Keanen's Film Blog

A softcore erotic film about S&M. It feels like the film barely got produced, with concessions made to focus more on family than pain. Awkward intangible bullshit does not a tense thriller make. The frame story gets so much screen time that I am left wondering what the film could have been.

This is far from a perfect film, but compared to the more mainstream fare the likes of Amazon are trying to push, it’s nice to see a Finnish product.

[Read more…]

I can hardly fault Hans Reiser for what is a common, almost mundane crime. I can fault the filmmakers for missing the opportunity for a crazy Christian Slater performance. Slater is at least 15 years ahead of Nicolas Cage in terms of career decay, despite them being the same age. When Slater gives a fuck his performance can reach the edge of Cage, but that did not happen here. The worst thing a movie can be is boring, and due to bad casting and bad writing, this movie stinks like a corpse.

It could have been due to fear of lawsuits or plain old apathy. It’s less like a rogue journalist reporting on the OJ trial and more like James Franco writing for a college newspaper.

[Read more…]

Steve Jobs wanted no part of the Internet, if one of his biopics is to be believed. I don’t know which one, because they’re both the same and my brain melts them into a ball of catchphrases. Computing is personal! Everything is a priority! Computers aren’t fucking paintings! No, they fucking are paintings! I don’t know what these people are talking about half of the time, but it probably sounded fresh to screenwriter Matt Whitely. If you find Steve Jobs interesting, both movies are decent. This is the one that tried to be the fun Kutcher one.

[Read more…]

In moving pictures, dark fantasy usually sucks. (With the exception of Hellraiser and The Witcher.) “Evil is good” is a tough sell for American Christian audiences, who have historically made up the bulk of Hollywood’s market. Anime can get away with a lot more, but in terms of American movies, there is not much to pick from.

Let’s consider for a moment that Groundhog Day is dark fantasy in disguise. It’s a “what if?” movie, and such movies are usually explainable if you assume the protagonist has demonic powers. Bill Murray is the spirit of Satan, doing ritual suicides and resurrecting repeatedly. He lusts after his naive muse, bending time to subjugate her to his will. The man is unstoppable, and at the climax he takes the titular pagan sacrificial animal with him to the grave, only to resurrect and claim vengeance again.

[Read more…]

Here’s another sci-fi movie I think is cool. If you’re a fan of Michael Crichton’s concepts but not his writing, this one is both hit and miss. It feels like a slower version of Timeline (2003). Watch it. It’s good.

[Read more…]