#dead snow film review

[the-celluloid-correspondent]

Society of the Snow Review

In 1972, a Uruguayan flight crashes in the remote heart of the Andes, forcing the survivors to become each other's best hope for survival, even resorting to the extremes to stay alive. 

The saga of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, marked by tragedy and miracle, has found its way to the silver screen in various adaptations. While previous renditions often emphasized the spectacle of survival, “Society of the Snow” courageously delves into the horrors accompanying the miraculous event. 

Internationally renowned as a miraculous tale of survival, the narrative unfolds as a tragic flight where the majority of passengers met instant death—either crushed or thrown into the unforgiving Andes Mountains. Soon the survivors, beginning to starve, resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. At one point, the survivors were buried under an avalanche for several days, which claimed the lives of several members. Then as the winter’s bite begins to thaw, two survivors made the treacherous journey across the Andes mountains to Chile, seeking rescuers for their fellow survivors. 

Director J.A. Bayona fearlessly confronts the grim realities of this extraordinary event. The depiction of the plane crash is strikingly accurate and chilling, resonating with the sounds of crushing metal, shattering bones, and human screams. Bayona meticulously portrays the crash with all the terrifying details one can fathom. The horror intensifies as the survivors find themselves buried alive in the confining fuselage of the shattered aircraft for several days, subjected to multiple avalanches. Their muffled screams, stifled by the encroaching snow, evoke a profound sense of horror. The cinematography adeptly conveys the claustrophobic and uneasy atmosphere as the survivors endure their harrowing ordeal. Yet, when bathed in the radiant sunlight, the cinematography transforms into a beautiful yet desolate portrait of the haunting magnificence of the Andes Mountains. Despite this horrifying spectacle, it is not the center of this story.

At its core, "Society of the Snow" revolves around the indomitable human spirit's resilience in the face of adversity. The survivors, confronted by a relentless series of tragedies, remain steadfast in their mutual commitment to survival. Their awe-inspiring and powerful will to endure becomes a masterclass illustration, emphasizing that survival transcends mere physical strength and encompasses profound psychological resilience. Moreover, the film navigates the complex theme of cannibalism with utmost respect. It portrays the survivors grappling with their faith as they reluctantly engage in an act deemed unspeakable. The narrative sheds light on the compelling reasons behind such actions, all framed in a manner respectful to the survivors and victims of this tragic event. The spirit and internalized conflict surrounding cannibalism are expertly conveyed by the ensemble cast. Despite not all characters receiving ample screen time for thorough development, the audience can still comprehend and empathize with their struggles for survival. The film skillfully captures the essence of these characters and their collective journey to overcome the odds.

While the narrative of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 has seen various adaptations, "Society of the Snow" distinguishes itself as the first to authentically capture the horror embedded in this tragic tale. This emotionally charged cinematic experience explores the profound resilience of the human spirit amidst unimaginable challenges. The film pays due respect to the victims of this tragedy by vividly portraying the true horror of the event. The impact it leaves on viewers is profound, and one can't help but think that its power would be even more palpable if experienced beyond the comforts of home.

My Rating: A

[oneofusnet]

Digital Noise Episode 312: Supersons and Supermonsters DIGITAL NOISE EPISODE 312: SUPERSONS AND SUPERMONSTERS Chris and Wright have a mighty stack. So mighty, they don’t quite get to everything they planned on. But what you do get is a look at some supersons vs Starro, 80s wide-release horror classics getting the 4k and a 90s one that was rightfully overlooked, a loving… Read More »Digital Noise Episode 312: Supersons and Supermonsters read more on One of Us

[diamondmeadow]

out of context snippet

tagged by my lovely @ohyou-pretty-things

This is a snippet from a fic I tried to save my arse with last year when I wasn't able to finish my original idea for RLfest. In the end, I haven't finished this one either thought there's a good chunk written out and I have it all planned out. Hopefully one day soon.

Remus doesn’t count on being caught in a snowpocalypse at such a place—at least, not when he wakes up that morning, not when he arrives at the library, and not when he takes his first break after two hours of research on British telefantasy of the '70s and '80s. It’s actually all quite filmesque, really, and for the first time in his life, Remus is surprised to realize that these things actually do happen in his geographic location in real life as well. He has seen enough movies with this premise, but he’s always been somewhat doubtful, skeptical about things until they actually happen to him personally, though with enough common sense and empathy that people still like him well enough. Maybe that’s why Remus went into film studies in the first place. For him, watching movies has always come with learning new perspectives, seeing (other) ways of life. That’s what Remus has really been interested in since he was a small child with a heart condition, always stuck at home out of his parents’ fear that he might drop dead in the middle of the schoolyard or a street. He truly owes a lot to film.

Remus stares out of the window of the library for a good while before he fully accepts that, yes, indeed, he has been snowed in—at a library he rode a bus for 40 minutes to get to, of all places. He is snowed in to the point that it’ll be impossible to leave the building until it stops snowing, and even then, it will be impossible to get any bus back home for a few more hours before someone in the city council decides it’s a good idea to send a few snow trucks around to make life happen again. To trudge back all the way home in these conditions would definitely take at least two or three hours, especially for someone like him, who gets unreasonably tired unreasonably fast (cue the heart). Plus, Remus looks down at his Converse with a small, resigned sigh—he reckons he needs to install a different weather app on his phone. Which he promptly does, because now it seems like he has all the time in the world in this place anyway, so he might as well.

