior who barely survives to breathe and stay on his feet, with pure and dignified principles but with disastrous and weak willpower and a lousy taste for inflicting pain and damage to his person. After Evans, I would highlight the actor Adam Kassen, who plays the other lawyer, partner, and personal friend of Weiss, who does not suspect his friend's addictions until it is too late; too bad he has little protagonism since he has many nuances that are little explored and if you think about it he is the one who really "keeps" afloat the business and Weiss himself.

Unfortunately the great defect of Puncture we see with greater notoriety in how sloppy the script is, as it does not give them space for the cast to move and develop, which is unfortunate and is that at least in part for its lost potential simply fails to bring together or connect all aspects (plot, actors, scenes) in a convincing whole; because the intentions of the film could be noble, but it lacks strength, the pace is slow and there is a moment where I perceived it too generic; it also fails to find the right balance between being a judicial thriller or a personal drama, although Puncture is a didactic fact and an exercise of awareness to take as a frame of reference to understand how certain power relations are exercised in contemporary society. Unfortunately, with all its honest moral messages and good intentions, this film was a resounding failure in its premiere, so much so that it only grossed 68,945 thousand dollars at the box office (from what I researched) and this was probably due to the "amateurishness" of its debutant directors at the time, the low budget and, as I said before, the ordinary line of how the story was told.

Many friends and acquaintances who have seen Puncture call it a dull, dreary, and boring film, and I don't judge them, but I disagree with them to a certain extent. If this film had a less legal story, more focused on personal drama, and tried to expose the humanization of its characters with more precision it would be much better, since the plot shows good potential but does not end up being exploited properly as well as seeing a good leading actor that when watching it makes me think that possibly we could have been in front of great cinematic work but it was not so.

IMHO Puncture has a great ideas. Deserves more attention for sure. Very underrated film in my book.

Thanks to a friend who, like me, is gay, I have seen this rare gem of a film since he stumbled upon it on a streaming site and shared it with me so I could watch it. I am surprised to see this film listed on Letterboxd's site as it is not something for those under 18.

Forbidden Letters is a groundbreaking independent work for its time by its director Arthur J. Bressan Jr., a pioneer gay man who started with this one and several others, thanks to that he started a wave in the United States of directors who made amateurs quality movies as a form of expression to the Queer culture and that led him to raise the political ampule that existed seriously in of freedom of expression in the 70s. Sadly this director ed away (as did other directors who sought to liberate the taboos of homosexuality, such as Norman René) from AIDS, but thanks to him that he gave way to others such as Gus Van Sant or Rob Marshall and thus opened up these powers to open up the industry despite their preferences.

The film stars only two main characters, one an actor Richard Locke a quintessential father of gay porn in the 70's, considered a legendary performer in gay adult films at the time, as well as an AIDS activist and the other a young man named Robert Adams. In this film, Adams gets his older lover, Locke, who is about to be released from prison and as he awaits his release in the apartment they both shared in San Francisco their greatest sexual desires are portrayed. As a fun fact from what I read on the internet, this was dubbed "an unusual gay love story", as the film was inspired by Bressan's own experience with a pseudonym in prison.

The story is shot in black and white (although in its final moments there are some color scenes) and at times looks like a found footage mixed with a documentary shot by hand without big budget techniques and made in an experimental way where the only dialogues are several voice-over narrations. There is no great plot or story to tell, perhaps the scenes in jail are a kind of metaphor for the separation that both men suffer and that could mean not being able to be together or love each other because they are of the same gender since theirs could be seen as something forbidden or bad seen.

We are before 60 minutes of pure successions where the pleasure between the two is manifested in its maximum expression becoming a purely contemplative experience. The scenes of sex, masturbation, or nudity are 100% natural and are shown as they are, although I clarify that I am not saying that it is purely pornographic footage despite being too explicit, no doubt along with the shades of colors and the soundtrack that mixes classical music with folk the director sought an artistic expression which manages to stay away from the crude or vulgarity.

Undoubtedly for the (still little) experience I have of having seen dozens of gay-themed films, I can say that Forbidden Letters is (possibly) the most organic, photorealistic, and honest film who saw so far, with merely improvised interpretations, here we do not see pink & happy moments, nor a racy plot that lends itself to funny situations nor actors who are handsome men with perfect bodies but human beings who physically look like me or any other regular man. An experience worth witnessing.

Although it may not seem like it Letterboxd is a site that has helped various people to have a chance to be seen, heard, and known by s around the world as well as in the film industry and an example of this is the of this site Jim Cummings which for more than a decade now has made films & managed to position itself in good status with a prolific career in the film industry. Since I know this site I lived the mame around Thunder Road in 2018, but, for some reason, I never allowed me to see it as well as I have not gotten to see his other interpretations, and it is until now that I give him the opportunity for which I must say that I have found a work made with very good intentions.

Based on a short film of the same name made two years earlier, it tells the story of a policeman who, after the death of his mother, the emotional world falls apart. A film worthy of study about the most common human emotions, in a man who has one of the most difficult jobs, as he deals with the problems of others, with death and violence. The film, although low budget, makes excellent use of any recurse, all the weight falls on Cummings, who directs, produces, as well as writing the screenplay, edited the film, did part of the soundtrack, and acts; on the verge of overacting, his character is pathetic, lovable, understandable, irable and tremendously moving, because he changes of s, which from one moment to another with great speed and naturalness, is worthy of praise and great technique.

It begins beautifully with a scene that lasts about 10 minutes that are an interpretive jolt that causes emotion, embarrassment, and discomfort without knowing very well with what reaction to stay, which allows the viewer to approach the character without being able to capture it in its full dimension because one is left with the desire for this policeman to do well in life, that with each stumble, one is interested to know how he will deal with it and get up and it is simply impossible not to empathize with him as he strips his miseries until he becomes what he is: A man as capable of being decorated as he is of commanding it.

The "peripheral" performances help Cummings develop a character that can be said to be a "monologue" where he tells us his day-to-day life. The billing comes because, at times, the character's uncontainable emotions can become very repetitive, but that shows how ordinary and commonplace it is to deal with it. The film, without being a masterpiece, shows the fragility of human beings in moments rarely explored in cinema. From this point on, a series of disasters begins for the cop, who is in danger of not only losing his job for violent behavior but also of losing his daughter in a custody battle with her mother. All of this brings him to the brink of a nervous breakdown. We also find a lot of close-ups, and those of them lead us to Cummings face as the whole film is going to be sustained on his emotions and feelings. The gestures of his bewildered face are essential not only to understand the character, who is a human being with dyslexia and has certain psychological problems, but also to make the viewer more involved in the action, trying to activate the emotional side of the audience, as well as making use of black humor, which does not make us laugh out loud, but it does dose the tension, makes the viewer smile and allows us to reflect on everything we see.

The film also manages a reflection on the masculinity before the odyssey of feelings and this is observed in what for me is the climax scene of the film, in which our character descends definitively to hell where he is fired and the poor man narrates to his ex-colleagues (as well as to us the spectators) everything that has led him to such a decline: his separation and the custody of his daughter. It is undoubtedly a scene of dramatic and interpretative force, which does nothing but leaves the viewer stunned, everything in it is so human, to see how a man whose life is faltering, we appreciate in that speech little politically correct, but in the end seeks the same thing we all would want if we were in his place: love, closeness with his daughter and sister, stability and, above all, a way to express his emotions in a world in which, also for his profession, he has to project an image of implacable harshness. That is undoubtedly the best thing about Thunder Road: its sensitivity and its commitment to showing that same sensitivity in a man who does not know how to manage the expression of his feelings.

Even so, my only complaint would be two issues: despite having a length of 90 minutes it could have been shorter as well as concise and for my taste, I feel that Cummings could have resorted to care and work more on the secondary characters, I clarify that I am not saying this because he is someone egomaniac, but, I feel that it is also important that in a story of this kind they have greater development and not left aside.

Undoubtedly Thunder Road deserves a round of applause because with this work Cummings creates an original independent film as well as he has known very well how to skillfully capture the tenderness and misery of life.

I in my pre-teen years when I was in high school I got to see this movie at a neighbor's house when I didn't even know what the word Slasher meant or what this subgenre was about despite having already seen memorable sagas like Nightmare On Elm Street or Friday The 13th, since that time I have seen this one several times and again, I think this would be the 5th or 6th viewing I have given it and now that I wrote more often in Letterboxd I have entered In a mood to say what I think about it.

Slaughter High begins when some high school students (the popular ones) play a prank on Marty, the typical nerdy student. The prank ends badly, Marty suffers severe burns and his face is disfigured. Years later, when no one re the incident and everyone is an adult, those responsible for the prank are invited to a reunion at the old high school on April 1st (April Fool's Day in the United States). Once there, they realize that the reunion does not exist and that they are trapped inside. Someone will start murdering them one by one.

When watching it you realize very easily that it is one of those movies that has all the necessary and/or required elements (messy characters, nude scenes, mentally transformed killer, ingenious death scenes as well as morally divisive situations in the social collective) to be able to become a cult work within the Slasher since for that year of release (1985) this kind of movies was in its prime and heyday reaching a point where these stories were beginning to be marketed too fast to the extent of making dozens of them per year.

Although this film was handled by three directors, George Dugdale, Mark Ezra, and Peter Litten, who also wrote the screenplay between them, it is seen that it has a clear idea as well as very uniform by these to make it and it is not perceived that they have copied or pasted different ideas that contradict the vision they sought to achieve with it, but on the contrary, provide a different vision to what was used to. The first few minutes of the story may not be completely convincing and are so full of stereotypes everywhere (characters, situations, and locations) that you may not care about what you are seeing, but as it progresses everything becomes comically macabre until you see how all the characters will begin to border on madness when they are frightened by the psychopathic murderer.

The positive in it as well as the details to highlight is that the setting is very well achieved, very graphic and bloody murders with very good makeup effects (if they are handmade) as well as creating an oppressive atmosphere in the silent corridors and both in the nuances of despair of former colleagues, is where the terror manages to develop with a good narrative pulse as well as close a few scares well achieved and finally highlight the villain with that harlequin mask that manages to give chills. The plot is simple and doesn't get complex or look for deep messages, it just goes straight to the point of what it wants to show, which is to fill you with tension for ninety minutes. By the way, it's kind of ridiculous to see actors and actresses who are over 30 years old playing teenage college students... 🤷

Before I finish I want to dedicate a part of my review to give my point of view about the ending of the movie without giving spoilers. In the last minutes, we are given a twist to the whole story which when I've seen people talk about it always divides the opinion of those who see it because either you hate it because you can be disappointed and consider it bad or you love it because of how original it can be, to me it happened the second, I think it exposes how much scope has the power of the human mind as well as exposing how deranged can be any kind of person who goes through an event that can traumatize him for life. There will be those who feel sympathy or anything towards what happened to Marty because probably someone has lived something similar to what he had to go through (being bullied by others and mocked for his appearance), it is valid for someone to do so, but it cannot be denied that this is a reality that unfortunately happens in the world and especially in our western culture, that's why when you see this ending you realize how it can be equally or more depressing than any other horror slasher of its time and that it doesn't ask for nor has to envy to other huge monstrosities that were successful like Halloween, The Texas Chain Massacre or any other that has enjoyed better fame.

Slaughter High may not be the most representative film of its time, it may not be a standout as its other relatives, it may have aged poorly and it may have deficiencies in some areas (regular performances, some script or plot flaws), but it is still a macabre, dark and twisted Slasher, one of the most deranged films ever conceived by this subgenre for sure.

