VVirak Reviews

The Deep House (2021)

The Shallow House

[5/10 · 21 February 2022]

For the first 50 minutes, I kept wondering, "Why this movie doesn't have a higher IMDb rating?" And then came the last 30, where the authors just didn't know what to do with it, reached for some clichés and head-scratchers and ultimately ruined what should have been a memorable and original horror film (and what a missed opportunity this is - there was so much to like (the art direction, the atmosphere), so many directions to go... I can't believe they did this to their own movie. It feels like sabotage.)

Relic (2020)

Relish This Relic

[7/10 · 23 January 2022]

Another quality entry from a 21st century Australian filmmaker, it's a film which horror I don't think most young people can experience or recognize properly, because it gets real with age, and, as you grow older, it creeps into you as some sort of inheritance, a legacy where you find yourself thinking of dying not in those romantic terms where you'd decide your own fate, but in terms of personal diminishing and gradual demise as, next in line for it, you slowly but surely creep towards your own death. "Relic" is drama-first, horror-second, yet that doesn't spoil its genre effectiveness. The three women portraying the three generations within the same family are all great and, even more importantly - relatable. With so many movies right now having these perplexingly high metascore marks, "Relic" is the one where I actually think its rating is highly unfair. My bet is it'll age gracefully.

La Llorona (2019)

The Wailing Woman

[7/10 · 23 January 2022]

Don't go into "La Llorona" for the horror of it, because you'll be disappointed -- horror is a by-product of any war atrocity, real or staged, and even though there are supernatural elements here that the title suggests, thus (also) rendering it a genre movie, these elements, they serve a different purpose. Frankly, I think it also being somewhat of a horror hurt its IMDb rating, because the wrong audience targets it and leaves it feeling misled. It's a good film on an important subject and you should see it.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Feeling at Home

[8/10 · 23 January 2022]

What a satisfying cinematic experience! I'd still have to re-watch the movie at home, just to peel the collective from the personal, the impression and hype from where I actually am, before I put it in the same category as Raimi's "Spider-Man 2" (which I adore), or even this iteration's "Spider-Man: Homecoming" that I liked quite a bit (in fact, it's my Top 5 MCU movie so far). Now, "Far From Home" is the phenomenon of 2021, so I need not waste words on the details about the movie itself. Instead, let me share a couple of anecdotes from the theatre where I saw it:

1. There were a couple of little girls behind me at the theatre, OMG-this and OMG-that on pretty much everything flashy, in short, having the time of their lives, and I couldn't help but find it amusing (something which I don't think would be the case if I weren't a father myself). Now, throughout the movie, they didn't say a single thing about the Lizard, yet when it finally became Dr. Connors, one of them shouted a very distinct, "Yuck!" (I think even Rhys Ifans would find this one hilarious.)

2. The first time we saw Maguire, I caught a glimpse of my friend - there was a huge grin on his face and I spontaneously mimicked one on my own. For the post-credit scenes, the theatre was emptied except for a dozen or so people who were approximately our age (we're both in our late thirties), the audience that got introduced to and hooked on the Spider-Man two decades ago. "Man, Tobey's old", whispered the friend as if he was fighting back tears, also talking about all of us that stayed not to see what comes next, but to say goodbye to Tobey once again.

His House (2020)

Blaxploitation II

[6/10 · 23 January 2022]

This movie has something (the setting, the atmosphere), but I feel as though Peele has established a subgenre with "Get Out" and now even the marginally similar movies suffer for it. I'd still recommend it, though.

The Night House (2020)

The Hollow House

[6/10 · 23 January 2022]

There were a couple of things distracting me from fully focusing on "The Night House"- the first one is Rebecca Hall in a horror movie (I could not stop seeing her in Shelley Duvall's role in "The Shining"). The second are these goddamn beautiful, spacious houses that make me think like a Soviet-era socialist. Finally, I found the movie to be just okay, definitely a step back for David Bruckner (I really liked "The Ritual" and was looking forward to this one because of it). The story is unnecessarily layered, with layers undermining each other instead of working together to maximise the movie's potential. The dialogues mostly don't work, and the one where the grieving Beth (Hall) is at a restaurant with her friends is cringeworthy (I dislike Sarah Goldberg as an actress - she brings an air of amateurism and her presence here makes Hall's performance look even more over-the-top).

The Empty Man (2020)

Appreciate the Effort

[5/10 · 8 January 2022]

"The Empty Man" really tries to keep us engaged and entertained, something which should be appreciated in an era where so many movies that have more to offer play it safe and only think about avoiding the outrage.