Perhaps if Remus had paid a bit more attention to his surroundings an hour or two ago, when people suddenly started leaving en masse, this exceedingly unfortunate situation could have been prevented. But at 2 p.m., after four hours of research, Remus is still enthusiastically (and unironically) into it, with the deadline for his article for Cinema Retro looming over his head. So, he doesn’t notice and keeps his nose buried in '70s magazines and movie reviews. The next time he looks up, everything outside the windows is so white he fears conjunctivitis, and there are exactly two other people on the floor with him—the librarian Remus spoke to when he arrived at the library in the morning, and a young bloke with long, dark hair and earphones in his pierced ears, sitting in the very corner of the room, his brows knitted behind a huge pile of what looks like medical books. Remus twists his mouth to the side pensively, and after a moment, starts rummaging in his messenger bag, slung on the back of his chair, for a bottle of water. He has resigned himself to the idea of being stuck here for the next several hours. Slumping backward into the backrest of his chair, he winces a little as his bony spine collides with the wooden construction. Well, these chairs are not the most comfortable to sit in for much longer. Tagging anyone who would like to do it and @lemndrps @moonwalker94 @onehundredflamingos

[mariacallous]

Ukraine: Enemy in the Woods is a surgically precise, raw and devastating documentary about a seven-week mission undertaken in November 2023 by the Ukrainian Berlingo Battalion. The stakes of the Berlingo’s mission are extremely high. The 99 soldiers must defend a section of a railway line that runs through the forest that lies north-west of Kupyansk. If the Russians were to take it, they would be able to resupply and potentially push on to Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine.

This film does not so much explain the mission as show it in visceral detail. You will see death and dead bodies; these images are unlikely to leave your mind. I have never seen war portrayed in this way, so close up, grotesque and frantic.

While the soldiers discuss their experiences in interviews, we also see battles from two other positions. The first is through drone footage. Viktor and Denys are drone pilots who fly explosives, or what they call “gifts”, over the Russian troops and their “foxholes”. With FPV (first-person view) drones, the pilots wear goggles, giving them a direct view of the explosives reaching their targets. When they blow up, the screen cuts to fuzz.

In one attack, from the sky, we see a Russian soldier enter a house. The drone follows him in through the front door. A second drone captures the explosion that follows. The Ukrainian soldiers speak frankly of the thrill of it and how they feel about the men who die: “Why should we feel sorry for them?”

In their own foxholes, the Ukrainian soldiers eat, talk, joke and pray. They hold up rudimentary explosives, made from soap and petrol. They extract mice from their food supplies. They talk about the Russians and ask, again and again – sometimes asking captured Russian soldiers directly – why they have come to this country.

The Ukrainians know they are outnumbered. Maksym, who is 19, says more Russians come every day: “They just die, but they keep coming and coming and coming.” Watching a livestreamed battle on a laptop, Dmytro, a company commander, says: “We kill a thousand, they send another thousand.”

Bodycam footage brings horror from another side. We see decisions made on the fly, hectic and desperate. The Ukrainians shoot at Russian soldiers and the Russians fire back. Foxholes are destroyed by Russian drones. We watch the men discovering the bodies of their comrades, then carrying wounded comrades, groaning in agony, through the forest. In the snow and ice, there are so many bodies. To hear the rapid, panicked breathing of these men – to hear the adrenaline and the fear – is so utterly intimate, direct and powerful. It is deeply disturbing. And it should be.

Over the course of just one hour, we get to know these soldiers, who are deep into a rotation they should have left weeks ago, but there was no one to replace them. Natalia, a combat medic, is the only woman in the battalion. She has a veterinary degree, but now she treats people. She has become “emotionless to certain moments of life”, she says, unconvincingly. Vlad, a unit commander whose family fled Kherson during the Russian occupation, has been rapidly promoted through the ranks. He is “fully 19 years old”.

This film is full of haunting landscapes. In one moment, a soldier examines by torchlight a heap of bags piled on the floor. These are the possessions of the soldiers who have left the battalion. Many are injured; some are dead. A battle takes place at night, in the black of the forest. It is lit only by the flashes of gunfire and explosions. The sky turns red. It is a vision of hell.

But the soldiers of the Berlingo often talk about the after times: what they will do and what they dream of in a free Ukraine. Sometimes, these dreams are as simple as football and festivals, life as it was before. They would like houses, dogs, to spend time with children. In war, in all the loss of humanity, there is a sliver of hope.

Many of us find ourselves scrolling through social media feeds that casually drop in images and footage of conflict and war, among holiday snaps and selfies, flattening these nightmares into a swipeable passing moment. Documentaries such as this insist on the opposite. It is distressing in its frankness – of course it is. But it makes the conflict real and asks you to look, understand and remember what is happening, not so far away.

Ukraine: Enemy in the Woods aired on BBC Two and is available on BBC iPlayer

[seoul-bros]

Today I went to the Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibition at the Hayward Gallery on the South Bank. This is his first retrospective in the UK. RM met him earlier this year and spoke to him for GQ Japan.

I really wasn't sure what to expect but what I found was striking, intriguing, and in some cases disturbing and eerie. He's an artist prepared to follow his inspiration wherever it takes him: dioramas at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, abandoned cinemas and theatres in the US and France, the wax works at Madame Tussauds, classical architecture, and experiments with light and electricity. A consistent theme for me was his trying to bring dead and inanimate things to life through photography.

Diorama Series (1976-1977) Using careful framing, long exposure times, and a large view camera for clarity of detail, Sugimoto heightens the illusionism of the dioramas themselves, creating exquisite effigies of a natural world on the verge disappearing.

Polar Bear (1976)

The Theaters Series are photos of abandoned theatres, their classic opulent architecture, now bereft of admiring human eyes, slowly disintegrating. The film on the screen, the only source of light adding to the overall spookiness of the image.

Palace Theater, Gary, 2015 "Snow White"

Everything reminds me of BTS at the moment. So I couldn't help but think of this set in Budapest while looking at these photographs.

