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Reviews
The Alchemist Cookbook (2016)
Slow burn indie horror
I tend to really like this relatively recent subgenre of small budget horror films. The pleasure is always in the storytelling and inventive use of limited resources. It simultaneously grounds the picture and explores creative visuals. The best of these give one a deep sense of menace and foreboding, but when over makes you want to go again. This is a solid effort in this subgenre, and portrays well the dabbling with black magik as an allegory for a dive into mental illness.
Watchmen (2008)
A word on this motion comic from a father
I read Watchmen shortly after its original explosion onto the scene in 1986 or 7. I've read it a number of times since then, and it always rewards rereading. I'm not a fan of motion comics in general, and I was not a fan of this particular one, with its single narrator rather than full a cast recording. But my son, who found the original novel daunting due to his dyslexia, loved it. This motion comic opened the book up for him and he was able to enjoy it when otherwise he wouldn't have been able. So for that, it gets my 8 stars.
Nova Seed (2016)
Great film with a fatal flaw
The animation, design, visual styling and storytelling are all great here. The music is serviceable but rarely matches the highs and lows of the narrative, coming off ineffective and monotonous. But what crushes this obvious labor of love by a talented team of creators is the unforgivablely terrible voice recording and foley work. You can't sell this world without believable audio. Send it back for a rescore and professional audio, and you have something. Don't ask an audience to buy or believe in a film with what amounts to a rough temp track. It's not charming. It's just half a film.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
A script so tight you can bounce a quarter off it.
A perfect storm of creative forces, acting and production talent. This is the Little B Movie That Could. A career peak for Spielberg, Lucas, Williams, Allen and Ford - whose careers are full of high points. One of the most rewatchable films ever shot. I must have seen this on the big and small screens a hundred times. Never gets boring.
Antichrist (2009)
Before Hereditary, before The VVitch...
...was Antichrist. A challenging, complex, confrontational, and technically amazing mytho-psychological horror story about how reality itself can be warped by grief and regret. While the film plays out age old themes of dominace and power and fear of the other sex, there are only shades of grays, instead of comfortable black-and-whites. It's one of the greats of it's kind, and seems to have been sort of forgotten. Deserves to be revisited and endlessly argued over.
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)
Only one reason to watch:
All the stars are for the insanely gorgeous Eva Green. Cut out all the parts that don't feature her and it's a 10. Could watch her for hours.