MEDIOCREMOVIE.CLUB
  • Reviews
  • Side Pieces
  • Shane of Thrones
  • Podcast
  • About
  • Archives
  • Game of Thrones Fantasy

Godzilla Minus One

7/31/2024

0 Comments

 

A-

Directed by Takashi  Yamazaki

Starring Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe

​Review by Jon Kissel

Picture

One of the most irritating critiques of Oppenheimer was its omission of the Japanese victims of the atomic bomb.  Christopher Nolan chooses to omit any images of their suffering beyond on off-screen newsreel.  It’s easy to imagine the worse version of the film that does include those images, just as it’s easy to conjure up the opposite critiques.  How dare a white Englishman appropriate Japanese misery for use in his blockbuster?  The best people to deal with the aftermath of the atomic bombings of the Japanese are the Japanese themselves, a truism that’s been enacted over and over again in countless movies made by Japanese directors, up to and including Godzilla, one of Japan’s most enduring 20th century cultural exports.  Godzilla Minus One continues in this long tradition as the latest version of the lumbering nuke-metaphor became an international hit and a critical darling.  Director Takashi Yamazaki expertly balances big-screen kaiju thrills while exploring and purging the strain of suicidal nationalism that infected Japan during World War II.  

Read More
0 Comments

The Raid: redemption

5/2/2024

0 Comments

 

B+

A police raid of an apartment building is met with fierce resistance.

Directed by Gareth Edwards
Starring Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, and Yayan Ruhian
Review by Jon Kissel

Picture
One of the joys of foreign cinema is the compare and contrast game.  While all movies share similarities within genres, the choreography in a genre like action movies differs from region to region.  In Asia, Japan has its period samurai films while Hong Kong combines the mythic wuxia style with Jackie Chan’s life-endangering stunt work.  Lacking the decades-long tradition of those two regions, Thailand burst onto screens in the 2000’s with the athleticism of Tony Jaa, and Indonesia followed with the bone-crunching pencak silat style, shepherded to global audiences by Welsh director Gareth Edwards.  Edwards became fascinated with Indonesia through his Japanese-Indonesian wife, and found talented non-actors to star in his second film, Merantau.  In his follow-up, The Raid: Redemption, Edwards makes a brutal crowd-pleaser of brilliant physicality and contained simplicity, and puts an Indonesian style of martial arts on the map.


Read More
0 Comments

Road House

4/19/2024

0 Comments

 

C

A disgraced UFC fighter is hired as a bouncer at a rowdy Florida Keys bar.

Directed by Doug Liman
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Conor McGregor, and Daniela Melchior
Review by Jon Kissel

Picture
​I haven’t seen the original Road House, though it gets mentally grouped in with the muscly action trash that dominated the 80’s.  Maybe it’s better than the Commandoes and Cobras of the world, but it sits comfortably alongside its genre buddies with their big body counts and hacky quips delivered in a Schwarzeneggar accent, Stallone mumble, or Seagal whisper.  Present-day action filmmaking is too cloaked in irony to pull off the same kind of tone, preferring a that-just-happened incredulity to the you’re-damn-right-it-did swagger of the Reagan/Persian Gulf era.  It’s therefore interesting to see what a modern remake of Road House might look like, and how that 80’s tone translates to current sensibilities and filmmaking trends.  However, Doug Liman’s adaptation is fruit of a poisoned tree.  As Hollywood moves away from superhero movies and is in search of its next big blockbuster trend, let’s hope they leave the 80’s in the rearview where it belongs.


Read More
0 Comments

Monkey Man

4/10/2024

0 Comments

 

B

A man seeks revenge on the spiritual guru who burned down his village and killed his mother.

Directed by Dev Patel
Starring Dev Patel, Makarand Deshpande, and Vipin Sharma
​Review by Jon Kissel

Picture
​Of the major global outposts for movies, India is the one I’ve had the least experience with.  I’ve seen two Satyajit Ray films from the 50’s (both great), The Lunchbox starring Irrfan Khan (pretty good), and, most indicative of India’s cultural exports, 2022’s RRR.  That last one is what most think of when they imagine the work of Bollywood/Tollywood; epics with frequents musical interludes and intricate dance numbers.  RRR was a strong introduction to this kind of filmmaking, though it’s not the kind of cinematic empathy-building that I’ve found in countries as varied as Brazil, Romania, Iran, and South Korea.  Indian non-musicals, removed from the heightened nature of the genre, seem few and far between, and that’s generally what I want in my foreign film-watching.  Monkey Man, from actor/writer/director Dev Patel, isn’t exactly that, as it’s a bloody revenge flick with plenty of choreography, just not the kind that everyone dances to.  It does, however, give a peak into a culture and a nation that I feel like I should know more about, given its place in the world, while also delivering on the martial arts ultraviolence of its genre predecessors.


Read More
0 Comments

RRR

2/8/2023

0 Comments

 

B+
​3.33

In British-occupied India, a village protector travels to the city to rescue a kidnapped girl and an ambitious policeman is tasked to stop him.

Directed by S. S. Rajamouli
Starring N. T. Rama Rao Jr and Ram Charan
​Review by Jon Kissel

Picture
Cinema as a propagandistic vehicle got a workout in 2022.  Top Gun: Maverick venerated the US Navy and its fighter pilots, generating billions in box office and warm fuzzy feelings towards the most powerful military in the world doing whatever it wants, wherever it wants.  The Woman King rebranded a West African slaver empire as a bastion of gender equality.  RRR became one of the highest performing Indian films and the first in decades to break out with Western audiences, seducing them with a digestible anti-imperialist story while having a deeper read as a pitch for Hindu nationalism that runs counter to India’s secular founding.  Whatever queasy political meaning one takes from these and other films (China’s also figured out how to push a nationalist agenda through action filmmaking), it’s impossible to take issue with the imagination and audaciousness of what gets onscreen, especially with S. S. Rajamouli’s RRR.  In a rousing thrill ride, peak spectacle meets operatic storytelling in Rajamouli’s epic of Indian resistance to British rule. 


Read More
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Authors

    JUST SOME IDIOTS GIVING SURPRISINGLY AVERAGE MOVIE REVIEWS.

    Categories

    All
    2017 Catch Up Trio
    80s
    Action
    Adventure
    AI Trio
    Author - Blair
    Author - Bobby
    Author - Bryan
    Author - Chris
    Author - Cook
    Author - Drew
    Author - Joe
    Author - Jon
    Author - JR
    Author - Lane
    Author - Phil
    Author - Pierce
    Author - Sean
    Author - Shane
    Author - Tom
    Best Of 2016
    Best Of 2017
    Best Of 2018
    Best Of 2019
    Best Of 2020
    Best Of 2021
    Best Of 2022
    Comedy
    Culture Clash Trio
    Denzel Trio
    Documentary
    Drama
    Foreign
    Historical
    Horror
    Internet Docs Trio
    Mediocrities
    Movie Trios
    Musical
    Podcast
    Romance
    Round 3.1
    Round 3.2
    Round 3.3
    Round 4.1
    Round 4.2
    Round 4.3
    Sci Fi
    Season 10
    Season 2
    Season 3
    Season 4
    Season 5
    Season 6
    Season 7
    Season 8
    Season 9
    Shorts
    Sports
    Thriller
    Western
    Women In Men's Worlds

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Click to set custom HTML