Portraits Series (1999) A series of photos of famous people, wax figures from Madame Tussaud's and the museum of wax in the Itō, Japan taken out of their museum setting and photographed in a typical portrait style.

Henry the Eighth is the king of bling. He puts DJ Khaled to shame.

The Architecture Series (2000-2003) are blurred images of well-known examples of Modernist architecture like the Chrysler Building.

Lightning Fields (2016)- "The idea of observing the effects of electrical discharges on photographic dry plates reflects my desire to re-create the major discoveries of these scientific pioneers in the darkroom and verify them with my own eyes."

Optiks Series (2018) derived from Newton's prism experiment. Fine particles of color captured within the square frame of a Polaroid photograph.

Post Date: 16/12/2023

[wildfire-wordsmith]

Damsel Movie Review

I watched the movie Damsel, and I was extremely excited about writing this review. It's spoiler free as to actually encourage people to watch it. The film is a semi-classic damsel in distress retelling, hence the title. The trailer makes the premise quite clear: there is a princess cornered by a monstrous dragon, but there is no gallant knight to save her. In fact, the knightly and rich prince is the one to throw her to the dragon as a sacrifice instead.

In terms of thematic impact, the tale clearly aims for feminist tones. I appreciated that the movie did not just make the character a woman in order to call the film feminist. The characters felt like real women, and not just a male character technically played by a woman. The main princess, Elodie, enjoys beautiful dresses and jewelry at the beginning of the film, even though she is also willing to fight for her life. She is excited to meet her husband, and she still has dreams of traveling the world and maintains a well-rounded character. She does not have to reject femininity to be strong or have independent wishes. It is great that many movies depict women of all types who do not have to be feminine, but there is also a strength in movies that tell women that they can be feminine and be capable at the same time. There seems to be a gap to fill for the second kind of movie, and this movie filled that gap quite well.

The film also has many characters that passively resist other tropes for women. The stepmother is not an evil stepmother; she cares for her adopted children deeply. The evil stepmother is a classic trope. For example, Disney princesses in Cinderella and Snow-White (and their many retellings) often had loving dead biological mothers who were replaced by vain and power hungry step mothers as villains. It was refreshing to see a remarried woman who was not taking advantage of her husband: hunting for power or money and mistreating her children in the process. The stepmother in Damsel passively challenges harmful stereotypes about remarried women by clearly and specifically valuing her family more than money in kingdom politics.  

In terms of entertainment value, a gigantic dragon can't be beat. Admittedly, the motivations and reveals were a bit predictable. I found this not to be a bad aspect of the film. It is retelling a fairly classic story, and therefore meant to play on predictable aspects of the trope. There were still a few plot elements that did take me off guard (regarding Elodie’s sister Floria). Overall, the more predictable elements were balanced with both a “cool” factor from the dragon, along with a few world building elements. The castle of Aurea was not only beautiful, but had decent foreshadowing for the dragon. I thought attention to detail served me well in this film, as the creators clearly had an eye for detail themselves. Many of the scenes are more intricate in terms of castle detailing than I would have expected. This balance was also struck by still finding ways to surprise the audience in ways that add to instead of distracting from the plot, while still maintaining core elements of the story it retells.  

I highly recommend this film, which manages classic fairy tale elements in ways that both do not tire the audience of the tropes they use, and develop well thought out themes and characters.

[maxxxines]

A YEAR IN REVIEW: CREATIONS OF 2023

Post your favorite and most popular post from each month this year (it’s okay to skip months).

Tagged by @katherines <3 thank you so much for tagging me i loved looking back at everything!

JANUARY

MOST POPULAR: bodega ghostface (4.7k)

FAVORITE(S): killer klowns throuple, mera in justice league, that don't impress me much

FEBRUARY

MOST POPULAR: megan before the don't stop premiere (2.7k)

FAVORITE(S): sabrina carpenter interview, mandy lane

MARCH

MOST POPULAR: megan at the astros game (1.8k)

FAVORITE(S): feather lyric video

APRIL

MOST POPULAR: barbie's arched heel (42.7k)

FAVORITE(S): megan interview with elle, amber's birthday, dua at the fn tour

MAY

MOST POPULAR: "so cool" barbie (8.1k)

FAVORITE(S): sarah snook at a premiere, dance the night mv, jackieshauna doomcoming dates

JUNE

MOST POPULAR: barbieland things (7.6k)

FAVORITE(S): barbie v beau is afraid, snow angel, pamela anderson in scooby doo

JULY

MOST POPULAR: just allan (38.3k)

FAVORITE(S): margot x barbie commercials, pink barbie, ariel x mera

AUGUST

MOST POPULAR: sarah snook in the dressmaker (5.4k)

FAVORITE(S): dua's birthday, bad idea right?, margot and america on the barbie set

SEPTEMBER

MOST POPULAR: "that's beacuase they're dreamhouses" (14.1k)

FAVORITE(S): mermaid barbies, allan, ncuti ken, "all his clothes fit me", "you can go now", guts

OCTOBER

MOST POPULAR: sabrina and taylor hug (2.6k)

FAVORITE(S): jennifer check the funniest girl, dawn of dead zombies get pied, "no more room in hell"

NOVEMBER

MOST POPULAR: grinch x midsommar (6k)

FAVORITE(S): houdini mv, dance the night grammy noms, dua's capital interview, no i'm killing boys, ryan bergara loves the film cars

DECEMBER

MOST POPULAR: sabrina's thank you speech (1.2k)

FAVORITE(S): richard gere in chicago, dua set, dua warner interview

Tagging (no pressure!): @narcobarbies, @americahasaproblem, @zendadya, @ayoedebiris, @deweyduck, @agorahills, @venka, @itszonez, @margoterobbies, @nessa007

[agentnico]

The Holdovers (2023) Review

Gosh, I do miss snow. Not something we get much of here in the dreary old UK. So thank you Alexander Payne for really rubbing it in our face.

