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Movie Reviews and Return to Melbourne
Jul. 24th, 2018 08:39 pmAfter a month in Europe I've made it back to Melbourne; a five-hour train trip from Berlin to Frankfurt, followed by an eleven-hour flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok, and then an eight-hour flight from Bangkok to Melbourne, all interspersed with a short period at each location. There's rarely much to do a long-haul plane trip except catch up on movies, of which I managed to get through several.
First in order of recollection was Isle of Dogs, which was charming and quite amusing in its use of mock-seriousness with plenty of Japanese cultural tropes. Perhaps surprising to some, I hadn't previously seen the superhero film Logan, where an aged Wolverine has to care for a young mutant in transit. It was actually quite good in terms of the themes explored and characterisation. Being a Wolverine film, it had more than its share of violence. In contrast the subsequent viewing, Mazerunner (The Death Cure). was absolutely atrocious, one of the worst films I have ever seen. Terrible acting, awful plot with gaping holes, and infantile in its thematic content.
On the second-leg, I watched Crimson Peak, a Guillermo del Toro directed Scottish-Victorian gothic-horror with supernaturalism and star-crossed romance and just enough shock value, and just enough creeping horror. Well worth viewing. In a comic turn was the Italian film Come un gatto in tangenziale
(Like a Cat on the Highway) an contemporary comic-romance between two teenagers separated by class and whose parents attempt to separate them. It tackled some interesting problems with contemporary Italian society and whilst the comic turn was not unexpected it was still carried out with charm. Plus, I got to listen to some Italian. The final film was A Cure for Wellness, which starts as a psychological drama, then takes a turn to some weird Lovecraftian horror. Overall, it was not a brilliant example of its type, but sufficiently good to be enjoyable.
The last couple of days have been just about getting back into the swing of normal life after four weeks of a whirlwind holiday tour and conferences. The cats are glad to see us, the mountain of mail and email has been largely dealt with, a report on ISC has been written for work, and so forth. Thursday will be a Megatraveller night, Saturday I'm presenting for the Isocracy Network on contemporary European politics, Sunday will be RuneQuest - and all has returned to normal.
First in order of recollection was Isle of Dogs, which was charming and quite amusing in its use of mock-seriousness with plenty of Japanese cultural tropes. Perhaps surprising to some, I hadn't previously seen the superhero film Logan, where an aged Wolverine has to care for a young mutant in transit. It was actually quite good in terms of the themes explored and characterisation. Being a Wolverine film, it had more than its share of violence. In contrast the subsequent viewing, Mazerunner (The Death Cure). was absolutely atrocious, one of the worst films I have ever seen. Terrible acting, awful plot with gaping holes, and infantile in its thematic content.
On the second-leg, I watched Crimson Peak, a Guillermo del Toro directed Scottish-Victorian gothic-horror with supernaturalism and star-crossed romance and just enough shock value, and just enough creeping horror. Well worth viewing. In a comic turn was the Italian film Come un gatto in tangenziale
(Like a Cat on the Highway) an contemporary comic-romance between two teenagers separated by class and whose parents attempt to separate them. It tackled some interesting problems with contemporary Italian society and whilst the comic turn was not unexpected it was still carried out with charm. Plus, I got to listen to some Italian. The final film was A Cure for Wellness, which starts as a psychological drama, then takes a turn to some weird Lovecraftian horror. Overall, it was not a brilliant example of its type, but sufficiently good to be enjoyable.
The last couple of days have been just about getting back into the swing of normal life after four weeks of a whirlwind holiday tour and conferences. The cats are glad to see us, the mountain of mail and email has been largely dealt with, a report on ISC has been written for work, and so forth. Thursday will be a Megatraveller night, Saturday I'm presenting for the Isocracy Network on contemporary European politics, Sunday will be RuneQuest - and all has returned to normal.