That being said, I can't give it more than 5/10 - It's a textbook example of mediocrity (if there are good contributions by the crew, they are leveled by a bunch of poor performances by the cast (I might be biased, but Marin Ireland (Nora Quail here, also the sister from "The Dark and the Wicked") is entering the Queen of Cringe zone for me personally, yet Sasha Frolova (Nora's daughter Amanda) gives 'mommy' a run for her money)).

Ultimately, you basically get what the cliché of a title suggests (the plus being the aforementioned effort). Also, my take is that the horror aspect of it trails both the mystery and thriller genres.

Hunter Hunter (2020)

Haunting Hunter

[6/10 · 7 January 2022]

There's a lot to like about "Hunter Hunter" (the setting, the atmosphere, to name a few things). Still, personally, the sheer brutality of the finale overshadows everything that came before. I'd still recommend it (it's a good horror movie), but the ending's made it impossible to revisit, for me at least (and, ironically, "Martyrs" is one of the genre's favorites!).

In the Earth (2021)

Somewhere in the Earth

[5/10 · 7 January 2022]

In the first half of the 2010's, Ben Wheatley was one of the most promising British filmmakers, releasing, in a span of only three years, "Kill List"(2011), "Sightseers" (2012) and "A Field in England"(2013, a personal favorite, but it's this one where you'd see him flirting too dangerously with the abyss).

In the second half of the same decade, he didn't meet the expectation, whiffing on big projects like Ballard's "High Rise" (that I liked) and Du Maurier's "Rebecca" (didn't), yet I remained his (staunch) defender, looking only for the good things, justifying him by telling myself he's uncompromising and his audience is in the future. With "In the Earth", I'm afraid all the credits are used with me and, if I were his friend, I'd perform an intervention, making him return to his roots and rediscover what worked in the past (his work was always unconventional, but it wasn't a point of emphasis, serving a greater purpose/ an actual content and meaning, something he now sorely lacks and a thing "In the Earth", his latest movie, is void of (the disappointment being bigger because everything that advertised it - the trailer, the synopsis, the phenomenal stone poster - promised something special and substantial, something to quell all the criticism, instead of supporting it. I find myself still choosing my words around Wheatley, so let me phrase it like this - right now, "In the Earth" is an alien to me - I don't know what it is, what it does, what it wants or what audience can it have. Personally, it felt like a bad-trip psychedelic after which you feel awful about yourself.

Lamb (2021)

The Land of Ice... and Sheep

[5/10 · 6 January 2022]

You all know the story by now: Iceland is actually green and Greenland is... well, what Iceland is supposed to be. Now, as far as the cinema of Iceland is concerned, you could make a flowchart and ask the following questions: 1. Is everyone in it sane? 2. Does it have sheep? If both answers are negative, chances are you probably don't watch an Iceland movie. (I'm joking, of course - I believe I only saw 3 Icelandic movies, yet 2 of those not only have sheep in them, but are central to the movies in question. Small sample, but you'll have to admit that the sheep-to-movie ratio so far is staggering!)

For those looking for a nice little Euro horror movie to discover and recommend to their friends - this isn't it and I'm not being the well-actually guy, but only trying to help the movie find its audience. "Lamb" is drama first, fantasy second, and the horror aspect of it is more like a collateral damage (the finale leaves no doubt what it is, even if it does raise the question why it is the way it is). If you hear what's going on in this movie without knowing what I just told you, chances are you won't even doubt its nature (I certainly didn't). Nevertheless, it's just a decent drama with a weird, promising idea that went the other way.

P. S.: It's amazing I haven't seen Noomi since "The Drop" (2014) - she's a fine actress with great range.

P. P. S.: To all the (young) directors out there - please don't use "Sarabande" in your movies. That composition has been so overused it's completely lost its gravity and for some time now, the only thing it signifies is one's own ignorance of classical music.

Antlers (2021)

Two Words: Scott Cooper

[5/10 · 6 January 2022]

Had to IMDb the name to finally see the man I think so little of and I have to say - it's a great face to disagree with (what I also found is that I watched every single movie Cooper has made so far, and every single time I fall for some candy in a movie's synopsis only to find out that's pretty much all there is to it).