Plot: A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school remains on campus during Christmas break to babysit a handful of students with nowhere to go. He soon forms an unlikely bond with a brainy but damaged troublemaker, and with the school's head cook, a woman who just lost a son in the Vietnam War.

Payne’s last movie 2017’s Downsizing was an underwhelming mess, with an interesting concept that is dropped within the first half hour, and instead of the fun science fiction/biting social satire we get a movie dealing with real-world dangers and a random apocalypse for reasons I don’t believe even Alexander Payne knows. It was very much a movie that was not conceived or thought out properly, hence why it was a flop financially and critically. And I didn’t like it myself, which is the worst of it all. So many may be doubting checking out Payne’s new film The Holdovers, however luckily this is a return to form for the talented scriptwriter/director, as pushed aside are any high concepts and instead we get a simple premise, yet it’s one that’s delivered in such an entertaining and heartwarming way.

The Holdovers is very much a vibes movie. It has that old-timey retro feel to it from how it is shot to make it look like it’s from the 70s (reminiscent of John Hughes films and Dead Poets Society). You also have the constant snow falling and the Christmas music just really delivers that cozy winter feel. It’s a wholesome Christmas movie through and through. Which is ironic due to two of the three main characters being absolute asses, but it’s the way the narrative forces these three characters to be stuck together by themselves over the holiday period, and how they develop from this that results in a very delightful little film. Also, having your main characters have flawed personas doesn’t always work with certain films, for as an audience it is easy to disconnect if you don’t at all sympathize with the characters you follow, however here Alexander Payne successfully manages to make you care about them by showcasing that at the end of the day, they are all just human, and through their dickishness they do still have some redeemable qualities too. Boasted by David Hemingson's very well-written script - some good wit and humour throughout, but also it’s the emotional backbone with the film reflectively diving into themes of grief and loneliness. It’s a dialogue-centric feature but one that easily wraps itself around you as you enjoy spending time with these characters.

Paul Giamatti is fantastic here. Giamatti always delivers a great performance, heck, even in the forgettable disaster CGI fest film San Andreas he managed to somehow deliver a solid turn as the climate professor, delivering endless exposition and science mumbo jumbo with such passion and vigor that one wouldn’t have questioned it if he got nominated for a Noble Prize. But with The Holdovers he finally gets to take on a lead role and he’s phenomenal. He’s very reserved as this Scrooge type who’s very bitter at life and life is bitter at him. Like it’s still Giamatti being Giamatti, yet you truly buy into his performance. Dominic Sessa as the troublesome kid too plays his part well, and in fact his performance mirrors a lot of what Giamatti is doing with that feeling that he is willing to help others, but he is also so stuck in his own ways and pissed off at the world that he constantly makes bad decisions. Da’Vine Joy Randolph brings so much to her role as a grieving mother and as such I do wish the movie did more with her character. There is only one real scene where she’s given rein to really portray the grief, anger and distress of her character but otherwise is written a bit one note, so I do wish Payne gave her more to work with as Randolph really brings it, but I also understand the movie’s intentions and focus were more on the professor and the student. That being said for Randolph to go from the crude Christmas comedy Office Christmas Party to another Christmas movie but one where she really brings her dramatic chops is very impressive. Now all she needs is to appear in a holiday-themed horror flick and she’s fully become the holiday movie queen!

In terms of negatives, there aren’t many. As I mentioned, Randolph’s character could have been explored more. Also, the film’s narrative is very predictable; again, just think of Dead Poets Society. However, Payne so successfully tells this story and delivers a heartwarming nostalgic experience that it’s hard not to love. It’s been a while since we’ve had a perfect old-school well-spirited Christmas movie, and luckily The Holdovers is destined to become a holiday classic.

Overall score: 8/10

[breezybeej]

Wolf of Snow Hollow Review

So I'm going to be super super SUPER generous to the film for a moment and make a really really really long review:

If you take a really big step back and view the movie as a vehicle for a metaphor, here is what I take away:

In modern day policing, there is a training and cultural phenomenon known as The Sheepdog. It says that citizens are sheep, criminals are wolves, and cops are the sheepdogs that have to protect the sheep.

It creates this toxic paradigm where the police feel the need to forsake all other responsibilities besides this one because what is more important than protecting the innocent from the evil? So every little thing becomes an obstacle to the most important job.

It leads a lot of cops into power trips, as expected, and it leads a ton of cops into substance abuse and also domestic abuse because of the constant stress they chose to put themselves under for basically no reason.

This is why so many cops say shit like "it was a split second decision to shoot an unarmed man" because what if he was one of these wolves trying to kill the sheepdog? You can't endanger the sheepdog, who will protect the sheep?

In the Wolf of Snow Hollow, it starts out kind of maybe seeming like a ham handed social commentary on the police and then slowly shifts into "Oh yeah this is exactly what they are talking about"

We have a man who prioritizes his role as a cop over his (ex-)wife, daughter, AA support group, and father. He is obsessed with finding this wolf himself and not letting the FBI do it because this is his herd.

So what does this mean for the movie, though. What they tried to film is a character study for a cop who, like so many in the real world, has lost perspective on reality and thinks he is the one thing standing between the 'wolf' and the civilians.

That's why they talked about how bad cops were every 3 minutes. They want to remind you that cops in real life don't really solve crimes very much. They want to remind you that cops abuse their power (like threatening to impound a car for a favor). They want to remind you that public opinion on cops is rightfully in the tank. No one sees them as the sheepdogs they were trained to be. This is also why cops are so insular. They tend to only be friends with other cops because only they can understand each other. They separate themselves from the civilians around them by choice.