I must say that I was not entirely convinced or with the best dispositions on my part to see director Andrea Arnold's debut, in the end, I have done so for two simple reasons:

1. because a dear friend from Argentina recommended it in a Discord group.
2. I wanted to get rid of the bitter taste I had from having seen Fish Tank last year.

In this author's work we meet Jackie, a girl who lives alone, works at the Glasgow City Hall. Her job is to watch the images from the surveillance cameras strategically distributed around the city for security reasons. One day, she gets a big surprise when she sees on one of the monitors a man she thought she would never see again; she soon learns that he has been released from prison, before serving his sentence, for good behavior.

In this opera prima can be seen as a film of intrigue that at first seems to tell or at least say almost nothing interesting, but everything reveals what happens in it until the end to expose their motivations but is primarily a tragic drama. A film that speaks of the suffering of people, here we see the two main roles, who have to continue living with a huge burden in the past, a new life because the previous one died with their actions and circumstances. I must say that Arnold does not reach the mastery, the unforgettable scene, the perfect script but he builds an appreciable feature film with intelligent and independent cinema, very typical of a festival (like Cannes in this case).

At first, we witness all this coldly and disionately, since the style that Arnold prints to the narration are very distant. But, fortunately, the film gives small details about the protagonist, which make us intuit that behind that facade of apathy hides a farce and just when a second character appears is when the drama is unleashed.
From this moment the film recovers a pulse that it did not have, and slowly but intensely shows us the unhealed wounds of this woman, all this from the hand of the protagonist, Kate Dickie, who must bear the burden of everything, as the actress who embroiders her role, transmits laconic loneliness, emits a depressing sullen air that as the plot develops becomes more sickly to the point of believing that it seems to us that this is her personality. As for Tony Curran I liked it, the character of Clyde has already become very intriguing and I can tell that from the beginning was well planned but unfortunately, it feels unfinished, Curran does a great job but I think that the script makes him notice that this needs much more development.

The story is of an almost pitiful rawness, the director manages to print a suffocating atmosphere, we move through sordid places, sad places, working-class neighborhoods on the outskirts, buildings that look like huge beehives, gloomy, dirty floors, with gloomy characters, these elements create an atmosphere full of bitterness. Undoubtedly this is not a product suitable for all palates until the action is unleashed and the climax where it explodes in a harsh scene of explicit sex, loaded with a dry realism that is not gratuitous, serves to envelop us in the twisted mind of the protagonist.

As the minutes go by, we notice how Red Road is a hard, cold, and honest film that does not fall into sentimentality or use traps to tell the story of a woman tormented by something that happened long ago. It's like watching a film in which you don't know anything until the end, which, fortunately, in this case, makes sense of everything with ingenuity without departing from the daily routine of life. Its last brushstrokes are optimistic, which allows you, in part, to shake off the little depression that watching it would cause. Certainly, there is nothing crueler than growing up without love.

In the end, possibly, Red Road ends up being a more conventional film than it might seem at first glance, the film schemes to maintain as much suspense as possible until the end as I find it the only reason why I stayed watching it until the last minutes. Even so, I found the first part of the film heavy, in which the woman's work and the tracking, as if it were a Science Fiction movie with its security monitors, appears above all. I feel that it doesn't contribute anything in its first 90 minutes, I'll keep the last part of the footage with some shots of the suburbs of Scotland and of course the erotic scenes for being organic as well as very daring.

I will not deceive myself: the film has not captivated me at all, however, Red Road is a film that shows us an example of how sometimes we must continue to believe in the power of cinema and perceive how varied it is as if it were a fan, the truth is a good debut and I liked it more than Fish Tank, but hey, for tastes, there are many colors.

Eli Roth, a member of the so-called "Splat Pack" (along with other directors like Rob Zombie or Alexandre Aja), based the central idea of his debut film on his own experience: Roth contracted a strange virus while working on a farm in Iceland, which devoured his skin. With this premise originates his great tribute to horror cinema, endorsed by Quentin Tarantino (he has said that he is the future of horror), David Lynch, or Angelo Badalamenti (who collaborates in the BSO). As well as being considered by many to become a worthy heir to Sam Raimi, George Romero and other filmmakers to whom he refers in this his first film.

In a remote cabin deep in a forest, a highly contagious cannibalistic virus turns five friends on vacation into paranoid, hostile beings who will try to eliminate each other. Cabin Fever takes advantage of each of the clichés of horror films, endowing them with a latent sarcasm, managing not only to be a genre film but a grotesque, macabre, hooligan and at times hilarious work.

The film has a prologue that seems not to say much and could even feel boring but as the minutes go by everything becomes bestial, with a terrifying atmosphere that already anticipates the macabre feast that we will enjoy later. But this sinister touch is not only in the little or much gore shown but also with the set of characters, which at first glance it may seem that we find the typical motoneuronal teenage gang of the most stereotypical, ready-to-be slaughtered by the serial killer on duty. Because here the serial killer does not exist, the evil that will destroy them can be divided into two sides: the virus itself and the inner evil of each individual, since the disease will bring out the worst that each one carries inside (in a good way) because seeing themselves in extreme situations, each of the characters will display a selfish, detestable and twisted behavior with the sole purpose of saving their skin (never better said hahaha).

As Roth himself knows that he is not inventing anything original or unique with his film, he has fun torturing his characters, whereof all of them the most sympathetic face to see is that of the protagonist Rider Strong. To say that they have bad luck is an understatement, so the film is a succession of scenes in which all of them will acquire the disease in the most eccentric way possible, it is as if Roth was a puppeteer that has fun putting a thousand and one tests to his characters to see how far they can survive.

On the other hand, the screenplay (by Roth himself) plays with the director's knowledge of the archetypal characters taught in these teen horror films, and has fun recreating that portrayal. That intelligence is conspicuous by its absence is a fait accompli that we find in a lot of films of the genre, and they could not be missing in this one. As we can see, the film is combined with black humor, which is what gives some life to the film, trying to differentiate it from hundreds of other similar films. Anyway, the film is routine and full of isolated flashes that however are overshadowed by the general monotony of the film.

Cabin Fever is undoubtedly a twist with a personal seal by its director to the kind of B movies of decades ago which he loves and therefore decided to pay homage to them.

It wasn't thanks to Letterboxd or IMDB or any Facebook group that I found this film, but thanks to the site Rate Your Music that looking for the actor Til Schweiger in the web searching from another different film I saw that this one has a good rating on the site and is also considered one of the 150 films made in 1997. So I was curious to know what was so special about it.

This film from tells us about two terminally ill young guys who dedicate themselves to live their last days with intensity and madness, skipping all the rules. The story is a unique combination of drama and comedy and presents some very crazy situations that provoke laughter. Even though the innermost longings of the protagonists are revealed to be limited. At the same time, two thugs (by the way, one of them is the actor Moritz Bleibtreu, famous for appearing in the mythical cult films Run, Lola Run! and The Experiment) are asked to deliver a car with an important package inside. The sick young men decide to escape from the medical center and happen to steal the thugs' car, parked in the parking lot. In addition, in their last days, they start an accelerated criminal career giving them all the same and getting money for their last wishes.

What at first seems to be introduced as a typical American crime comedy ends up becoming, after a few seconds, a drama marked by the Carpe Diem philosophy. Director Thomas Jahn plays with both genres, shooting from cops respecting traffic rules in the middle of a chase to one of the main characters crying for fear of death. A film that goes from the absurd to the sentimental constantly, and keeps the viewer hooked by its plot.

Although it manages to make you forget for a moment the seriousness and drama of the situation, you know that in the end both the characters and the viewer will have to face it, when that moment arrives it does not disappoint and manages to move. Knockin' on Heaven's Door is a fun, funny, and entertaining film, with two protagonists who are neither the good guys nor the bad guys of the story, immersed in a personal situation that does not give rise to moral judgments about their actions, they simply have a goal and do not hesitate at any time to reach it, which will make them get into one mess after another until the end of the film that although it can be quite predictable and does not give rise to surprises, no doubt it is a very sad ending.

Undoubtedly this film is quite unknown, and the appearances of Schweiger in what this could be his best starring role takes on the role of Martin, the more impulsive and thuggish patient of the two. Jan Josef Liefers, on the other hand, plays Rudy, an orderly and impressionable man, and there is no doubt that the leading couple has chemistry, in good times and in bad. Their adventures, dressed in eighties clothes, take them to the countryside, five-star hotels, tailor shops, brothels, etc. Well, scenarios of all kinds, which may be simple for more than one due to its lack of details but do not end up being so badly achieved.

The plot is the strongest point of this work and it is also interesting to see that several of the dialogues revolve around giving allegories to the ocean, it gives the feeling that both Jahn and Schweiger (who were the screenwriters of the film) are lovers of coastal landscapes full of sea. Many phrases are also loaded with religious meaning, and Martin assures that whoever does not get to see the blue landscape ends up being ignorant in the afterlife. In the dramatic moments, there are also several rhetorical figures "In the sky, they only talk about it, about the ocean, about the sunset, about how fucking wonderful it is to see that big ball of fire melt". Overall, we are talking about a coherent script, beautiful and, at certain moments, full of comic humor.

In short, an exciting, energetic, funny, and cinematic narration. A film with some technical errors, which cannot be denied, but within all this it is interesting from start to finish. The message it gives us is very inspiring as it tells us that at all times we must give importance to take advantage of life and not think or worry about what might happen tomorrow but savor the moment, it is also full of hope and optimism to those who can no longer escape death because it gives them calm and peace by addressing it in the most enjoyable way possible.

Knockin' on Heaven's Door is a solid road movie that mixes drama and comedy with a touching ending. We are talking about a film whose shots, photography, and scenery cannot be compared to a Hollywood or big-budget production, but they don't need to because it will not leave anyone indifferent.

I'll cut to the chase: I only decided to see it (like many others who say the same when they reviewed it here on Letterboxd) because Dan Stevens is the lead character. Yes, he has something that magnetizes you to watch it.

In The Ticket after regaining his sight, a man named James remains metaphorically blind by being obsessed with the superficial. At first, James tells us, from the safe family environment that seems kind, of a man who prayed to God. His blind condition could be something worrisome and limiting, but it does not seem so in that penumbra of figures and shadows in which he lives, because through his voice we can see (worth the irony) that he is not alone.

The title is a metaphor about those who "pray to win the lottery, but never buy the ticket" and that is the strangest thing about the script, which tries to work on the psychological side by bringing to light the inner demons of the consumerist, capitalist world, and the easy corruptibility of ideals, as well as giving a critique of morality, superficiality, money, power, friendship, fidelity, love, religion, the virtue of simplicity and human humility.

The Ticket has the immense problem that its plot could be enough for a short film, but hardly for something longer. Yes, maybe James' progressive descent into hell is interesting to watch, maybe Stevens has charisma and gives his all and more to show an intensely personal drama, but there is only that, now, where is the possibility of exploring James' environment as a result of his new condition? The rest of the characters are just dummies compared to him. As well as making us think to care about James once we see his moral degeneration, but the plot never lets us know what kind of person he was before he regained his sight, and therefore his journey may interest you, but never fully involve you.

Again, all of that wouldn't be a problem if this were a short film or something similar, but stretching out the minutes just makes it feel unnecessary from highlighting the only themes there are. The lottery ticket story perhaps serves to trace James' different stages, but by the fourth time, you'll have learned that it's a story he uses as he sees fit when it's in his interest, perhaps an unsubtle demonstration that we change our beliefs according to our moment in life, besides the only character who stands out (despite appearing little) at his side is his friend Bob, another blind man who subtly reproaches him for his newly acquired clairvoyance, who continues to appreciate the ticket story as a parable of our moral futility and not as a tool to win customers.