"Antlers" is trapped somewhere between Del Toro's half-baked fantasy and Cooper's half-wit realism, belonging to no one and, honestly, having no valid reason to exist. We all know this story, yet we need a Native American to retell it, that being the entire purpose of the character's existence here. The plot is same old, same old, just a standard point-A, point-B stuff, safe, simple, risking nothing, thus ending empty-handed. The characters can pass as a whole, but there are details that reveal the insincerity behind them (yes, that's precisely how a 12-year old draws or how a person would react if he/ she sees a door with half a dozen locks on it). There's also the terrible trauma that somehow gives a character strength in the present, not to do anything with his/ her own life, but to identify someone else's immediate danger by means of one's own and come out a savior and winner, a truly Hollywood gimmick that has been out there for so long it has convinced itself it's real. The creature is fine.

You know good-stats-bad-team athletes? Jesse Plemons is an actor who looks like he is good, but he isn't. It's his appearance, bringing P. S. Hoffman and Damon to mind, at least for me, while being nowhere near either of them, his chops often reduced to the ruddiness of his cheeks and facial hair under them (I honestly can't tell the difference between this Plemons and "The Power of the Dog" Plemons or any that came before and that now I can't even remember, and please don't reach for the nuances argument here; frankly, there isn't much one can do with these roles so perhaps the directors know who he is after all).

Great poster, though!

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Soo... About Last Night

[5/10 · 3 December 2021]

Great title. Great poster(s). The movie, though, I found to be as messy as a clown's face in the rain (could it be that this is the chronology of the creative process here, coming up with the title, picturing the looks and only then laboring to come up with a story, any story that's to live up to the former two?) I can't believe I'm saying this, but Wright might be watching too many movies. How could that be a bad thing, someone might ask. It can't, unless your influences overshadow your identity and this is, in my opinion, precisely the thing "Last Night in Soho" suffers from.

Something feels off from the get-go: the tone, the setting, the strange way in which Thomasin's character speaks, so strange, in fact, that I tried in my head to remember her enunciation from "Leave No Trace" and "JoJo Rabbit" and failed, of course. To say that, by the end, the movie goes off the rails would mean to acknowledge those brief instances when the movie promises to make sense of its existence as the signposts in its path, but that they are not, merely a mirage which may distract you and disarm you when you are young or naïve or both (age or cinema-wise) and still have a sweet tooth for an eye candy, but I'm past that and pulling a Glover here.

Aesthetics aside, I honestly don't know its target audience. Also, what genre is this? For a mystery, it relies too heavily on what we'd already seen from the likes of De Palma or Polanski to really surprise us or keep us wondering what's going on. As a horror, it looks too neat, too staged and choreographed and I kept comparing it with Guadagnino's "Suspiria" for this reason, and how the latter succeeds where this one fails, even though Luca had Dario's monkey on its back to deal with, while "Soho", intentionally burdening itself with all these influences, buried itself under the simian barrel. Finally, having all these genre aspirations leaves much to be desired for it to be a quality drama with substance.

Since "Last Night in Soho" IS an Edgar Wright movie, I'm about to end the review with a joke (not really), for it did occur to me that the movie couldn't have taken itself seriously or that the director himself is unable to tell a story, any story straight-faced: Ed is like that funny friend of yours who's always the life of the party, but then comes that humorless moment, like a funeral of someone gone too soon, someone close and important and, even though he can recognize the moment, your funny friend just can't help himself.

Run (I) (2020)

Running It Back

[5/10 · 2 December 2021]

This movie is perfect for the Netflix/ Amazon/ HULU era of cinema, which is to say mediocre, an assembly-line product that isn't exactly a waste of time, but it also can't really justify why someone would have to spend 90 minutes on it. I saw the poster, read the synopsis, watched the trailer and absolutely knew what I was getting myself into, but Paulson prevailed. Needless to say, I got exactly what I expected. So, for those of you that don't share my SP proclivity, follow my breadcrumbs - poster-synopsis-trailer - and you can skip the actual movie without wondering if this one might actually be different.

Eternals (2021)

The Eternals Question

[7/10 · 1 December 2021]

I fail to understand the negativity around this movie. I read some of the critics' reviews and thought them to be too abstract - as if they entered "Eternals" not even with a notion of what they personally want it to be, but knowing full well what they'll think about the movie even before it started. In honor of the Eternals' 10, here are 8 big things I liked, 2 small I didn't:

1. Apart from one solution I won't spoil for those that still have not seen the movie, I thought that the movie successfully resisted the temptation of being sucked into the PC vortex.