Once... I can't remember any of their names... once the main cop distances himself from the police force, he starts drinking, investigating on his own, becomes a lone wolf, he starts making progress on the case and it further drives a wedge between him and his family and friends. It also makes him 'become' the wolf as he empties his gun into a dead body and feels REALLY good about it.

The movie, I think, really wants to demonstrate that this mentality (that like 80+% of precincts have training seminars on) is the primary motivating factor that makes cops into abusive assholes and that's true. There's been a ton of studies on how that shit warps their brains and keeps them in this hypervigilant stress state all the time.

So then what did I think of this movie? It sucked. I saw what they WANTED to say but they did not say it very well. They tried to make a character study and you can tell because of all the montage scenes where he is unraveling and the metaphorical hallucinations of crime scenes and all that other stuff where the actor just screamed at whoever was in the room with no regard for body movement or facial expression.

-The acting sucked ass.

-The pacing was awful.

-So much happened off screen that it was pointless keeping track of side characters.

-Fake out Kidnapping, real father death, fake out main character death. That just pissed me off.

-The Wolf among the sheep was not set up at all. This might have been trying to say something about how cops want to be detectives but really they are just bad at it but that flies in the face of good movie making fundamentals and it just pissed me off.

This movie gets a 3/10. 3 for acknowledging the current paradigm in police training and zero for doing absolute fuck all with that message.

OH AND THE COMEDY. THIS WAS LABELED AS A COMEDY. THERE WAS NO CONSISTENCY TO THE HUMOR. THE ONLY FUNNY THING WAS WHEN HE RIPPED A PHONE OUT OF THE WALL AS EVIDENCE EVEN THOUGH THE MESSAGE ON IT WOULD BE STORED IN THE COMPANY VOICEMAIL SYSTEM. THAT WAS THE ONLY FUNNY THING. THE REST WAS LIKE "WHY ARE YOU BEHAVING THIS WAY? OH YOU ARE EXCUSING BAD WRITING BY SAYING IT WAS A JOKE" FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.

[alightinthelantern]

film reviews: Dreams (1990, Akira Kurosawa)

Synopsis: This anthology film, which draws on Japanese folklore and history, and themes of art and environmentalism, comprises eight segments, each based on a dream director Akira Kurosawa had in his life. In Sunshine Through the Rain, a young boy sneaks out from home during a sunshower to spy on a kitsune wedding, but is caught, enraging the foxes. In The Peach Orchard, a family is celebrating Hinamatsuri, or Doll Day. The young son follows a mysterious girl out of the house to the family's orchard, where he is confronted by the spirits of the peach trees cut down. In The Blizzard, four adventurers are caught in a blizzard while ascending a mountain, and fall asleep from exhaustion. One of the men wakes up to find a beautiful yuki-onna wrapping him in blankets of snow. In The Tunnel, an army commander returning home passes through a tunnel and is confronted by the ghosts of his dead regiment. In Crows, the only segment in English, an artist falls into the world of Van Gogh's paintings and ends up in 1880s France, where he meets Van Gogh himself. In Mount Fuji in Red, a nuclear power plant on the slopes of Mt. Fuji erupts, spelling toxic doom for everyone in the area. In The Weeping Oni, a young man in an apocalyptic wasteland meets a man with a horn growing out of his head in heavenly punishment for the sins he committed in his life. He shows the young man a gathering of demons, all with horns growing from their heads, howling in pain. In Village of the Watermills, the same young man arrives in a picturesque village whose inhabitants have eschewed modern conveniences for a more earthly, honest way of living, and witnesses a funeral parade celebrating the deceased's long life.

Review: I last saw this film many years ago so I wasn't sure how it would hold up, but on rewatching it I found it every bit as beautiful and moving as I did the first time. Kurosawa was a painter in his youth before he joined the film industry, and his color films made late in his life are bursting with color and imagery, every frame a master painting. Dreams, like Ran and Kagemusha, is visually stunning, and the film makes good use of makeup and costumes to achieve an ethereal, dreamlike effect in all of its segments. I can't recommend the film enough for lovers of Japanese culture and/or art films.

Additional comments: It's thought that the segment The Cherry Orchard was inspired by a sister of Kurosawa's who died young. In the segment Crows, Martin Scorsese plays Van Gogh. Village of the Watermills was filmed at a real location, Daio Wasabi Farm in Honshu, Japan. I love the way Mount Fuji in Red and The Weeping Oni are followed by Village of the Watermills, contrasting the apocalyptic worst-case scenarios for how modern society might end up with a vision of a better alternative. And I love the final shot of the film, of overflowing, bountiful nature overlaid with such melancholy, heartrending music. The music used is "In a Village" from Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov's "Caucasian Suite", although the arrangement removes the fast section and repeats the slow sections several times.

The film is on YouTube, and you can watch it here.