Technically the film is not terrible and it is not boring, it has strange and diffuse images, the treatment of color, contrast, and sharpness and it is noticeable that the production was made for the exclusive use of Stevens and that his role had emotional depth as the absolute axis of the plot, it is remarkable for showing his physical and psychological transformation upon discovering this "new world" but unfortunately it is never satisfactorily explained. In the end, the message can be reduced to "don't be a fool, life can take its toll on you". I think it's something obvious, that didn't need so much emphasis.

In truth, I expected to see something better (not sarcasm) and in the end, I have found a film with good ideas but if they had been exploited in another way (either director, screenwriter, or approach) I think they would have a better result as it could have given for more but everything turns out to be insubstantial.

Overall I'm going to be condescending and give The Ticket three ★★★.

One ★ for good intentions (despite not quite being fulfilled).
One ★ for some beautiful and contemplatively eye-catching scenes.
One ★ for Stevens, who if it weren't for him I might never have seen it.

In Japanese culture, the name of Hisayasu Satô is closely associated with transgressive horror films, sadism, and even semi-pornographic content. Among them is this small duration film which focuses daily on what they are used to doing in that country, which in this case would be to portray a man's obsession with the male body.

Kurutta Butokai or Muscle starts when a photographer of muscle-bound men beds down with the man of his dreams from him, he enters a world of pleasure and pain that culminates in him chopping off his lover's arm with a samurai sword. The photographer is imprisoned for this act, but when he is released twelve months later, his sexual obsession with the (now) one-armed man returns. If you see before films made by Satô you find his signature all the way, from the drab, industrial locations to the subdued flesh tones. The climax packs a bunch and is consistent with Satô's bleak worldview.

As I say before This film deals with human manias, both sexual and otherwise (but mostly sexual), only now from a gay point of view and relatively straightforward and accessible. The relationship between Ryuzaki and Kitami starts tenderly but soon turns sour when the younger man reveals sadistic tendencies his partner cannot contend with. The end of the story at the masked ball sequence where the lovers are reunited is both incredibly shocking and bizarrely touching in a very Japanese way.

What I will say may sound inappropriate but maybe this film will be enjoyed though, granted, it'll work better for you if you are gay, if not this erotic aspect left you cold, even though they are a lot less explicit than they seem at first glance. It is also interesting to see the references that this director makes to the work of Pier Paolo olini because we see some scenes that will remind us of his works Teorema and Saló, that at the end could've made the film end up looking pretentious and awkward yet it's anything but I think it is an interesting proposal to appreciate.

Muscle is without a doubt a film that is not for all tastes but is a well-made conceptual work, and a serious foray into homoerotic & pervert subculture.

With Coolworld I have a curious experience since I have known it for more than twenty years since this film was shown on a local channel in my country during the late 90s and early 2000s, and believe me, on several occasions either alone or with my sisters or cousins, I think it is one of the most engraved memories that I have because this was my first approach to cinema and unintentionally was the first film I saw of Ralph Bakshi without knowing who he was, and that like the other films that he has put on his shoulder, fell into oblivion by the public and not to mention the critics.

It is a mixture of real characters and cartoons. When the ex-convict and cartoonist Jack Deebs was behind bars, he discovered a way to escape by creating Cool World, a comic book series with a voluptuous protagonist called Holli Would. But the cartoonist ends up a prisoner of his fantasies when Holli drags him to Cool World, intending to seduce him so she can become real. A tough detective, the other real being in Cool World, warns Jack of the law: Noids (humans) can't have sex with Doodles (cartoons). And yet flesh proves to be weaker than ink, as Holli ends up taking on human form in Las Vegas, beginning a chase through different dimensions that threaten the destruction of both worlds.

The one very serious sin this film commits is that it is intended for a considerably adult audience, and fuses that intention with some comedic beats that are only justifiable in children's films, so the film lies in that strange intersection between the two styles that ended up killing it. More concretely, the aforementioned flaw lies in the fact that the film has a high erotic content that will make it prohibitive for the child audience that might be attracted to this production. Once the child audience has been harmed, the adult audience will demand a set of expectations that are not met, finding it simply a children's film with considerable erotic content. The combination of aiming-reality is curious, with the occasional blatant visual flaw, but it comes out well in of technique.

The film is fast-paced, hilarious, aesthetically delightful, imaginative, with charismatic characters and plenty of references to classic cartoons. And Kim Bassinger plays her character divinely, the criticisms of her performance in this movie seem to be unfounded, an easy resource to call the pretty blonde dumb. Anyway, I don't know what the fuck all those who give it a bad review were expecting to see, because the movie more than delivers what it promises. As for the cast, the best thing is to see an almost unknown youngster named Brad Pitt, along with Gabriel Byrne and as I said before, Bassinger herself, the latter two being the best-known faces that complete this project.

Having said all this, perhaps its biggest flaw is that at times the film is a crazy story, a script that does not know where it is going, and a series of bizarre events that do not make it easy for the viewer to understand much or empathize with the characters. Besides, it seems as if the chemistry between Byrne and Basinger doesn't look very good, and the technology hasn't advanced enough to make the interaction between actors and drawings credible, strange but appealing.

The truth is that I can't deny it, I still love it, I think it's a cult movie, and I know it's not a masterpiece, but I enjoy watching it as much as if it was. Maybe it is not as well done technically as Roger Rabbitt (Ralph Bakshi surely did not have as many means or economic resources as Robert Zemeckis), but I think it is a waste of imagination and has so many visual details, baroque, ornate and excessive, yes, so what? (more excessive is The Lord of the Rings and that everyone thinks it's a wonder), I never get tired of watching it, I always discover something new and different.

From what I see many s here do not like Coolworld and have given it a very low rating, I do defend it and for my part, I give it a dizzy four stars that for me it deserves, more than anything for the nostalgia of my childhood, I advise you that if you are going to get into watching animation for adults and do not want to die trying I recommend watching this movie as it is a good place to start.

Last night I had to watch this movie with my sisters so because we hadn't spent the time for a while to watch something together. This film is directed by Matthew Parkhill which was a co-production of the UK & Puerto Rico, a story of light horror and intrigue with a plot close to science fiction and a touch of romance with a semblance of low budget TV film but worthy production.

In it after a somewhat traumatic divorce, Mary Kee moves into a house, in which there is an object that catches her attention: a beautiful antique telephone. One day, she receives a call from a certain Rose and, despite the initial strangeness, ends up establishing a sort of telephone friendship with her. The day Rose tells her that he is calling her from the past, Mary, terrified, decides to cut off all with her, but it will not be easy. Mary will soon meet Professor Guido, who will help her to unravel what is hidden behind the sinister calls that seem to originate in the same place, but decades ago, and with dark intentions.

The plot has protagonists who star in the cinematic-vampire panorama of recent times, Rachelle Lefevre, who gave life to the role of Victoria in the Twilight saga, and Stephen Moyer, the vampire Bill of the hit series True Blood, curious, isn't it? Besides them we see other actors that complete and give important to the main actress with two secondary actors like Luis Guzman and Ed Quinn, I see many times those four in other films or series, but, for some reason, although the sum of these characters are not bad for me none of them manages to stand out at all feeling all on the same level.

As I said at the beginning, The Caller is a thriller, and ultimately a horror film the biggest mistake is to see it as a horror film, as it has very little of that. Unfortunately, to see it in any other way (even as a comedy) would be very boring, so much so that you would lose interest at the time of production. Imagine The Ring, or any other Japanese fantasy (or its American remake) but without any fear.

The film develops at a leisurely pace, almost lyrical considering the genre in question, almost with a European style, and with special emphasis on the scenes in which the telephone is the protagonist: an element used in horror films of all kinds. Despite this, Parkhill manages to give it another perspective and elaborates around it a story of manifest disquiet, divided into two parts: one in which the personal drama of the protagonist is shown, her problems with her ex-husband and her life without apparent direction, and the other preeminently supernatural and the one that interests the viewer the most.

Perhaps I expected a little more from the overall result, a little more charisma from the protagonist, and a little more depth and sordidness in the environments it deals with. Nevertheless, the film meets expectations and is a fairly acceptable exercise in tension and intrigue, with a few surprises in the script. It is interesting that game of the age of time and knowing that you realize how it drinks from the same waters of The Butterfly Effect and others like it, which dealt with the issue of how many decisions we make in our past, can influence our present.

The bad thing that ends up taking away its motivation is that the film does not take full advantage of this element, it would have been better if they used more confrontations, and the protagonist also managed to manipulate at some point the evil being, and not that it had her as a puppet, the dialogues of the "deranged" lack a bit of spark and black humor as well as why she tells you her first and last name and that of her friend? or why only she re having met certain people and others who also had dealings with these? think all this makes the fear that you can feel when you are watching is left aside.

I'm not saying this one is bad and it never resorts to crude terror, but the problem and its solution are introduced delicately. I think its effectiveness lies in accentuating the inner state of the protagonist, who goes from feeling harassed to doubting her mental health until, finally, accepting the paradox on which the story is based. The tragic ending of the story is a good counterpoint, a rupture of the expectations that a more conventional story would have confirmed. The same goes for the red herring of the abusive husband's story.

The Caller is an atmospheric film that goes from horror to a psychological charge with an unoriginal plot but with a staging that is interesting and successful. The truth is that I didn't expect anything good from it and in the end, I can't complain at all since I didn't dislike it. Interesting to the time without great pretensions.

In June of this year, I know about the existence of his film as a recommendation from a friend who had seen it only because Frank Grillo appeared in it and he is a big fan of this actor, the truth at that time I ignored it and let it by but, by chance I found a copy of Donnybrook a few days ago in DVD format at a very low price and I could not resist to buy it.

This independent film is based on Frank Bill's crime novel, which I didn't know and much less read since here in my country it is difficult to get hold of it. In it, a man who does everything he can to help his family get ahead participates in the Donnybrook, a legendary fight with a $100,000 prize for the last man standing at the end.

The most remarkable thing to see in this story is that it wants to show us in some way a kind of social representation where the failure of the deep and desolate America is exposed in a certain way, as well as show us a little of the reflection that exists in the working class as well as the poverty of the United States, a fragment of the population that feels marginalized from what happens in the country as they live in the decadence of the American dream, trapped in poverty, drugs, and violence, from which, here, it is impossible to escape.

The hope is this place called Donnybrook, a place where poor Earl, a war veteran concerned about providing a better future for his family, and Chainsaw and Delia Angus, two siblings with an unhealthy and incestuous relationship who are dedicated to the manufacture and sale of drugs. The road to the place is plagued with death and violence. Thus everything is prepared for the final fight: a bloody duel in which they are willing to risk everything regardless of their lives.

Here we find a kind of modern western, with touches of No Country for Old Men by the Coen Brothers in which a very fit Grillo plays a character who already he has played before and that he seems to love to play: the typical dude who is a lethal, sadistic and inhuman killer. For his part, Jaime Bell, an all-terrain actor and for me very versatile, barely has any dialogue but is seen with great aptitude and energy building a credible character who sacrifices everything for his family. We also have Margaret Qualley, who embodies a young Yankee, perverted, and maintains a violent relationship with his brother. The cast is completed by James Badge, who plays a corrupt and dirty cop, who seeks to hunt down Grillo's character. As we watch them we realize how these characters are decadent and it seems that all of them have been excluded from society, that they have hit rock bottom and their only recourse is to be tough and act negatively. Fortunately, it is the four of them who with their charisma and determination take the acting risk to provide good characters and if it had been other actors, the result would probably have been terrible.

