khodge Reviews

Ana (II) (2020)

Well worth your time

[7/10 · 22 August 2020]

There are some very bad movies out there and Ana or "The Guardian" is not one of them. The story is slight and the running time feels about 20 minutes over. It's not quite a comedy. The humour is spare and dark, playing more like drama for the most part with elements of South American magical realism.

Dafne Keen and Andy Garcia are cast perfectly, with an on-screen chemistry and individual performances that's are a real joy to watch. Garcia is perfectly sad, understated and beaten, while Keen is a chaotic bundle of innocence and guile. The movie rollicks along when the two of them are together in the same space (and begins to drag a little when they are not). The cinematography and shots of Puerto Rico are beautiful, from the broken slums to the lush jungle. There are several strands competing but this is, at heart, a road movie of sorts. At its best, it reminded me of Paper Moon.

This is so much more than a "5".

Girl on the Third Floor (2019)

Raimi and House vibes

[7/10 · 7 March 2020]

Not really understanding the panning on here... This was a serviceably weird and creepy horror, like an updated version of House, the cult 80s trippy haunted house movie. Phil Brooks does remind you of Bruce Campbell in both looks and acting style - but in a good way. He clearly can't help it. It's no masterpiece, but worth a watch if you like your scary movies a bit odd.

Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016)

Don't let Gamergate nerds spoil this for you

[8/10 · 9 October 2016]

Go back and watch the original Ghostbusters. It's great - but it's a bit of a mess. The humour is patchy, the story all over the place. Rick Moranis is annoying in every scene he appears in. Worst of all, the pacing is way off.

Of course, there's Bill Murray. Lots of Bill Murray. Really - he's the only funny thing about the original.

This new take on Ghostbusters suffers from some of the same problems, but you can't fault the performances of any of the leads. And the laughs? They're there from the start and throughout. There are genuine laugh out loud moments. There are also some really kick-ass action scenes too which are, honestly, much better than the original. Of course they are - they have 2016 special effects.

And it's respectful of its source too. If anything, the movie pays homage a little too much to the original.

If you are evolved enough to not feel threatened or emasculated by the idea of a female Ghostbusters, you'll probably have a lot of fun watching this movie. Which is the whole point...

Elephant (2003)

Murder as mundanely...

[29 June 2004]

A beautiful and sensitive movie, the strap line says it all: it was like an ordinary day at school, except that it wasn't.

We follow the intertwined stories of several high school students as they go about their morning. They gossip, have lunch, get on with school work - the things that kids do every day. The narrative cuts back and forth to reveal the brittle connections between their lives. None of them is aware that two of their peers plan to attack the school population, picking off kids one by one with rifles and assault weapons.

There's a longer review among these comments that complains that you didn't get to see the motivation behind the shootings at the climax of the film. You actually do get clues to the motivation to the killings throughout the film - but that really isn't the point of the movie.

It is far more interesting to see the impact of the climactic event on the other students than to be told, once again about dysfunctional upbringings or the fact that the killers were ostracised by their peers... This is no true-life movie of the week.