[fanthatracks]

In a move that has surprised many who understood that Disney were building a vast, ever-growing archive of readily accessible streaming content, the House of Mouse are instead pulling a number of shows Disney Plus and Hulu and returning them to the Disney Vault for the time being. Included on that list are a number of high-profile titles including Y: The Last Man, Dollface, The World According to Jeff Goldblum and from Lucasfilm last years first season of Willow. The move, which comes with a content impairment charge of $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion, was announced during the recent Disney earnings call on May 10. “We are in the process of reviewing the content on our DTC services to align with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation,” CFO Christine McCarthy said. At the time, no details were provided on the content that would be removed. Big Shot [Disney+] Turner & Hooch [Disney+] The Mysterious Benedict Society [Disney+] The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers [Disney+] Willow [Disney+] The Making Of Willow [Disney+] Diary of a Future President [Disney+] Just Beyond [Disney+] The World According to Jeff Goldblum [Disney+] Marvel’s Project Hero [Disney+] The Right Stuff [Disney+] The Real Right Stuff [Disney+] Cheaper by the Dozen remake [Disney+] The One and Only Ivan [Disney+] Stargirl [Disney+] Hollywood Stargirl [Disney+] Flora & Ulysses [Disney+] Artemis Fowl [Disney+] The Princess [Disney+] Encore! [Disney+] Black Beauty [Disney+] Clouds [Disney+] America the Beautiful [Disney+] Better Nate Than Ever [Disney+] Weird But True! [Disney+] Timmy Failure [Disney+] Be Our Chef [Disney+] Magic Camp [Disney+] Earth to Ned [Disney+] Foodtastic [Disney+] Stuntman [Disney+] Disney Fairy Tale Weddings [Disney+] Wolfgang [Disney+] It’s a Dog’s Life with Bill Farmer [Disney+] The Big Fib [Disney+] Rogue Trip [Disney+] More Than Robots [Disney+] Shop Class [Disney+] Pick the Litter [Disney+] Own the Room [Disney+] Among the Stars [Disney+] Harmonious Live! [Disney+] Pentatonix: Around the World for the Holidays [Disney+] Y: The Last Man [FX/Hulu] Pistol [FX/Hulu] Little Demon [FX/Hulu] Maggie [Hulu] Dollface [Hulu] The Hot Zone [Nat Geo/Hulu] The Premise [Hulu] Love in the Time of Corona [Hulu] Everything’s Trash [Hulu] Best in Snow [Hulu] Best in Dough [Hulu] Darby and the Dead [Hulu] The Quest [Hulu] Rosaline [Hulu] Life Below Zero: Next Generation [Nat Geo/Hulu] National Geographic Investigates: LSD and Psychedelics [Nat Geo/Hulu] 9/11: One Day in America [Nat Geo/Hulu] The Armstrong Tapes [Nat Geo/Hulu] Buried Secrets of WWII [Nat Geo/Hulu] Bin Laden’s Hard Drive [Nat Geo/Hulu] Croc That Ate Jaws [Nat Geo/Hulu] Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller [Nat Geo/Hulu] Drug Lords: The Next Generation [Nat Geo/Hulu] Extreme Rescues [Nat Geo/Hulu] Most Wanted Sharks [Nat Geo/Hulu] Locked Up Abroad [Nat Geo/Hulu] North Korea: Inside the Mind of a Dictator [Nat Geo/Hulu] To Catch A Smuggler Rome [Nat Geo/Hulu] Ultimate Survival WWII [Nat Geo/Hulu] Additionally, leaving Hulu May 31 are the following Freeform series: The Come Up The Deep End Everything’s Trash Keep This Between Us Bear in mind this list focuses on the United States, so the shows that are being pulled may vary from region to region. We'll be sure to stay across this should any further Lucasfilm productions be placed into the vault. [amazon box="0593597915"]

[tibby]

i keep getting followers on letterboxd despite the fact i haven’t logged a movie there in over four months. anyway since i can’t just make unlisted posts there here is a brief review of just some of the movies i have watched since the first of june:

paul mccartney really is dead the last testament of george harrison, ★★: absolutely terrible film filled with absolute nonsense but also the greatest thing i’ve ever witnessed. the whole movie is about how much george harrison hated faul (fake paul, who replaced real paul mccartney when he died) but at one point he just starts being like “ringo was dumb as shit and had no fucking talent.” incredible animation.

snow white a deadly summer, 0 stars: i can’t remember if i actually logged this one but i also can’t be bothered to check. half the scenes took place at night but they just dimmed the exposure. also had nothing to do with snow white besides the stepmother talking to an evil version of herself in the mirror. which they never explain btw.

secrets in the water, ★: this wasn’t meant to be a comedy but it kind of was.

shark side of the moon, ★★★★★: at a certain point in my tubi original viewing experiences i have to stop ranking them based on quality and start ranking them on the sheer concept. and russians sending humanoid sharks to the moon during the cold war who then form a shark super army intent on taking over the earth and also for some reason there’s a shark that looks like a human who gives birth to baby sharks. all the sharks spoke english in russian accents btw which is weird because there was only one 100% human on the moon and he was a russian man who didn’t interact with them. anyway. lifechanging film.

the andy baker tape, ★★: the stars are mainly just because i think it’s sort of righteous when youtubers get murdered.

cries of the unborn, minus a million stars and plus ten million aborted children: steven 15 great kid you should see him play lacrosse he's always on his phone texting tweeting he doesn’t even know half the kids i can’t remember the last time we had a real conversation it’s like his phone is surgically attached to his head.

the invitation, ★★: i mean everyone keeps saying it’s just ready or not meets get out meets vampires if none of those things were good and it’s kind of true. one star for nathalie emmanuel giving it her all and one star for the two sexy vampire women.

a lifetime movie starring heather morris that i forgot the name of, ★: heather morris can’t act.

the quiet ones, ★: olivia cooke babygirl you were never gonna get an oscar for this but i respect you for trying.

ouija, ★★: olivia cooke babygirl you were never gonna get an oscar or a glaad award for this but i respect you for trying.

ouija: origin of evil, ★★★: did elizabeth reaser and lulu wilson and that one guy watch mike flanagan kill someone? they’re good actors but his refusal to let anyone else on his payroll is kind of concerning

alone in the ghost house, ★★★: each star represents the only good moments in the movie, which were arguably the three greatest moments in the history of cinema. the first is when they bring in this psychic and the cameraman asks her if she was in a coma on september 10th 2001. the second is when the psychic rolls around on the grass and talks about how it’s so cold in reference to the ghosts but one of the guys is just like “well yeah you were just lying on the grass.” the third is when the psychic opens a seance by stripping and doing a belly dance.