Having said all this, the main problems that the film shows for me is firstly in its rhythm, in some parts it is very slow and seems to go nowhere or that the story is not going to tell us more. It has a hyper-stylized direction that can make it tiring and the expected final fight of all against all, barely lasts a few minutes, leaving a taste of little which leaves me with a cold feeling at the end. The story was appealing and the violent parts are well filmed, but all the problems I mentioned, make the film not entirely enjoyable from beginning to end, anyway, we are facing a risky film in its narration, with a certain dose of tension and that develops quickly, with almost no introduction. It can be considered a furiously entertaining B/indie film without falling into the trashy, but with a less pretentious script, it would have radically changed the whole result.

Watching Donnybrook I feel frustrated and even feel some impotence, because it has interesting messages to denounce, a good story, a charismatic cast as well as some very well captured scenes but its direction, editing, an unbalanced pace, and execution do not favor it at all and only help to ruin a product with enormous potential and that could have been better. What a pity.

Two nights ago when I was awake at night (something I don't do lately because my body can't take it anymore) I found this movie changing the channels on TV and I didn't go to sleep until it was over. It follows the story of Marcus, a young man with a disease that forces him to do things at night, while he sleeps, that he then doesn't the next day. But one day he wakes up with a bloody knife in his hand.

The film for those who have read the synopsis, and have noticed the cast, will think that it is a TV movie, soap opera, or even a poorly made TV series with little budget, and the truth is that it is not far from this reality. The performances are normal and nothing remarkable, and the protagonist played by Philip Winchester is correct as far as it goes, he tries to get out of the image of a handsome man and although he does not give a memorable performance or top notch, he does not do it bad either.

It is one of those interesting plots that although it seems to leave no surprises, is hanging and needing to know what has happened until you reach a point where you don't care about its technical quality or any other, the only thing that interests you is to know what will happen. Because of this, and practically because of the genre's characteristics, the film can be worthwhile in some moments for handling a good intrigue and yes, I found it somewhat dark & creepy on this one without going into being cheesy.

I must also it that the theme of sleepwalking is something that is rarely exploited as a central theme in films (perhaps the only one that comes to mind at this point would be Memento). Unfortunately, the plot falters at some points and all that is noticeable when you get to the end, which leaves me contradictory thoughts not knowing who the real villain is and not knowing who will be the next victim can make it look very intriguing or very pretentious, it is certainly a resolution that leaves you with more doubts than when it started, you can tell that the director loses the thread and, when it seems that finally, something is going to happen, it ends up not happening at all.

In short, In My Sleep is not the most spectacular or outstanding film within the Psychological Thriller genre that has ever existed but if you like these two together and you are willing to get into an idea that seeks distinction you may find it interesting.

Zoo portrays in the form of a mockumentary the story of Hands, a Seattle family man who died during one of his sexual escapades with a horse. This serves its director Robinson Devor as a starting point to explore a secret community of zoophiles as it is a radical proposal both for its subject and its form, as it delves into the conflictive universe of these individuals. Its characters are based on real people who put their voices but do not show their faces and are played (all but one, Coyote) by actors.

In it, you learn that this American family man (divorced), apparently exemplary and exemplary, dies on this way and as if it were a string of firecrackers the media transform the news into a joke rather than an event. "There are people like that?", "How can someone abuse a horse?", "Who sodomizes whom?" Zoo by portraying the subject exerts an automatic effect of rejection by discovering another side of zoophilia and how these people get together to spend pleasant weekends, talk about family, politics and perform these acts.

Perhaps Devor's approach is too focused on the American double morals than on the subject itself as if he wanted to universalize the theme from which he starts. The film's pleasure is to expose that kind of love for animals, and how the internet and social networks (of all kinds) can be a double-edged sword. It also raises the legal vacuum that exists on the subject and the social debate and around this, Devor presents several issues that, without judging them, leave a vein of a broad debate on this topic and as the alleged free will with which animals are incorporated into the practices, the persecution by the law in some states and the virtually nonexistent in others.

Devor is perspicacious in delving into the central figure of the film, Mr. Hands, giving a prudent semblance of his public life, which he develops both from the investigative method of the journalistic chronicle and the documentary sequence, and does not leave aside the legal and ethical aftermath of the death of Mr. Hands, which apart from exploiting the undeniable morbidness of the event, strongly debated the need to legislate against this type of sexual practices and the existing legal loopholes on the subject. As this is a real event, I think I understand the difficulties of dealing with this subject, as it could be simply a morbid film or something offensive to the viewer, however, we are facing a work that at no time seeks easy affection, nor to create an uproar.

Is there explicit material in it? Let's say yes, you can see at most 10 seconds and with very low definition, where the couple who are the owners of the "homicidal" horse is forced by police investigators to watch a video where sex is practiced with their animal. Is it explored from a psychiatric, legal, or animal rights point of view? No, these points are hardly touched upon, so what does the documentary show? The personal view of all of Mr. Hands' friends, before, during, and after the event.

Throughout the footage there is a feeling of sadness and loneliness that makes this documentary a unique experience, you can see the anguish and silent incomprehension that the protagonists suffer. You feel sorry for them, for the world they live in, and not because they have such extreme tastes but because from their point of view it is almost impossible to judge them harshly. Each one tells you about their double life, their fear of being marginalized by society, and their vision of how they live their condition and yes, the subject itself is taboo, and a very big taboo and that is why it is not easy to access the director's proposal, which is to introduce us to their world.

To conclude, it must be said that Zoo is a different film which can give it a fresh air but even so, it may not please you in of filmic dynamics, since it did not end (at least in me) to transmit me something that would let me keep ing it and the emotions exposed in it did not provoke me or left me perplexed. Its aforementioned documentary format gives it a too slow pace, sometimes tiring, that although it is well narrated, it can result in yawning moments. The cinematography is perfect, as is the music, which gives it a minimalist but tetric feel, both of which suit Devor's purpose of telling a raw and real story about the (many) most hidden pleasures of being human.

Zoo takes a risk with its proposal away from any mainstream approach (which is its biggest plus) but it is one of those types of films that will be relegated to a corner and few will give it a chance. Just like the sexual practices mentioned in it.

I've learned over the years as a movie lover that it's much easier to rate a movie low than high.

For all people it's easier to criticize the negative with or without foundation, and it's true, the same thing has happened to me, but, for me to give a film a five-star rating is difficult, I almost don't do it and believe me, it's not that I'm so strict for anyone to get that grade but there must be something of a greater cause that provokes me to do it. So it's difficult but not impossible.
Here is my list of the movies in chronological order that to me deserve all these stars (so far), in the end, it's only a personal point of view.

Some of these films don't have a review made by me, maybe when I feel ready and prepared to talk about them, I will.

• The 400 Blows
• Vivre Sa Vie
• Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom
• Paris, Texas
• Threads
• Brazil
• The People Under the Stairs
• Braindead
• Naked
• Showgirls

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

First of all... What's a Black Comedy in films?, here are some definitions of this subgenre of Comedy that can help us to understand it better:

1. Closely related to Satire, Black Comedy takes bleak or taboo subjects and treats them with bitter amusement.

2. Black humor, also called black comedy, writing that juxtaposes morbid or ghastly elements with comical ones that underscore the senselessness or futility of life. Black humor often uses farce and low comedy to make clear that individuals are helpless victims of fate and character.

3. A black comedy or dark comedy is a film that takes a heavy, controversial, disturbing, or generally off-limits subject matter and treats it humorously.

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This list is made in chronological order, according to the internet, the first film of this subgenre was The Mechanical Butcher from 1895 made in (If anyone knows of anything else that has been done before please don't hesitate to tell me).
As you will notice I encouraged myself to make this list because this is one of my favorite subgenres of films, because sometimes I get bored with bland comedies, as they can also be somewhat simplistic and boring.
Many of these films say what we would sometimes like to externalize but we don't dare and in other cases, they tell us what we don't want to hear or accept but after all there they are and no matter how much we want to, we can't ignore them at all.
Black Comedy could be a very versatile topic to approach in a film because this one fits with so many other genres like Drama, Science Fiction, Horror, Crime, and more.

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02/15/2025
I have updated the list from where I left off in 2022 until now, plus I have also added a few more that you mentioned to me in the comments below. I'm thrilled that Letterboxd s love what I've painstakingly put together. Thank you all very much :)

• The Mechanical Butcher
• La paralytique
• Explosion of a Motor Car
• The Finish of Bridget McKeen
• The Burlesque Suicide, No. 2
• Mary Jane's Mishap
• The Monster
• An Extraordinary Cab Accident
• The Terrible Turkish Executioner
• Dog Factory

