Trance: 5.6

Danny Boyle is one of the most stylish directors of all time, no one can take that away from him. It doesn’t matter if its a comedy like Millions, a horror movie like 28 days later, a survival story like 127 hours or a movie about a game show like Slumdog Millionare, when Boyle is involved in a movie, great directing comes in hand with great style. The problem is that cinema is not only style. 

James McAvoy is Simon, a fine art auctioneer who teams up with Vincent Cassel and a criminal gang to steal a Goya painting worth millions of dollars. The problem comes when during the operation Simon losses his memory of where the painting is hid, so Simon is put through hypnosis therapy in order to find the painting.  That main plot idea is developed perfectly, but in the last half hour of the movie the script begins being just way too innecessarily confusing, and a lot of twists that harm the original story line are revealed.

Apart from the great direction, the actings are also remarkable, especially from Rosario Dawson, but also from a James McAvoy. The Music is unconsistent, when it´s good is good, but when it´s bad it´s awful (like the ending). 

What could had been an amazing movie due to the potential of Boyle and his cast, ends up being an average movie that is partially ruined by trying to have a confusing ending. 

2 weeks ago  /  1 note

Evil Dead: 6

Remake. The definition says that a remake is the reproduction of a motion picture already existing in which allusions to the original material are made, but in recent history remakes are connected with inferior versions of the originals.

When it was announced that  first-time director Fede Alvarez was the one elected to bring back the Sam Raimi classic to the big screen, there was a lot of justified skepticism. 

The story is basically the same one, 5 friends find an ancient book that unleashes evil forces in an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods, except this time, instead of a weekend of partying, the protagonists are there to help Mia in her rehab. 

The pace of the movie is as fast as the original ones, and this causes the lack of a deep character development; the relation between characters, and especially the background between Mia and her brother could have been exploited in a better way, but we all know a Evil Dead movie isn’t about character relations. 

In technical aspects the movie is remarkable; The score is haunting and appropiate, the special effects are great, creating a sense of reality that will make you wring in disgust. Jane Levy does a great job in her incarnation of the female version of Ashley Williams, but the other actings are not near remarkable. 

The main flaws of the movie come in the scary department, there is some sporadic suspense and some good scares, but not near as much as you’ll expect. It is true that Alvarez tried to bring a different approach to the movie, but the absurd humour from the original and the sequel are missed. The film’s main issue is the fact that the amazing Cabin in The Woods was released just last year and the constant comparations to the cult classic.

Evil Dead is not a failure, it has some laughs, great homages to the original and plenty of gore and blood to satisfy fans of the franchise. 

3 weeks ago  /  2 notes

Evil Dead: 6

Remake se define como la reproducción de una producción ya existente en su trama, personajes, estilo, etc. Curiosamente el concepto de “remake” en Hollywood es asociado con una versión de calidad inferior a la original, claro, con excepciones. 

Cuando el novato director uruguayo Fede Alvarez decidió tomar el clasico de culto de Sam Raimi y traerlo de vuelta al cine, mucho fue el escepticismo con respecto al proyecto. 

La historia cambia ligeramente con respecto a la película original, 4 amigos van a una cabaña en el bosque a apoyar a Mia con su rehabilitación. Estando en esa cabaña encuentran un libro antiguo y al leer un pasaje desatan un caos inimaginable. 

El ritmo de la película es acelerado al igual que la original, por lo que el desarrollo de personajes no es muy profundo, solo se tocan los conflictos entre personajes de manera superficial, pero de nuevo, estos no son el enfoque de la película. Los efectos especiales son bastante apropiados, llegando a un realismo que nos hace retorcernos con las escenas con mucho “gore” y sangre. Las actuaciones son regulares en su mayoría  nada sobresaliente pero tampoco nada desastroso, Jane Levy encarna bien a la personificación femenina del papel protagonico de Bruce Campbell. Lo flojo de la película viene en la falta del humor absurdo de la saga original, y este humor no es realmente reemplazado con mucho suspenso o terror; eso si, los fanáticos del gore tendrán de sobra para disfrutar. 

Evil Dead no es un fracaso como película, en realidad es una versión bastante adecuada del clásico de Raimi, su problema recae en las constantes comparaciones con las menos oscuras películas originales, y en su cercanía con la similar pero superior Cabin In The Woods. Igual, los fanáticos de la serie tendrán suficientes destellos de las clasicas 1 y 2, ademas de mucha, MUCHA sangre. 

3 weeks ago  /  0 notes

Incendies: 8.5

Canada’s arthouse master Denis Villeneuve shows us how well he can craft an emotional wreck in this devastating story about searching for your past. Simone and Jeanne, sons of the iconic Nawal Marwan, are searching for their father and lost brother, but when they start figuring out their mother’s past, they might want to reconsider. 

The actings are wonderful, which makes the character’s suffering and emotion feel authentic. The only negative aspects are maybe the over melodramatic tone that the film sometimes get to and the lack of a deep character analysis, but it is soon forgotten due to it’s literary quality and it´s disturbing and controversial twist plot. 

1 month ago  /  1 note