tow, ★: imagine being a tubi original film starring kane hodder that advertises yourself as a slasher and not only are you NOT a slasher film but you are also boring.

blonde, 0 stars: i watched this movie with my friend on teleparty, making it the only film i watched semi legitimately, and it was not worth it. i missed the first 40 minutes and i didn’t lose anything for it. ana de armas is trying for her oscar but at what cost. there’s a talking fetus in it. charlie chaplin jr is made out to be a sociopath for no clear reason. the amount of times i said “what” during this film is staggering.

house of wax, ★★: objectively not good but a lot better than i thought it would be and kind of an unsettling concept. sad that paris hilton and her boyfriend weren’t the final girl & boy and instead it was the folger’s incest commercial twins.

fifty shades of grey, 0 stars: there has never been a movie character as dumb as anastasia steele.

fifty shades darker, ★: christian grey gets into a plane crash and won’t go to the hospital and is surprised when everyone is in his apartment all worried about him. which is kind of drake walker core so it deserves a star for that.

do revenge, ★★: i think i’m like insane because this movie was not good and everyone is treating as if it is when it’s just like if someone tried to make thoroughbreds or heathers politically relevant but failed miserably. also failed miserably at rg/wf and subtle attempts to rip off mean girls. that said alisha boe is the sexiest woman alive and camila mendes should egot.

rush for your life, ★★★: perhaps too high a ranking but when it’s a tubi original produced by marvista the bar is on the floor so an actually somewhat decent movie is always a delight. they blew their budget on cameras and production design so the wardrobe is all from shein but keeya king was a lead that knew she was too good for this movie but she still gave it her all anyway.

marrowbone, ★★★: i avoided watching this movie for ages because i knew it would be bad and i didn’t think my best friend and my wife would change that. they didn’t but the ending is funny as hell. anya really said stay mentally ill baby <3

the lamp: just believe, whatever my ranking was when i logged it like a year ago: i’ve seen this movie three times now, which is the same number of the globes that the main character has in his house. who needs three globes?

homoti, ★★★★★: it’s gay E.T. what’s not to love.

mac and me, ★: i think watching this back to back with homoti while stoned out of my mind was either the best or worst idea i’ve ever had. still not sure.

friend request (2016), a million wasps: NOT the one starring brian from the breakfast club. i honestly don’t remember much of this movie and i doubt it was very good but wasp elevator 2022 experience.

[fearsmagazine]

VIOLENT NIGHT - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures

SYNOPSIS: It’s Christmas Eve and a now disillusioned Old Saint Nick is making one of his stops on his yuletide run with a gift for a true believer, little, but not so innocent, Trudy. As Santa is snacking on the treats Trudy made for him, a team of mercenaries breaks into this wealthy family’s compound, taking everyone inside hostage. When Santa is abandoned by his team of eight reindeers, he has little choice but to fight. The team isn’t prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus is on the grounds, and his long forgotten past will rise up and show these villains why this Nick is no saint.

REVIEW: First off, this is my new favorite holiday movie. VIOLENT NIGHT channels the spirits of classic Christmas films, Quentin Tarantino, and author Joe Lansdale. It’s one hell of irreverent thrill ride that gives an audience a reason to go to the theater.

I enjoyed the script. The plot comes together as it weaves in satire and pokes fun at Christmas classics. One of my favorites is that young Trudy has recently discovered “Home Alone” and how that figures in later into the story. While there was a short film adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s short story “Christmas with the Dead” (seek it out), if you are a fan of his work, such as his “Hap and Leonard” series or his short genre fiction, you can’t help but feel an influence in the dialogue and monologues, as well as Santa Claus’ character arc. The key here, regardless of all the guts, gore, and off color jokes, is that the film never loses a sense of innocence and the magic and wonder of Christmas and the Santa Claus myth. There are some nice twists and turns in the tale and it’s wrapped up nicely with a not so happy ending.

Great cast! David Harbour creates this contemporary and complex Kris Kringle. There are moments when he channels John McClane, but this Kringle has a darker past and a relationship with a weapon of choice. He sells the hell out of the character and it makes the film a sheer delight to watch. John Leguizamo is such a versatile actor and creates an outstanding villain. AT one point n the film he has a monologue that fills in all the gaps as to his background story and why he loathe Christmas, that is reminiscent of Kat’s monologue about her father’s tragic death on Christmas, but Leguizamo delivers this passionate and tense speech that is captivating. Veteran actress Beverly D’Angelo of the National Lampoon Vacation franchise is wickedly wonderful as the matriarch of the Lightstone clan. I know D’Angelo has played darker characters, but I feel that her lighter screen moments are ingrained in our memories and that makes her performance here refreshing. Likewise, actress Edi Patterson brings some of the moxy from the character she created for the HBO series “The Mighty Gemstones.” Grounding the film is the performance by Leah Brady as Trudy Lightstone. She brings honesty and innocence to her performance that is marvelous to watch. She presents a contemporary kid that still believes in the magic of the holiday, yet she has this mischievous edge that is believable.

VIOLENT NIGHT contains breathtaking cinematography, production designs, and costume designs juxtaposed against the visual and special effects. There is enough blood and gore for the avid genre fan or gamer. There are some nicely edited and choreographed fight sequences that are enhanced by the score or holiday music choices. The “home Alone” homage is taken to new extremes. The action delivered a chorus of “ooos” and “aws” from the audience.