...plus 2840 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Because everything is not always a pink color ;).
Films I watch with friends (so far...) and that make me see the unlovable side of the world....
In Alphabetical order.
I want to thank the Eli Hayes because he inspired me to create this list.
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These are the films that I had seen before creating this list: 964 Pinocchio, Aftermath, Angel’s Melancholia, Angst, Antichrist, Audition, Baby Blood, Basei Moi, Bare Behind Bars, Bay Of Blood, The Beast, Begotten, Beyond The Darkness, The Beyond, Blood Feast 2, The Burning Moon, The Burning, Castle Freak, A Clockwork Orange, Come & See, Crimes Of ion, Dead & Buried, Deathdream, Deadgirl, Demonlover, Deranged, The Devils, Dogtooth, Dogville, Eden Lake, Elephant, Eraserhead, Evilspeak, Excision, Faces Of Death, Fight For Your Life, Forbidden Zone, Found, Funny Games (1997), Gestapo’s Last Orgy, The Girl Next Door, Grotesque, Gummo, Happiness, Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, High Tension, House By The Cemetery, House Of The Edge By The Park, Human Centipide: First Secuence, The Hunt, I Spit On Your Grave, In A Glass Cage, Inferno, Inside, Irreversible, Island Of Death, Jacob’s Ladder, Jhonny Got His Gun, Ken Park, Kids, Kite, Last House Of The Left, Late Night Trains, Lilya 4 Ever, The Living And The Dead, Man Bites Dog, Maniac, Martys, Meet The Fleebes, Men Behind The Sun, Mikey, Motel Hell, Mysterious Skin, Mystics In Bali, Nekromantic, Nightmare, Nosferatu, Paranoiac, Pi (π), The Piano Teacher, Pieces, Pink Flamingos, Pixote, Possession, The Prowler, Romance X, Salon Kitty, Salo or the 120 Days Of Sodom, Scum, A Serbian Film, Shame, Street Trash, Suspiria, Saw, Sweet Movie, Tenebre, They Live, Trouble Every Day, Visitor Q, Urotsukidoji: Legend Of The Overfiend, Weeding Trough Aka Vase De Noses or The Pig Fucking Movie,Who Can Kill A Child?, Whore, Xtro and Zero Day.
Update 09/18/16: In My Skin and American Psycho are added.
Update 12/11/16: Altered States is added.
Update 12/13/16: Today saw for fifth time Videodrome and that almost forgot this one the first time when creating this list here....so... oops sorry for my mistake.
Update 12/22/16: May is added.
Update 01/10/17: The Witch Who Came From The Sea is added.
Update 01/14/17: Sante Sangre is added.
Update 03/05/17: Leolo is added.
Update 03/22/17: Midori is added.
Update 03/27/17: Compliance, Michael and Straw Dogs are added.
Update 05/22/17: Society is added.
Update 05/26/17: Mum & Dad and Red & White and Blue are added.
A Big Update 06/02/17: Battle Royale, Benny's Video, The Bunny Game, Cutting Moments, the Skin I live In and The War Zone are added to the list.
A Big Update 06/18/17: The Baby Of Macon, Combat Shock, Ex Drummer, Imprint, L.I.E, Megan Is Missing, Teeth, Titicut Follies and Tyrannosaur are added to the list.
Update 06/25/17: Perfect Blue and Satan's Little Helper are added to the list.
A Big Update 07/10/17: August Underground's Mordum,Bully,Cannibal,Cannibal Holocaust,Christiane F.,The Experiment,Eyes Without a Face,The Life and Death of a Porno Gang,Miss Violence,The Night Porter,The Ordeal,The People Under the Stairs,The Poughkeepsie Tapes,Silent Night,Deadly Night,Singapore Sling,Suicide Club and Thriller: A Cruel Picture is added to the list.
Update 07/18/17: An American Crime, Braindead, Cannibal, Feed, I Stand Alone, Tetsuo: The Iron Man, The Dead King, and Traces Of Death are added to the list.
Update 07/22/17: Requiem For A Dream and Subconscious Cruelty are added to the list.
Update 08/13/17: Clean,Shaven and The Vanishing are added.
Update 10/19/17: Peeping Tom is now added to the list.
Update 12/04/17: Boxing Helena, Kissed, Liquid Sky,Marquis, Repulsion, The Klass, The Machinist, The Plague Dogs, The Sinful Dawrf,They All Must Die, Tokyo Gore Police, We Are The Strange and We Are What We Are (2010) are now added to the list.
Update 18/02/18: Bloodsucking Freaks The Bridge,The Cyclist,Dead Man’s Shoes, Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father,Dog Days,Ilsa: She Wolf Of The SS,Julien Donkey-Boy,No Mercy No Future,Offspring,Picco,Rupture,Them,The Loved Ones,Vulgar and Women’s Flesh – My Red Guts are now added to the list.
Update 26/02/18: The Beast, The Green Elephant, Heli, La Vie Nouvelle, Ms 45, The Reflecting Skin, Slaughter Vomit Dolls, Where the Dead Go to Die and White Dog are now added to the list.
Update 01/06/18: Antropophagus, Bumfights 1: Cause for Concern, Chekist, Freaks, Gozu, Incendies, Innocence, Love Object, Tarnation, The Isle, Under the Skin and Viy are now added to the list.
A Big Update! 26/06/18: 7 Days, A Short Film About Killing, Alexandra’s Project, American Mary, Anatomy Of Hell, Beyond The Black Rainbow, Dream Home, Exhibit A, Fat Girl, Frontiers, Guinea Pig 2: Flower Of Flesh And Blood, Häxan, Isolation, Kill List, Last House Of The Dead End Street, Muder-Set-Pieces, Out Of Blue, Poutrygeist: Night Of The Chicken Dead, Schramm, Sick: The Life & Death Of Blob Flanagan Supermasochist, Strange Circus, The Act Of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes, The Seventh Continent, The Stone Tape, The Third Part Of The Night, Three Extremes and Wife To Be Sacrificed are now added to the list.
Update 11/07/18: A Dirty Shame, Frailty, From Beyond, Funeral Parade of Roses, Grave of the Fireflies, The Hole (2001) and Tumbling Doll of a Flesh (Niku Daruma) are now added to the list.
A Big Update! 12/21/18: 100 Tears, 36 Steps, Absurd, Alice, Sweet Alice, Black Christmas, Canoa, Cargo 200, Corpse Mania, Crash, Dancer in The Dark, Dandy Dust, Dead man's Letters Delicatessen, Felidae, Elephant (1989), Forbidden Games, God Told Me to, Gutterballs, Kidnapped, Long Pigs, Mademoiselle, Orozco The Embalmer, Paper House, Pervert, Rubber, Safe, The Castle of Purity, The Goddess Bunny, The Holy Mountain, The Idiots, The Pit, The Signal, The Tenant, We Need to Talk About Kevin and Wilderness are now added to the list.
Update 03/28/19: Night & Fog, Out of the Dark, Parents, Phase IV, Polytechnique, Pontypool, Red Room, Tromeo & Juliet, The Cremator, The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, The Match Factory Girl, The Toolbox Murders, and Trash Humpers are now added to the list.
A Big Update: 27/06/19: 3 Needles. A Hole In My Heart, Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County, Awakening Of The Beast, Bad Taste, Barefoot Gen, Caligula, Deadbeat At Dawn, Earthlings, Ebola Syndrome, Evil Dead Trap, Female Trouble, The Great Ecstasy Of Robert Carmichel, The Honeymoon Killers, Ice Cream Man, Las Poquianchis, The Last Circus, M, Macabre, Mondo Cane, Pig, Pin, Pola X, Scrapbook, Session 9, Scoody Doo on Zombie Island, Tesis, Tenderness of The Wolves, Thanatomorphose, Tusk, Watership Down and White Of The Eye are now added to the list.
A Big Update: 19/10/19: A Boy And his Dog, A Snake of June, Afraid of the Dark, Antibodies, Baskin, Battle of Heaven, Behind Convent Walls, Blue, Day of the Dead, Don’t Go in the House, El Topo, Fritz the Cat, I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse, In the Realm of the Senses, Little Otik, Lucker, Miracle Mille, Noroi: The Curse, Pieles (Skins), Premutos, Psychos in Love, Sexandroide, Snuff 102, Squirmfest, Star 80, The Brown Bunny, The Day After, The Descent, The Earth is Sinful Song, They Came From Within (Shivers), Things, To All Goodnight, Twilight Portrait, Unmasked Part 25 and Wicked City are now added to the list.
A Big Update 08/03/20: 4, A Zed & Two Noughts, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Breaking the Waves, The Brood, The Cement Garden, Code Blue, Conspirators of Pleasure, Crazy Love, Cronos, Cruising, Le Daim, Dogs Don’t Wear Pants, Eden and After, Exotica, The Face of Another, Flesh for Frankenstein, La Grande Bouffe, The Golden Glove, Hardcore, Hour of the Wolf, House, L’ Humanite, Interrogation, Jigoku, Lunacy, Mutant Action, Necrophobia, Punishment Park, Queen of Earth, Revanche, Seconds, Shogun’s Sadism, Someone is Knocking At the Door, Spiral, The Tribe and Weekend are now added to the list.
Update: 27/03/20: The Platform is now added to the list.
Update: 25/04/2020: X The Movie Is now added to the list.
Update: 04/05/2020: Memories is now added to the list.
Update: 12/05/2020: Bad Lieutenant is now added to the list.
Update: 30/05/2020: Tales From The Crypt Demon Knight is now added to the list.
Update: 06/06/2020: The Telephone Box is now added to the list.
Update: 17/06/2020: Raw is now added to the list.
Update: 21/06/2020: Harpya is now added to the list.
Update: 24/06/2020: Ghostwatch is now added to the list.
Update: 08/07/2020: Girl Lost is now added to the list.
Update: 21/07/2020: Sleepaway Camp is now added to the list.
Update: 07/08/2020: Clímax is now added to the list.
Update: 14/08/2020: Frozen Scream is now added to the list.
Update: 26/08/2020: Daniel and Ana is now added to the list.
Update: 15/09/2020: The House With the Laughing Windows is now added to the list.
Update: 22/09/2020: Loveless is now added to the list.
Update: 26/09;2020: No Child of Mine is now added to the list.
Update: 11/10/2020: The Neon Demon is now added to the list.
Update: 29/10/2020: The Meat Grinder is now added to the list.
Update: 19/11/2020: The Collector is now added to the list.
Update: 19/12/2020: Sleepwalker is now added to the list.
Update: 21/12/2020: Atroz is now added to the list.
Update: 9/03/21: Helter Skelter is now added to the list.
Update: 11/03/21: P2 is now added to the list.
Update: 22/03/21: The Holy Office is now added to the list.
Update 06/04/21: Mexico Bárbaro is now added to the list.
Update 17/04/21: Flexing With Monty is now added to the list.
Update 27/04/21: The Profit is now added to the list.
Update 29/04/21: King of the Ants is now added to the list.
Update 19/05/21: Fashionista is now added to the list.
Update 21/05/21: Severance is now added to the list.
Update 02/06/21: Hounds of Love is now added to the list.
A Big Update 15/06/21: Borgman, Daisy Diamond, Deliverance, Fire In The Sky, Gomorrah, Goodbye Uncle Tom, Import/Export, Let the Right One In, Madhouse, Martha, Mommy, Night of the Pencils, Sella Turcica, Soylent Green, The ABC’s of Death, The ABC’s of Death 2, The Acid House, The Cell, Time of the Wolf, United 93 Vengeance is Mine, Visions of Suffering, Visitor of a Museum and Wetlands are now added to the list.
Update 23/06/21: Only God Forgives is now added to the list.
Update 05/07/21: Nattevagten is now added to the list.
A Big Update! 06/07/21: 13, Adam Chaplin, Adrenaline, Atrocity, The Boys, Bloody Moon, The Bothersome Man, Criminal Lovers, Don't Go In The Woods, Escape From Tomorrow, The Gastly Ones, Hated GG, Hobo With A Shotgun, Horse, Woman & Dog, Livid, The Lure, My Sweet Satan, Porn Theater, Psychophonia, Sebastiane, Shogun Assassin, The Taint, Twisted Issues and Vital are now added to the list.
Update 09/07/21: Ratman is now added to the list.
Update 12/07/21: The Hours of the Day is now added to the list.
Update 16/07/21: Seed is now added to the list.
Update 27/07/21: Final Flesh is now added to the list.
Update 06/08/21: Animal Love, O Fantasma and Princess are now added to the list.
Update: 08/09/21: Lily C.A.T is now added to the list.
Update: 29/09/21: Nine Inch Nails: Broken is now added to the list.
Update: 19/10/21: Call Me Tonight and Flesh Eating Mothers are now added to the list.
Update: 21/10/21: Creep is now added to the list.
Update: 01/11/21: Rent A Pal is now added to the list.
Update: 03/11/21: Zoo is now added to the list.
Update: 09/11/21: Muscle (1989) is now added to the list.
Update: 12/11/21: Cabin Fever is now added to the list.
Update: 14/11/21: Slaughter High is now added to the list.
Update: 19/11/21: Tony is now added to the list.
Update: 20/11/21: The Dorm That Dripped Blood is now added to the list.
Update: 24/11/21: Tourist Trap is now added to the list.
Update: 26/11/21: In the Company of Men is now added to the list.
Update: 30/11/21: The Curse is now added to the list.
Update: 02/12/21: Sam Was Here is now added to the list.
Update: 11/12/21: Madhouse is now added to the list.
Update: 13/12/21: The Dare is now added to the list.