2. Kit Harington aside - who, truth to be told, was just as annoying as expected, so no surprise there - the characters are well-developed, as are the relationships. Zhao introduced them who they are through what they do, not what they say they should be. When things start to unravel, there is a real sense of tragedy, loss and grief and it's all because Zhao precedes it by treating her subjects not like senseless, but sentient beings.

3. Unlike "Shang-Chi", the comic relief here isn't forced and Nanjiani (Kingo) is an actual superhero that we don't have to ask ourselves how on Earth he keeps on staying in the story's mise-en-scene (unlike Awkwafina, who in my mind overshadows almost everything from "Shang-Chi" whenever I try to remember something, anything about that movie, and, needless to say, ruins it). Also, no one needs to remind me Nanjiani is funny, because he actually is.

4. I don't remember the last time I caught myself thinking about Jolie's acting chops.

5. The OST is great (the GoT composer Djawadi), but I can't say my broadest smile didn't happen when I heard Pink Floyd's "Time".

6. The trailer certainly deceived me how well the movie's going to look, because the visuals did not seem particularly promising and the art direction felt lacking substance and depth.

7."Eternals" can exist outside the MCU, which, in 2021, is no small feat (the info it shares about Thanos is practically all you need to know so it doesn't mess with your understanding the plot). Having said this, I don't see why there'd be difficulties to incorporate its heroes in the Disney's monstrosity of a money-making machine.

8. I found the costumes grand, simultaneously Earth-bound and not of this world (the blue colour on Ajak and Ikaris makes them look particular).

Here are a couple of nitpicks (someone might find them to be spoilers, so you can depart here):

1. There's a fight between Ikaris and one of the Deviants that reminded both me and my friend of DiCaprio's "The Revenant" bear fight (the creature's moves, camera's angle, everything). Nothing special, just felt like a leftover of something that was reused. I am also not sure about the Deviants and their treatment here.

2. The so much hyped sex scene is, of course, underwhelming. Yes, the moment is intimate and we don't need von Trier or Noe here, but it's nevertheless a reminder that this movie is American and you are still more likely to see a toddler's top being blown off by a shotgun than a couple of bare behinds enjoying themselves.

The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)

Jim of Snow Hollow

[6/10 · 3 November 2021]

Cummings's quirks, which worked well in "Thunder Road", felt out of place here more than they didn't (to me, at least). Enjoyed seeing Forster one last time.

The Green Knight (2021)

Emerald Green

[8/10 · 2 November 2021]

If you go over the IMDb page of David Lowery (the movie's director and writer), one of the first things you'll notice is high metascore of his movies but their low rating (especially when compared to the metascore). I won't dwell on this, but have to say I don't know what is it with "The Green Knight" that people failed to find. Was it boredom? Frustration? Failed expectations? All of the above? I taught Medieval English literature for a few years at college and one of my favourite (if not the favourite) piece of writing was "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". I mention this because the standards with the things we love are always higher and rarely reached. Having said that, I couldn't have been more content with this adaptation - it's as beautiful a take on this period as anything I've seen since "Excalibur" (far from it being merely an aesthetic pleaser, for the content is equally rewarding, with successful characters, believable dialogue and pace that allows it to breathe while moving forward; it's a movie that knows what it is and what it wants and, unlike so many modern projects, is void of cynicism, almost piously respectful of the topics it tackles, which is the right approach, the only approach for it to succeed and create something of lasting quality. Patel is as good as ever, and I found comfort in his face as much as I did in the sights and sounds of his quest, humanity and history intertwined like the Green Knight's physique. Unfortunately, our times can't discern the shades so delicate, too busy scoffing at everything rather than trying to understand. Here's to hoping the time after can. The value is already here - all it needs is a good axe to find its way there.

Rent-A-Pal (2020)

Rent Rent-a-Pal

[6/10 · 1 November 2021]

I liked the movie enough (and would recommend it; more sad than scary, but it's the sadness that keeps you engaged and, ultimately, makes you feel the full horror of the final act), yet you know what I was thinking about for the better half of "Rent-A-Pal"? How the actor behind the main character (Brian Landis Folkins) would've made for a great Judge Holden in a movie adaptation of "Blood Meridian" (been thinking about the part ever since I read the book). Nice notch for Will Wheaton here as well.

Possessor (2020)

Possessor Jr.

[7/10 · 31 October 2021]

A gem. You can see the father, but the son is an animal of its own. I haven't seen "eXistenZ" in ages, yet "Possessor" reminded me of it (for obvious reasons), perhaps occupying the same space, yet this iteration being darker in my mind, less venereal, more cerebral. The more I think about the movie, the more I like it.