Director Tommy Wirkola, of the “Dead Snow” films, does an outstanding job of blending all the elements of this tale into an action packed holiday thriller ride that sustains that holiday feeling for all its blood soaked glory. Given Santa’s fantastical abilities of course it goes to extremes, but his background story adds to his skills and the bloodshed. I went in with no expectations and was entertained and thrilled. Considering how much I enjoy sick and twisted holiday novelty songs, it’s no wonder VIOLENT NIGHT is now on my list for holiday films along with “Anna & The Apocalypse,” “Gremlins,” “Die Hard,” and “Die Hard 2” to name a few. I sat through the credits to listen to the music choices and was surprised that they didn’t include the Dropkick Murphys "The Season's Upon Us." Well there’s always the sequel.

CAST: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Cam Gigandet, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Leah Brady and Beverly D’Angelo CREW: Director - Tommy Wirkola; Screenplay - Pat Casey & Josh Miller; Producers - Guy Danella, David Leitch & Kelly McCormick; Cinematographer - Matthew Weston; Score - Dominic Lewis; Editor - Jim Page; Production Designer - Roger Fires; Costume Designer - Laura DeLuca; Special Makeup Effects Artist - Nina Kvaternik; Prosthetic Makeup Designer - Doug Morrow; Visual Effects - Outback Post, Crafty Apes and Track VFX. OFFICIAL: www.violentnightmovie.com FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/violentnight/ TWITTER: twitter.com/ViolentNight TRAILER: https://youtu.be/a53e4HHnx_s RELEASE DATE: In Theaters December 2nd, 2022

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay),  or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

[kamreadsandrecs]

Title: The Hollows Author: Daniel Church Genre/s: mostly folk horror, with a bit of what I’d call survival horror in the middle Content/Trigger Warnings: implied child and animal abuse, implied sexual assault, physical assault, kidnapping, human and animal death, gore Summary (from Angry Robot Books): In a lonely village in the Peak District, during the onset of a once-in-a-lifetime snow storm, Constable Ellie Cheetham finds a body. The man, a local ne’er-do-well, appears to have died in a tragic accident: he drank too much and froze to death. But the facts don’t add up: the dead man is clutching a knife in one hand, and there’s evidence he was hiding from someone. Someone who watched him die. Stranger still, an odd mark has been drawn onto a stone beside his body. The next victims are two families on the outskirts of town. As the storm rises and the body count grows, Ellie realises she has a terrifying problem on her hands: someone – or some thing – is killing indiscriminately, attacking in the darkness and using the storm for cover. The killer is circling ever closer to the village. The storm’s getting worse…and the power’s just gone out. Buy Here: https://angryrobotbooks.com/books/the-hollows/ Spoiler-free Review: A pretty fun read overall! The concept’s solid, and while it’s not what most people would think about when they think of folk horror, especially if their first contact with the genre is Midsomar or Wicker Man (the old one, not the remake), it fits in the genre pretty well. It takes a while for the connection to click, but when it does? Whooboy! Also like Midsomar and Wicker Man, I genuinely think this’d make a great movie or miniseries! There’s passages in the book that read as very cinematic, and a part of me wonders if this book was written with the possibility for adaptation into a show or film already in mind. Even if that was the case, I think it’d work wonderfully in a visual medium. Not sure which director would work best on this - I mean, Ari Aster’s the obvious choice because of his connection to folk horror, but there’s aspects to this that make me think another director might be a better fit. That being said: I wish the pace of the narrative was better. There were several chapters that I think could have been more tightly-written; for a moment I thought this was going to turn into survival horror, and I think it was that for a moment, which doesn’t make me happy (not because I think survival horror is a bad subgenre; it’s just not my schtick). But once you’re past that part the story picks up again; I just wish that slow chunk was, as I said, more tightly-written. Rating: Three creepy entities and one half-corpse (three and a half) Thoughts underneath the cut for spoilers

- There were plenty of nods to Lovecraft, particularly where the Harpers are concerned. I don’t know if those nods were deliberate, but there they are (or at least, there I think they are; it’s likely I’m the only one seeing them). - Speaking of nods to Lovecraft and the Harpers, I wonder if the veering away from incest when it came to Paul and Jessica was the author seeing what direction they were going and deciding “Nope!” at the last minute. This is only speculation, and I could be entirely wrong, but given the way that the “no incest happened here!” thing was put forward, I can’t help but wonder if that was the case regardless. - Can I just say that I love how women took care of most of the business in this novel? Not all of them met happy ends, but I’m glad for the ones who did. - Also: the scene where the Harpers were holding Charlotte Famuwiya and her boy hostage? And they said they’d had a noose around Charlotte’s neck? Godsdamn if that doesn’t say “lynching” to me, especially since Charlotte’s mixed-race. - And given the history of the village and the Harpers’ farm and their relationship to the Tatterskins and the old gods: fuck the Normans, and therefore, fuck the French.

[argocitycosplay]

Dead Snow 2

We start off recapping the previous film, and that’s a good thing, because from the review, I almost feel like I needed to see it to understand what’s going on. Apparently dude was on vacation, and raised up a bunch of Nazi zombies from the dead when he discovered their old Nazi gold. That led to his girlfriend dying and him  losing his arm. Zombies pile on top of his car as he attempts to make…

[moviesandmania]

THE BONE BOX Reviews and free on Roku, Tubi, Vudu and YouTube

‘He stole from the dead. They came back to collect’ The Bone Box is a horror film about a graverobber who comes to believe he is being haunted by those he stole from… Written, produced and directed by Luke Genton (co-writer of Snow Falls), the Lakeshore Productions movie stars Aaron Schwartz, Michelle Krusiec, David Chokachi, Jamie Bernadette and Maria Olsen. Plot: Depressed and reeling from the…