• 100 Tears
• 13
• 3 Needles
• 36 Steps
• 4
• 964 Pinocchio
• ABCs of Death 2
• The ABCs of Death
• The Acid House
• The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes

...plus 503 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

YOU NEVER IMAGINED COME HERE TO LETTERBOXD AND SEE A COMPLETE LIST ABOUT DAVID THEWLIS?. DON’T YOU?.
A short/brief biography about him:
DAVID WHEELER AKA DAVID THEWLIS
Born: 20-Mar-1963
Birthplace: Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Nationality: England
In childhood, David Thewlis was a quiet boy who scribbled poetry into his diary, and as a teen, he played lead guitar with a punk band called Door 66. His first professional work as an actor was in a commercial for Kellogg's Bran Flakes. After several small roles on British television, Thewlis' first leading role was in a starkly political 1987 BBC drama titled Road, about poverty in England under the Thatcher istration. He licked chocolate off Jane Horrocks' naked body in Life is Sweet, and played the vulgar rapist ex-boyfriend in Mike Leigh's Naked. In Besieged he played a reclusive pianist, and in Total Eclipse he played Leonardo DiCaprio's long-term bisexual lover. He also played an earthworm in James and the Giant Peach, a mountain climber who escaped prison in Seven Years in Tibet, and the kindly Professor Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter films.
He wrote, directed, and starred in Cheeky (2003), the bizarrely heartwarming story of a young father who deals with his grief after his wife is killed in a house fire by competing on a game show where contestants insult each other.
His stage name, Thewlis, is his mother's maiden name.
Source: www.nndb.com
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WHY HIM?: GOOD QUESTION. HARD TO ANSWER…
In my 25 short years of existence I have the joy of seeing all kinds of films in of countries and languages referred to silent films, blockbuster movies, indie films,arthouse films, animations, low-budget films movies,ect.. and with all that knowledge I've had so far it is obvious that more thoroughly know who are behind them (actors, directors, screenwriters, producers, so many people begin to know I detected quite (a)typical examples of actors that go unnoticed from everybody one of them is called David Thewlis.
If I had to define him in just one word I would say he is a MISFIT, and I do not mean to offend or disrespect him, he is a genial lanky British man who maintained a private life like all of us, he is not interested in being someone ‘’famous’ ’or appear in magazines, or make scandals to draw attention, quite simply does not follow the common canons of what an actor means, That is the reason of my iration for David, I think I am right (if I'm not mistaken) in saying that he is my favorite actor, it’s always a pleasure see him (either a major role or cameo).
Although I do not know him in person (I’d like to meet him) my perception of him that is a decent, humble and down to earth person with a lot of endowments and this way it is as I do my part, make this humble but significant tribute to David Thewlis and that would be more rewarding to me than he saw for himself what I have written and rejoice to learn that a self-effacing fan dedicates his laborious months just for him :D
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Each of the 35 films is ranked with my personal comments about the good and bad things/aspects from each of them, BUT be careful because some contain *SPOILERS*. I also add curious facts about David in those films.
I do not necessarily say to you that the last one ranked in my list it’s the worst or the number one is the best because after all, every person has its own criteria, but just ask you to understand that my list was based on David so it’s my own perspective. Please ask you for respect to my own decisions.
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This list excludes:
• Shorts or/and experimental films of short duration.
• All the Harry Potter movie series.
• Animated films/Children movies.
• TV Mini-series or Episode Serials.
• Films where David doesn’t have an important role in the story, a brief appearance or a cameo.
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Want to dedicate this project to all s from Letterboxd and moviegoers who like me love this website and at last but not least the most important person who inspires me to make this (of course) David Thewlis!! This one is for you! :D
P.S DEAR WHO HAS ENTERED HERE TO READ MY LIST:
I would ask you to please give a like or comment on the list I created because for me it was a big effort and a long dedication to do. For me would be a great gratification that you enjoy what I have done. Thank You.
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UPDATES
Monday 26th June 2017
Attach to the rank Wonder Woman in the 28th place of my top list, after having seen the film four times and already almost 1 month since it was released.
Wednesday 28th August 2019
Attach to the rank The Mercy in the 37th place of my top list.
Saturday 21th September 2019
Made some changes to the list, edit some reviews, and write more of some of them.
Monday 4th November 2019
I add Skulduggery in 19th place on my ranking.
For some reason, I didn't realize that I had seen this film 2 years ago but I forgot to rank it when I made this list 5 years ago. Sorry for my big error!
Saturday 4th September 2020
I'm Thinking of Ending Things is now on the list placed in number #11.
Saturday 12th September 2020
Guest of Honour is now on the list placed in number #26.
Saturday 19th September 2020
Eternal Beauty is now on the list placed in number #12.
Saturday 29th May 2021
Rare Beasts is now on the list placed in number #13.
strong
80+ of the Scariest Non-Horror Films I’ve Ever Seen
David Conner
Rafael Jovine

Serendipity Lane
Wes Bentley of 'Yellowstone' on His 22 Firsts | 22 Stars
At the beginning of this 2020 and partly for a bit of not knowing what to do to entertain me I started watching the series Yellowstone (2018), I'm almost no longer put to watch as many TV shows as when I was a child and/or teenager, but I must say that I liked it a lot and its cast is doing a good job. The thing is that on one occasion looking for a video on Youtube I found this recommendation called Wes Bentley of 'Yellowstone' on His 22 Firsts | 22 Stars who appears in the series playing Jamie Dutton which is made a small dynamic by Paramount + where they ask him questions about his acting career, as well as his personal life, in one of them they ask Bentley which was his first kiss on-screen and he answers that it was with Kate Walsh in this film and ends up saying that none of us would like to see it and laughs, and I tell you something? When he says that I got a great inclination to see why he said that, it is as if he forbids it and I like a naughty child when they tell me that I should not do it I do it hahaha, at that moment I looked it up on Google and I found out that this was the first feature film with which he debuted in his career besides being at the same time the first starring role of Bentley, released in 1998 before he catapulted to fame thanks to American Beauty and I was surprised since I always lived with the idea that the film directed by Mendes had been his debut and also in the video they ask him what was the first dialogue he said when he was on screen for the first time and I thought he would say something about Three Below Zero but it was not so because he mentions that it was this one: "Come on mama, we are going to be late! " which comes from a short film from 1995 called Serendipity Lane this itself does not appear in the database of the Letterboxd site, which by the way although I know this has nothing to do I checked that what Bentley says is not true because at the beginning of it never says this dialogue, why he lies?? (Hahaha) or maybe I'm wrong and I heard another thing... anyway I will not deviate talking about it, although this fact if that left me perplexed 🤷
compared to when we reach adulthood and therefore our maturity makes us change the perspective of how the world can be very different from how we imagine it, and more than three years ago I again with this film thanks to my dear Eli Hayes (R.I.P.) since he mentioned it in his list called 80+ of the Scariest Non-Horror Films I’ve Ever Seen although to be frank, I found it very little disturbing since I thought its approach would be more crude and offensive.
First of all, I want to dedicate this review to the <a href="https://letterboxd.conexionsite.com/jdavidconner/">David Conner since he was the reason that encouraged me to write about it, he suggested this one months ago when I published my review about The Incubus, he mentioned that both had similarities and curiously two days ago I found it on a torrent site and ing this fact was how I decided to do it, so David I hope you like what I wrote.
First of all, I want to dedicate this review to the David Conner since he was the reason that encouraged me to write about it, he suggested this one months ago when I published my review about The Incubus, he mentioned that both had similarities and curiously two days ago I found it on a torrent site and ing this fact was how I decided to do it, so David I hope you like what I wrote.
It is thanks to reading the review of the <a href="https://letterboxd.conexionsite.com/mrmoviesrd/">Rafael Jovine that I knew about this film because if it wasn't for him I would have never come across it unless I found it somewhere else. I it from the beginning that I am not a big fan of dramas and thrillers that mix sports but somehow I got carried away with this one and have watched it blindly, in the sense of not expecting anything good or bad about it.

It is thanks to reading the review of the Rafael Jovine that I knew about this film because if it wasn't for him I would have never come across it unless I found it somewhere else. I it from the beginning that I am not a big fan of dramas and thrillers that mix sports but somehow I got carried away with this one and have watched it blindly, in the sense of not expecting anything good or bad about it.

1. Naked

   #1 Naked

   Johnny = The Idiosyncratic Character

   Pros: Obviously king of the list. Naked is a before and after in David's career, if it wasn't for this film we would never have met him, known him or maybe he wouldn't have become famous. This is not the story of a depressed vagabond, the film is deeper than you can see at first glance. Johnny is a man who runs away from Manchester for having raped a woman, as we get to know him we realize as the truth if he is exposed and naked in all aspects, he takes and fully backs the whole film, of course this is my favorite Mike Leigh film (I have seen others from his filmography but they don't have the same power as Naked) David is an actor with innate talent that I don't need to study at a prestigious drama school to show all his own gifts, on the contrary, he proved himself what he can do, his Cannes award is enough to prove his enormous ability, it seems that this one never cared to be nominated for the Oscars that year (I think he hates The Academy), it's just one more gross award, since Naked is a 100% Anti-Hollywood film, it's too much for the criteria handled by the jury. Johnny is an acid humorist, with an irresponsible personality that is mature but ultimately very cordial, he could use a lot of definitions/words to describe it, but its complexity is far away for a standard actor. David creates a powerful performance like no other!

   Cons: For me Naked is impeccable, but if I need to say something against him, I would say: 1) I would have liked to see more scenes in Sandra's apartment between Johnny, Louise, and Sophie, it would be interesting to see their interactions, especially Sophie getting jealous of Louise for Johnny! 2) The first time I saw Naked when you almost get to the end in the Johnny scene and Louise in the bathroom when she asks him to come back to Manchester for a moment I thought I would accept and the two would go together.... but knowing everything that happened before the movie I realized to myself that even though I wanted that I knew it would never happen in the end, a soft side of me makes me feel broken because Johnny/Louise didn't have his happy ending... but my honest side knows that he will never change (because maybe not even the best person will change his mentality or behavior so easily), Naked is a movie with a realistic ending that ends as it begins... depressing and austere.

   Curious fact: After years of friendship between David and Mike Leigh and that he participated in the short film The Short & the Curlies and Life is Sweet David himself asked Leigh to make a film especially for him, being the main character himself, and although it took a little time to fulfill that promise the result was undoubtedly the greatest success in David's career.

   My personal definition of Johnny's behavior:

   This is my own thought, but for me he is a person who has experienced things that have affected mentally and emotionally, Johnny is not the smartest guy but he learns only to survive in a big world because it shows that he has been reflecting bad experiences in life, he gets to a point where he doesn't care if he does wrong and improper actions on other people. his sexual morbidity is, in my opinion, a way in which he wants to avoid what lives/occurs in his day today, and for me Johnny is a human who is afraid and centrally mistrusts a lot of other humans, he knows that the world is impure and with the age of time all people are more tainted and corrupt that is why he lives without thinking about tomorrow, maybe he is sadistic but for me he needs to be eviler because the same life I teach him to have to be and he is not the worst person in the whole world.

2. Besieged

   #2 Beseiged

   Jason Kinsky = The Idyllic Character

   Pros: Definitely the most underrated movie where David appears, a hidden jewel that is sadly forgotten by many people, he and Thandie Newton make a great combo that really works for me, the themes of interracial romances are unique in the cinema, Jason Kinsky is an English man who by widowing his wife inherits a house in Italy, little by little we will realize that his personality is emotional and fragile (much more than Shandurai). I also like the fact that both characters suffer internal problems and both feel alone as well as empty... it makes me feel empathy for them, the first time I saw the film I felt really sad for Shandurai, but then I realized that the purest and most innocent character of the whole film is him, no doubt Mr. Kinsky loses much more than she does because he does everything possible to make her happy.... It doesn't matter how many sacrifices it will cost to make her wish come true. An idyllic and romantic film with artistic quality.