The Invisible Man (I) (2020)

The Invincible Women

[2/10 · 30 October 2021]

This movie is to the white men what the new "Candyman" is to the white men. And it won the Golden Chainsaw, which scared me more than anything in this pseudo-horror of a movie, because unlike the Oscars, this award was resisting PC just fine and was great at picking what would have objectively been the best horror movie of that year (and for this, it was "Possessor"). Also, is the Invisible Man's obsession about Elizabeth Moss's inner beauty? As you can tell, I'm a shallow (white) male and have rather primitive notions of female physique - namely, for me to acknowledge the aforementioned, I need a woman to actually look beautiful. Sad, I know.

Dune (2021)

Dunno

[6/10 · 27 October 2021]

Why this isn't a mini-series? Certainly felt like Episode 1 of a big-budget TV show from 2021. I get the part about the cinematic experience of it (the production design is as advertised), but its dependency on the sequel(s) has left me with a feeling I hadn't watched a movie. Aside from the fact that it cannot function as a standalone thing (thus hard to judge, hence the review's title), my main problems with Villeneuve's "Dune" are that it offered me nothing new, no author's stamp to add/ change the perspective on something (I'd go even further and say that Lynch's adaptation had some better solutions of certain images, and we all know the infamous reputation of that project); secondly, almost every scene that should be big and add to the mythos of this world comes a tad short or barely misses the mark, promising something it fails to deliver (like violence - I can't believe it isn't a Disney picture; also, whichever department is in charge of one-on-one battle sequences, it failed to create an atmosphere of anything other than a rehearsal), too long here, too short there, here and there focusing on the wrong thing. Finally, the tempo of the movie is such I couldn't follow its rhythm.

Sputnik (2020)

Comrade Alien

[5/10 · 5 October 2021]

Gave it this much because every Slavic crack at horror genre deserves support (our reality being as dreary as it is, we need an extra effort to deal with an additional dose of dark). But this movie isn't Russian - it's a mediocre Russian-synchronized Americana. Hollywood copycats are not a curiosity, nor are they a product of this day and age (how much of the 80's Italian cinema exists without it?); moreover, it's only natural for the dominant culture to rub off on the rest of the world. But a country like Russia can and must do better. Draw an inspiration from your rich culture and cinematic/ literary history, for God' sake! Don't offer us a stale burger and a flat Coke.

P. S.: Is the poster supposed to be a nod to "The Thing" or something? Because all I can see when looking at it is Crash Bandicoot.

Host (II) (2020)

Ho Ho Host!

[5/10 · 27 September 2021]

Kudos to the people behind the movie for creating sth out of nothing. Make sure to see it in the times of corona -- I'm not positive it is going to survive the pandemic.

Censor (2021)

The Nasty Butcher

[5/10 · 26 September 2021]

"Censor" is good as a tribute to the Video Nasties era, a point in time (and place) where the yes-yes horror movies intersected with the no-no Iron Lady. But is it good as a standalone thing? I don't know. I mean, is the movie scary? No, not really. Is it exciting? No. Does it have a point? I don't know, actually. Would I watch it again? No, I don't think I would.

See this is a lot of nos and don't knows for my taste. It's too smart for its own good. Too intellectual. Too meta. And yet, "Censor" feels like a less talented, more lost baby sister of "Berberian Sound Studio". You don't have to know the cinema to make a good (horror) movie, but you have to know yourself and what you are doing. This director doesn't, not with this one at least ("Censor" is also a feature film debut, and one can see a rookie filmmaker behind it).

As is always the case with new blood, we'll see where we are with Bailey-Bond with her next project.

The Dark and the Wicked (2020)

The Daft and the Winded

[3/10 · 25 September 2021]

Here's a horror movie that was probably made to be sneaky good, a word of mouth, to have a long TV life ("You know what horror movie rocks? 'The Dark and the Wicked'!") Only it's just plain bad, an imposter. The story is silly and the lead actors are so atrocious I couldn't keep a straight face while witnessing their 'gut-wrenching' displays of... amateurism. Nothing to see here, folks.

Saint Maud (2019)

Saint Morfydd

[8/10 · 24 September 2021]

My pick for the best horror movie of 2020. Clark should come out of this a star. As for Glass - add her to the list of contemporary female directors who know how to make a good horror movie (Kent, Smoczynska, Ducournau, Shortland, to name a few).