The Villainess Review

The Villaness is one hell of a ride. It pretty much has everything you want from a summer blockbuster:
-Red Hearings
-Action
-A Bad Ass Protaganist
-Sexual Tension
-Nicholas Winding Refn Lighting
-A Decent Yet Memorable Plot
-Good Acting
and a bit of Comedy.

However, it's far from great, and does have some flaws. First and for most, the ending pretty much ruined the film. The amazing build up was stellar in the first two acts, but when it got to the final act, it just felt lazy and just plain stupid. If you have seen the Villaness, you probably already know about the narrative continuity mistakes. Not only that, it ends on the cliche last shot evil grin thing (In which A Cure for Wellness did earlier this year.) As for technicalities, the cinematography, in almost all of the action scenes, felt extremely shaky. Basically it was on Paul Greengrass mode times 10 with a bit of First Person-Hardcore Henry like cinemetography. This got so annoying to the point I couldn't even understand what was going on screen. To finish off the negative, the musical score was nothing new. Just a plain, boring, action score.

The Villaness was a lot of fun, despite it's flaws. I would recommend seeing it in a cinema, just as long as you don't take the ending so seriously. Bring your friends, maybe some alcohol, and you'll have a pretty damn great time.

Score:
6.5/10

Frantz Review

Frantz is most likely the most over rated film of the year so far. It's a convoluted mess, in which it takes it's most redeeming attributes, and throws them into a bon fire when it ends. The Black and White to Color transfer was unnecessary and didn't serve much of a purpose to the film. The romantic intrigue of the film deeply lacked. The film wasn't mysterious nor clever then it thought it was. Not to mention, the elongated plot, in which more then an hour could have been cut. In fact, only the first part up to when the big secret was revealed could of been cut, and may have served better as an average short film. Instead, we got a painfully crappy film. I highly urge people to not see it.

Rating:

4.8/10

From the Land of the Moon Review

From the Land of the Moon was quite a surprise. Because of the negative reception from Cannes, one year ago, I was worried for this French production. Marion Cotillard is one of my favorite actors, and it would be a shame for her talent to go to waste. Thankfully, From the Land of the Moon is on the border of decent to good. It's a solid somber effort at a fictional period romance, and works for the most part. Although both the plot and characters are quite cliché filled, there's enough effort and style for the film to stand on it's own. There's nothing harmful nor new being presented here. It's just a simple quaint drama, with some expert cinematography and musical score, which will may or may not stay with you.

Rating:
6.6/10

Solaris (1972) Review

Solaris, out of all the work I've seen from Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, is the most accessible and re-watchable out of his work. The paranoiac sensibilities of the drama in this tale is easy to comprehend. Unlike Stalker, Solaris has a very linear plot line. It deals with several thematic materials of death, memories, and even relationships. Some problems that I had with the films, is that the first half of the film, lacked in pacing and overall presentation, while the the second half  is what you expect from Tarkovsky. Brilliant directing with a touch of ambiguity. If the whole film, was like the second part, we would most likely have one of the greatest films of all time. In fact, if there were more moments between the leads Hari and Kris, I believe we would have had one of the best character dynamics in any source of media, of all time. Solaris is a good film. It's not as great as Stalker, but when you put it in contrast to several other science fiction films of the 70's, there's not much of a competition (except for Close Encounters) Overall, I highly recommend this film, for first time viewers of Tarkovsky's work. 

Score:
7.6/10

Stalker (1979) Review

Stalker is quite a mind blower when it comes to the science fiction genre. The way how Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky takes thematic material of depression and longing, helps make an incredibly dense and thought provoking plot. The shear amount of character logic, and storytelling put into this near 3 hour masterpiece is a stunner too any cinephile. Not only that, the amount of tension and atmosphere in the film took my breath away to the point where my own environment felt damp, like the film. My only problem's with this piece of cinematic art, is how some of the dialogue felt a bit exposition, and how some scenes and transitions weren't so clear. At times, it just felt like the characters were spitting out what they thought, and the transitions felt off and unclear to the point where it was hard to understand what happened in the time frame between two specific points. This can include the sepia to color transfer, which was strangely used at the end of the film (but it could be implying a metaphor, in which I still haven't realized), and as well, the conversation by the lake near the second act. Overall, this is a thought provoking master piece in which it deserves more credit. It's truly a work of art.


Score:
8.1/10

Graduation (2016) Review

Graduation is an interesting film with some intruding subject matter to subdue upon. Romanian director, Cristian Mungiu has created a film, which could be described best as an intellectual piece of art, which is yet, quite unsatisfying. It's a shame to see several lost chances, to elevate the plot itself. Instead, Mungiu decided's to take a more tonally self serious route, which may or may not be for better or for worse. Another thing about Mungiu's directing, is how long a scene is extended for. Some scenes do matter throughout this Romanian 2 Hour and 7 Minute production, but some don't. Some scenes go on for at least 10 minutes, and most of them don't really have much of a purpose. The acting was good, the dialogue was great, and the cinematography was decent. I just felt like there was some sort of missed opportunity in this film.

Rating:
6.2/10