   Cons: I'm always bothered by the end of the film, I'm upset to see what happened after Shandurai's husband rang the doorbell, but when the final.... urhhgg credits appear! It's an open ending and maybe some people will find it very puzzling.

   Curious fact: Several gossips on the Internet say that there is a 60-minute version of the film with the same cast, but in the end, Bernardo Bertolucci thought about it and decided to extend it, to finally do it again with the duration we all know of 93 minutes.

3. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

   #3 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

   Ralf (The Father) = The Amoral Character

   Pros: Although many of those who have seen the film say that it is very sad and takes even a drop of tears out of you, actually for me it was more of a spooky experience to know that the story is very realistic, the end is undoubtedly crude and explicit, but I like it because it is real and honest. Ralf is a Nazi sergeant who has been given in his possession one of the many Jewish concentration camps that were installed in the Second World War, a cold man who has no feelings (only when it suits him), his presence implies total respect (sometimes fear makes you feel obedience from another person), the first scene in which he appears (in the living room) is a clear example, is a wolf with sheepskin, does not feel empathy for anyone, but who in this film is not like him?, maybe Bruno... I would very easily describe Ralf as the villain of the film but I think that's not the real message that the book and/or film really wants to show after all but to show the double amorality that exists in the world and the actions that may or may not have repercussions, but perhaps, in the end, he paid dearly for his actions. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is surprisingly one of those films that become very faithful to the book and also the film is easy to watch without getting bored.

   Cons: You would ask for the impossible, but I would have liked to see scenes in which David and Vera Farmiga interact more although it would be difficult to happen because as I said earlier he is cold and the wife for his part is very conservative ....... And why not: To have seen him live happily with his two sons Bruno and Gretel.

   Curious fact: At the end of the book are mentioned more things that help to complement the story a little more, such as mentioning that a year later the mother and her sister Gretel return to Berlin without knowing what had happened to Bruno and how the father stays in the concentration camp to be killed later by the Nazi soldiers themselves.

4. Veronika Decides to Die

   #4 Veronika Decides to Die

   Dr. Alex Blake = The Analgesic Character

   Pros: Before watching this movie I had some fears because I perceived a bad thought that only David would appear with only a small role, but to my surprise, it's a good secondary! Veronika Decides to Die is certainly a film that you won't love fervently but you won't hate, Dr. Blake runs a hospital for people with mental disorders, the kind of person you'd like to talk to or who you'd like to spend all your time with, I like his way of being so peaceful and intellectual, the moments between Dr. Blake and his family, the moments between Dr. Blake and his family, and the moments between Dr. Blake and his family. Blake and Veronika really make you think about your own life too and the fact that I have also read Paolo Cohello's book helped me to understand it better (this is a story of personal growth that is really worth reading), a very different tape than we may not be used to seeing these days or today in the cinema, but anyway this film is far below the radar.

   Cons: In the end, the film becomes a kind of light romantic film almost like a bad Saturday popcorn movie, the principle promised something more sober or meaningful...... but, well, it's even a nice ending that gives you some encouragement.

   Curious fact: In the book, the name of David's character is Dr. Igor and in the story appears a daughter of him who is also called Veronika, just like the main character.

5. Divorcing Jack

   #5 Divorcing Jack

   Dan Starkey = The Eloquent Character

   Pros: Maybe the big reason I love this film is that Dan Starkey reminds me a lot of Johnny in Naked, a less depressing and more comical version, it's perhaps the only time David tries to reinterpret some of his characters. A movie with some great hidden tricks... everything in it is a joke of black humor, the beginning of the film shows strength, you really want to see more, Dan works as a reporter and writer for a newspaper, and by chance of life he gets into a bigger weight mess without wanting it, becoming the most sought after by everyone, if he is a person who takes everything from life in a fun way.

   Cons: But I must it....After Dan runs away from the police and the gangs, the movies become serious in a tasteless way and feel very slow, the vibration of joy feels increasingly empty, the balance between humorous and dramatic moments is lost in many ways, Jason Isaacs character goes very unnoticed, doesn't have a big impact on me; he's a standard villain, neither so evil nor so dumb. I understand that British humor is not the same as that of the United States or other countries and maybe that's why I don't get to enjoy it in all its splendor, but anyway, the film deserves to be seen if you are a comedy lover and want to see something different.

   Curious fact: Dan Starkey's role was originally offered to Robert Carlyle, but in the end, he turned it down and that's how David took his role.

6. The Inner Life of Martin Frost

   Martin Frost = The Introspective Character

   Pros: David is Martin, a famous writer who without any inspiration goes a weekend to a country house to refresh his ideas to write again, being there he will live a very special situation, which can be just his own imagination... a rather indie/experimental film, so if you want to see it don't expect something so easy. Irene Jacob is a beautiful actress, she does a very good job, she and David have great scenes, like when he tries to return to New York and the tire breaks down, I felt empty and melancholy to see poor Martin go for a new tire and she leaves him desperately, like the fantasy scenes when Martin dreams of talking to Claire separated by the door are for me undoubtedly the most interesting moments of the whole film.

   Cons: Only one thing...... Michael Imperioli! When he appears, the film goes down. I'm sorry but he kills me all the romance and fantasy that the film had, Jim Fortunato is annoying! this character is the typical male stereotype of the Italian-American neighbor, the dialogues between him and Martin are boring they seem to be written spontaneously and improvised, if his character had never appeared the film has been much better, the end of the film is good and catches my attention, but instinct again, this ends very abruptly.

   Curious fact: David agrees to participate in this film because that same year he published his first and only book (so far) called The Late Hector Kipling taking advantage of the media as advertising in order to give it to notice.

7. Gangster No. 1

   #7 Gangster No. 1

   Freddie Mays = The Rowdy Character

   Pros: David along with Malcolm McDowell and Paul Bettany make a good contrast between them and help the film gain strength, the story is very dirty and euphoric. Freddy is a gangster of great power and influence, a guy that when you see him you believe in everything he says and does, his character is very credible. David has a great role in the story for me, this brings a breath of fresh air at that time (the year 2000) because until that time we hadn't seen a David playing roles like that in the '90s and that's why he's in my Top 10.

   Cons: After half of the film Paul Bettany becomes nauseating to see as I like, I get tired and annoyed. I hate the moment when Freddy arrives in jail and doesn't appear until almost the end of the film, the fact that Gangster 55 was the only character who grew old in the film makes me laugh! the other characters are the same actors but with cheap makeup... Saffron Burrows and David don't fit in or are not entirely credible as a couple as they both seem very forced and uncomfortable.

   Curious fact: David has said on several occasions that he is a lover of Crime/Mob/Gangster genre movies and that I always want to play this kind of bad guys.

8. DragonHeart

   #8 DragonHeart

   King Einon = The Conceited Character

   Pros: If any of you who are taking the time to read this and are a fan or beginner in David's filmography or want to get to know him, it is imperative as well as almost mandatory to see this film, David steals all the scenes in which he appears, it is fun with and without intention, I the first time I saw the film I thought ''why someone like him appears in these films so dull'', David collides with all the cast, well, except with Julie Christie. King Einon comes to the throne after a fight where his father dies just waiting to get his place at anything without telling that accidentally he would also die and a dragon would save his life, his way of being is brazen, conceited and perhaps precocious. The fact that he is named after the film because he has half the heart of Draco (Sean Connery) is a nice gesture towards him.

   Cons: It's a Rob Coen movie so you can't ask for much (his other movies are more horrible, believe me); it's a very Hollywood/blockbuster movie too. I would have liked the story between Einon and Bowen to be more developed (because it only gives us a small glimpse of what will happen throughout the film would have been more epic, the beginning of the film catches our attention but then the story revolves around the origin and history of Draco, and the other plots that had been woven from the beginning disappear, it seems that Rob wanted to give more prominence to FX and the end of the film becomes very fast, it seems that he already wanted to finish it as fast as possible.

   Curious fact: Rob Coen mentioned that Naked is one of his favorite movies of all times and for this reason he ed David to be part of his film.

9. Stonehearst Asylum

   #9 Stonehearst Asylum or Eliza Graves

   Mickey Finn = The Unhinged Character

   Pros: I love this kind of stories because they are insane! a great adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's story and I also liked the fact that Brad Anderson was its director because he is very bold and not afraid to make dark stories or show intense scenes, the cast is good and lend themselves to everything. Mickey Finn is a man, naughty and boisterous, a kind of perfect/guard in a psychiatric asylum. David perhaps shows his ugliest side ever seen in a movie, the scene of the New Year's Eve party with him and Millie is quite disturbing ... sounds strange but I must it that the first time I saw I was shocked because seeing it itself is quite disturbing, no doubt this is another role where David dares to interpret something beyond every day by him.

   Cons: I would have liked David to do more evil with all the other characters, hate the fact that he was the only character to die and be seen in the eyes of others as the only villain (?) which is not true because for me all the characters are crazy and imperfect, especially Ben Kingsley can not stand to see that he did not deserve an adequate punishment, the FX / CGI used throughout the film are bad and I think that is unforgivable, because it really did not require so many and at first glance look a little cheap.

   Curious Fact: The producers Icon and Sobini Films have some s with the talent agency in which David is d, that's why he participated in the cast of this film.

10. Resurrected

    #10 Resurrected

    Kevin Deakin = The Straight Up Character

    Pros: He's David's first character and he's pretty solid, he looks like a common guy, is the kind of person you easily identify with, and at least I feel identified with his behavior and/or feelings, since some scenes between him and his girlfriend are the best examples of that, despite not being a big fan of military/army issues in the movies, this one is very easy to watch without not being so boring, a solid film in general. Here he personifies Kevin, a boy who returns after everyone had believed him dead in the war of the Malvinas, but when he returns he realizes that his life is no longer the same, it is very empty, more than he imagined as if he had really died...

    Cons: As I said before, Kevin is a very conventional character like all this movie, Kevin is not a bad guy, good, boring, shy or nerd, he is a simple individual like a normal person in real life and it is more than obvious that here David does not show all his skills and potential actors, however, the film itself does not seem to demand much, the script and the direction of it could have been more solid. Although the ending seeks to expose a message does not have enough drama to generate a great impact or enhancement.

    Curious fact: Just as this was David's first film as the main character, it was also Paul Greengrass's debut as a director, which years later would be consolidated with other films such as United 93 or The Bourne Ultimatum.

...plus 32 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Does someone agree with me?.
It's my first list to create here in Letterbox and its dedicated to one of my favorite companies in the USA: Criterion Collection have on my own +100 films release through the years (both on DVD and Bluray format).
So if an employee or another person who works in Criterion see this list, please take note!! Because these are films who really desire to release if possible!!..is worth dreaming?? or don't??...
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23rd September 2019
Added more new options to the list and arranged them in alphabetical order.
▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬ ▬
16th October 2019
Criterion hear my prayers because All About My Mother was announced in January 2020! I deleted the film from my list.
18th March 2020
Come and See is going to be released!
15th December 2020
Secrets & Lies is going to be released!

1. Akira

   Yeah, I know in the '90s Criterion released two editions of Akira in laserdisc, but it would be a big surprise if this one came back with a super edition with a lot of supplements on Blu ray.

2. Alice

   In 2011 BFI launch a great Blu ray + DVD edition of Alice, but Criterion could show off with a solid edition in the U.S. in comparison to First Run Features.

3. Angela's Ashes

   I think this its the best film made by Alan Parker, very underrated, so much so that it would be a great opportunity that the big C release a good treatment of this one.

4. Bad Boy Bubby

   I don't know if Criterion comes to consider this film as part of his favorites but to me would be a great joy, especially knowing that the Blue Underground release from 2009 is now OOP and its very expensive to find on the internet :(

5. Bad Lieutenant

   Sincerely this one it's like a toss a coin.... possibly maybe, probably no....

6. Benny's Video

   I'm not surprised with this one. It's just a matter of time before Criterion gives us the date of publication. So I'm going to seat and wait.

7. Besieged

   This it's not just the most criminally underrated film of Bertolucci if not in general in the cinema industry. I have the OOP version on DVD made by New Line Home Entertainment released in 1999, and yes... I need this one on Blu ray right now!!

8. Blue

   A film which I've always wanted to see released by Criterion since almost 10 years ago, but the Kino and BFI version of Blue are great so maybe this one doesn't need another release on Blu ray....

9. Carrington

   An underrated film that since it was made has ed very unnoticed, I think it deserves more attention.

10. Claire Dolan

    CC releases Lodge Kerrigan debut so many years ago, and this film like Clean, Shaven is very under the radar film. Artificial Eye publishes a DVD but now it's OOP, so its another good opportunity to see this one on Blu Ray.

...plus 30 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

The Eureka! website claims this information about MoC:

''In 2004, Eureka! established The Masters of Cinema Series, a specially curated Blu-ray and DVD collection of classic and world cinema using the finest available materials for home viewing. Films are presented in their original aspect ratio, in meticulous transfers created from recent restorations and/or the most pristine film elements available. The feature presentations are frequently supplemented by short films, documentaries, commentary tracks, deleted scenes, trailers, plus new and vintage footage. Each release also includes an accompanying booklet featuring rare imagery, newly commissioned essays, and/or classic writings that take the reader further into the process of the films and the personalities of the filmmakers.''

This alongside Criterion Collection is one of my favorites companies of arthouse of films.

I don't have a lot of them but anyway they are great quality and the presentations are amazing! very top-notch for sure!

They are ordered by Spine number.

• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

  DVD + BLURAY COMBO
  SPINE #1

• The Holy Mountain

  DVD
  SPINE #2

• Michael

  DVD
  SPINE #3

• Fantastic Planet

  DVD + BLURAY COMBO
  SPINE #6

• Asphalt

  DVD
  SPINE #7

• Metropolis

  DVD Reconstructed & Restored Edition
  SPINE #8

• City Girl

  DVD + BLURAY COMBO
  SPINE #8

• Faust

  DVD
  SPINE #24

• Funeral Parade of Roses

  DVD
  SPINE #32

• Diary of a Lost Girl

  DVD
  SPINE #39

...plus 9 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

You can read the first part of this list with every number one Here

they say that sometimes second places are better than the first ones, and it can be true, but t least its only my humble opinion.....

Disclaimer: RYM shows Satan's Rhapsody, Twin Peaks release on another date but in Letterboxd appears one different.

• The Unchanging Sea

  1910

• Little Nemo

  1911

• The Mystery of the Rocks of Kador

  1912

• The Child of Paris

  1913

• Gertie the Dinosaur

  1914

• Satan's Rhapsody

  1915

• Judex

  1916

• The Immigrant

  1917

• A Dog's Life

  1918

• The Doll

  1919

...plus 100 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Today celebrate Pride LGBT day! 🏳️‍🌈

I want to dedicate this list to all those who believe in friendship, affection, and love because those sentiments always are bigger than any kind of prejudice.

You want to know which are according to Rate Your Music s, the best 100 movies about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender ever made?

Check and find out.

1. Paris Is Burning
2. Funeral Parade of Roses
3. Tropical Malady
4. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
5. Moonlight
6. The Handmaiden
7. Blue
8. The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
9. Call Me by Your Name
10. Happy Together

...plus 90 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Think about this for a moment:
If you had the chance to be part of the grand jury and pick the winner of every year for the best film (not the Judge one), perhaps the most prestigious international film festival in the world.... what would be your personal choices?
Here I write and express my own point of view, it can perhaps be to your liking or not, but in the end, is my personal opinion, I leave comments on each of them to justify my reasons.
I don't mean to say that the 10 movies they won in each year are bad or lousy, they are amazing films and deserve the place they have.
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Disclaimer: the idea and creation of this list were made since April...before the start of the Cannes film festival in 2016.
March 2020: Update the list with new annotations and changes for some years.

• Interrogation

  1990

  The decade starts IMO very weak, with some sloppy films, in which I stand out this Banned film in some countries released 8 years before. Hard to digest (that's the reason for my like by this one).... but it is supposed to be one of the objectives in Cannes (show difficult and complex films).

• The Double Life of Véronique

  1991

  This year get more competitive, some interesting and peculiar films who spot on appearing, strong competitors for sure, but, The Double Life of Véronique it's spellbinding, enthralling and mesmerizing!! A real beauty for the senses!!! Amazing performance of Irene Jacob too.

• The Player

  1992

  Like 1991, this is another interesting year. But this particular year Robert Altman has a great comeback with this film adapted from the book of Michael Tolkin. A film that constantly puts us to question questions such as This is an Anti- Hollywood or a Pro- Hollywood film? when are we living in fiction or real life? a film can achieve a happy ending?. Tim Robbins delivers outstanding performance with left him from his comfort zone.

• Naked

  1993

  1993 it's my personal favorite year in Cannes. Good, interesting and peculiar films made an appearance, sadly at the same time is the most unjust year of all for sure!! I can't stand my self why Naked did not become the winner... have almost everything: Mike Leigh wins for best director and David Thewlis give us a top-notch performance and win for the best actor!! two of the most important awards .... and the last straw: there was a tie, the only tie of the decade.

• Exotica

  1994

  I have mixed feelings this year, good films but nothing who surprises me at all (well maybe Three Colours: Red is a good contender). My pick was Exotica because its a fine example of a film that can really stay true with directors perspective. Atom Egoyan made a cult film more than a art-y one but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is an interesting film, since everything in it is, from its story to characters.

• Carrington

  1995

  Let me say this and I'm being honest, the first time I saw this film I adore so much, very underrated, with great characters; Jonathan Pryce always delivers and Emma Thompson exceeded my expectations because it's surprisingly good as Leonora Carrington. Sadly this film will remain only in the memory of when it first came out and will not be so transcendental at all.

• Breaking the Waves

  1996

  Yes, Secret & Lies wins this year and of course, it deserves, if I had to choose a second option my answer would be Breaking The Waves, easy Von Trier more simplistic film, more human and the Semi- Dogma technique in this one really works. This is my favorite film of him after Dogville.

• Funny Games

  1997

  The nominated films of this year are not much to my liking and not attract my attention at all, but choose Funny Games despite not being up to top-notch Arthouse as the others, but who says that art and gross cant mix together?? An out of the box story, no doubt a turning point in the filmography of Haneke.

• Life Is Beautiful

  1998

  Quite possibly the weakest year of the decade (so-so films on competition). Knowing that is perhaps a safe and non-risky choice, anyway, Life Is Beautiful is an enchanting story that has crossed the thin line between being an arthouse film to being a more mainstream one.

• All About My Mother

  1999

  The decade closes a little bit disappointing among all these we find this film that after many years of making films, Pedro Almodóvar proves that he has something more to offer in the cinema world. All About My Mother is a before and after in his filmography, between the kitsch/campy and the more serious/retrospective. A well made simple story but a good message about a reality that exists in the world.

A list of every film I have from the Criterion Collection (either DVD or Bluray).

Order by a number of the spine.

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My story of how I met Criterion Collection:

In 2010 I found out that this company that is dedicated to making great art films had launched what is perhaps my favorite movie: Brazil. I had the DVD version that Universal Pictures had released in 1998! but I was so excited to find out that there was a 3-disc boxset with more supplements and I bought it. By the time I discover more and more films and buy DVDs between 2010 and 2014, the reason why I bought them in that format because I don't have a lot of money to acquire a Blu ray player. In these last 2 years, I back to acquire more Criterion films. I honestly love a lot this company!

1. Grand Illusion

   #1
   OOP DVD

2. Amarcord

   #4
   Current DVD Release

3. The 400 Blows

   #5
   Current DVD Release

4. Beauty and the Beast

   #6
   DVD Release

5. A Night to

   #7
   DVD 1998 Edition OOP

6. The Killer

   #8
   OOP DVD

7. Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom

   #17
   Current DVD Release

8. Shock Corridor

   #19
   Current DVD

9. Alphaville

   #25
   OOP DVD

10. Picnic at Hanging Rock

    #29
    OOP DVD

...plus 124 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I found this concept who explains very well this kind of films:

Time travel is a popular theme that involves characters traversing time. Though many time travel films follow an Adventure, the use of time travel as a narrative device can be found in many different styles and genres, such as Thriller or Action. Common concepts found in time travel films include time loops, paradoxes, time tourism, and attempts to alter the past. Time travel primarily takes place in the context of a Science Fiction or a Fantasy work, though it may not be d with these genres at all.

Since I was a child (I doubt that I am the only one) I have always dreamed and imagined that traveling to another era. Cinema has given us that possibility, and why not? Maybe in the not too distant future this could happen. The first film (according to the history) was A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court a strange silent film.

Not a very versatile genre but with the past of the time they show different perspectives like something fun and enjoyable (Back To The Future), something mainstream (The Terminator saga), something experimental (Primer), more indie and arty
(La Jete), the ideas can be enormous.

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Films not in the database:

* Felix the Cat Trifles with Time (1925)
* ...e così divennero i 3 Supermen del West (1973)
* Split Infinity: A Gift From the Past (1992)
* Trancers III (1992)
* Doctor Who: The Enemy Within (1996)
* Chrono Trigger: Time and Space (1996)
* Curse of the Remote Island (2008)
* Steins;Gate: The Movie - The Burden of Déjà Vu (2013)
* Gintama: The Movie: The Final Chapter: Be Forever Yorozuya (2013)

• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
• Turn Back the Clock
• Time Flies
• Fiddlers Three
• The Old Grey Hare
• Three Little Pirates
• Repeat Performance
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
• The House in the Square
• The Twonky

...plus 201 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

To me 1993 it's one of a kind year in the cinematographic story. Also, Rate Your Music its IMO a very underrated website that actually deserves more attention, well, it's maybe more focused on music but their film section deserves a spot too.

This list it's created starting from the ratings and scores given by the s themselves of the site.

Enjoy!

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16/11/2019

I reorder some films in the rank because RYM website shows some changes in the top 100.

29/11/2019

The website shows some changes in the top 100.

06/12/2019

The website shows other changes again.

13/12/2019

Cronos is removed from the Top 100 and now Totally Fucked Up enter on the list.

20/12/2019

Some changes appear once again on the website.

10/01/2020

The Junky's Christmas enter to the top 100 and Totally Fucked Up is now removed.

25/01/2020

Some changes on the list are edited.

31/01/2020

Hercules Returns enters the top 100 list.

07/02/2020

Some changes on the list are edited.

14/02/2020

Some changes on the list are edited.

21/02/2020

Some changes on the list are edited.

28/02/2020

Some changes on the list are edited.

06/03/2020

Some changes on the list are edited: Totally Fucked Up enters again on the Top 100.

12/03/2020

Some changes on the list are edited.

20/03/2020

Some changes on the list are edited.

1. Schindler's List
2. Naked
3. Groundhog Day
4. The Wrong Tros
5. Three Colours: Blue
6. Short Cuts
7. Blue
8. Carlito's Way
9. Abraham's Valley
10. Sonatine

...plus 89 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.