just saying it as i see it...

LX 2048 (2020)... i really liked lx 2048. in a kind of warts an’ all way. it’s hokey, too thematically ambitious, and bites off way more than it can chew. but i did laugh quite a bit in the last act when matey boy went mad. vr has taken over. our lead wants to live in the real world. there’s clones, more clones, and clones arguing with each other. james d’arcy was fantastic playing a frustrated husband and disgruntled employee. he threw himself into the role, and it was a real pleasure to watch him sink into the abyss. there are numerous plot holes however, teases at things which don’t then show up, and the films two halves are quite different from one another (which felt odd). i’d even go as far as to say the film is all over the place. but so what. like i said the last act is good fun, and the prior acts have enough in them to keep you interested

the vast of night (2020)... the hottest indie darling on the sci-fi cinematic landscape is alright. not a classic (it’s not, get over it). but it is a supremely confident piece of work. this is one of the occasions where i found myself more impressed then i was interested. i must start by saying wow the film is beautifully shot. the late great stanley kubrick would have given it a quite clap. the script is excellent, i can’t stress that enough. and at no point does it try to be anything other then what it wants itself to be. technically very very impressive. the subject matter though i’ve long given up caring about. americans and ufo’s really do turn my brain off. so i had to fight that throughout. not the films fault. so as it got interesting my own personal level of interest remained plateaued. i will say though the final shot (i think it was the final shot), did raise an eyebrow. look, the vast of night is worthy of the praise it has received. if like me you’re not fatigued with the subject, and you don’t need ‘action’ in a film like this, you’re in for a real treat

the other lamb (2020)... my main issue with the other lamb is that i don’t think it quite went far enough. everything about the film is beautiful. it’s look, it’s feel, it’s sound, the performances. even the setup immediately has you engrossed. there’s just not enough ups and downs though. on a graph the film would almost be a flat line. and that’s a shame, because the subject warrants more. when it tries to hit hard it doesn’t quite hit hard enough. and when it tries to introduce moments of levity they’re pretty insignificant. this all sounds like i’m being overly harsh, and maybe i am. but some of us have thousands of films under our belt, especially films in this genre dealing with this subject, and numerous memories of it being done better. if you do enjoy films about cults, and the devastating effects they can cause, give it a watch... there’s still plenty to be impressed with. just don’t expect it to make you feel like you’ve just been dragged over broken glass

Swallow (2020)... on the surface the film is about one thing, but below the surface the film is about another. swallow deals with emptiness and entrapment. it demonstrates who we dream to be as actually being who we despise the most. and when imprisoned in a faux existence it highlights the bizarre coping mechanisms we manifest to hide from our guilt. the film starts off mild and a bit daytime tv, but then confidently gets stronger with each act. as tensions rise throughout we start to see people for who they are and that’s one of the films great strengths. as it all draws to a close we’re exposed to back story which gives the film depth and understanding. i liked swallow. it’s the tale of a woman who has the perfect life which she detests. to cope she starts eating everyday household objects. like i said at the start, if you want the film to be about that, fine. but the reality is when we’re trapped we create our own fictional world to escape to. the abyss of mental health is explored pretty well, and it makes you realise that we’re all vulnerable to the demands we put on our own shoulders to stay relevant

Alone (2020)... girl gets kidnapped, girl escapes, girl runs through the woods, girl has showdown with crazy man. it’s by the numbers, well paced, and ok

Possessor (2020)... i piece of ‘down the rabbit hole’ cronenbergian horror. actually we can use the mans name because possessor is directed by cronenberg junior. as in son of. the film’s an excellent horror thriller which ok we’ve seen the before, but it’s nice to see it done again well. lady enters persons mind to commit murder for corporation. lady can’t leave host. personalities clash and it gets grizzly. the film is beautifully shot. there’s a lovely stillness to it all. there’s also a minimalist feel to the script, with no need to hold the audiences hand. andrea riseborough and christopher abbott are fantastic as always. and the film just has a confidence to it throughout. maybe it could be 20 minutes shorter. once we know what’s going on there’s no real need for the slow pace in the middle act. but even during the lull it still has a captivating essence. i’d say possessor is one of the best films i’ve seen this year

Last and First Men (2020)... a slice of surrealist narrative sci-fi cinema. tilda swintons words held weight. the visuals had a lingering sadness. and the score was as grandiose as it was intimate. i personally don’t think all three complemented each other, and that took me out of the journey quite a bit. maybe if re-edited it would flow better? but who am i, and what do i know. this is a lovely film which is based on a celebrated piece of sci-fi literature. i’d say the purists will be happy with it (look when i say re-edited, the narrative takes us through 2 billion years of human existence. the visual presentation however doesn’t evolve or devolve. and nor does the score. as the stakes get higher and existence starts to diminish, i’d expect thematically the visuals and audio to have a relationship with the story. they don’t. there’s a static nature to them (again what do i know))

Love and Monsters (2020)... in a non-covid year love and monsters would be a memorable fun movie i watched. in 2020 though, love and monsters might just creep onto my top ten list. do you remember when you first saw zombieland? it was fresh, funny, and a thoroughly enjoyable romp. well love and monsters gave me the exact same feeling. i think i’d giggled ten times in the first ten minutes. our loser lead (pictured top) has to cross the land to find his girlfriend during a monsterpocalypse. he meets odd characters, gets up to shenanigans, and maybe ends up not being a loser. this is a great movie. it has charm galore and real heart. the laughs are earned. and it’s tone is almost perfect. please hunt it out and give it a watch. you’ll be entertained from start to finish

The Old Guard (2020)... the single most boring film i have watched in my entire life! if you enjoyed this, you are a boring person. it’s competent. it’s ok. and it makes sense. it’s just SO dull. SO bland. SOOOOO forgettable. come on charlize... you’re my girl. dump this shit

Archive (2020)... archive is a talkie. it’s like a slightly less interesting ex machina. half way through i was a bit bored, however it did pick itself up and end strongly (even though the tacked on twist in the last 30 seconds was completely pointless). the plot is; mans wife dies. man creates robots. man wants to upload dead wife into robot. there’s moral dilemmas, corporations, and actually not too much exposition about ‘what is it to be alive’. a steady balance i suppose. one thing i will say, spoiler alert, when certain robot walks into the lake i let out a very audible ‘ahhhh’. what? it was quite sad. i don’t mind films like this. they’re not for everyone. so if you enjoy your mumblecore lo-fi sci-fi then give it a watch

The Special (2020)... what??? ok... this movie’s just odd. a man sticks his willy in a box and ends up being in love with the box. he then gets a bit angry and things start to happen. it’s pretty low budget, pretty minimalist, and the performances leave a lot to be desired. i kind of watched the whole thing with a puzzled look on my face. it’s certainly not bad, i suppose there’s a bit of ‘mystery’ appeal to it, and it’s obviously made by someone who grew up watching mr cronenberg

2067 (2020)... i’m going to sound pretentious now. when you have a bit of cinematic understanding a film like 2067 is the exact sort of thing you hate. wonky dialogue, plot convenience, melodrama cliches, etc. every five minutes i muttered to myself ‘this will happen next’, and it did. for example; if you’re gonna do a character bait and switch, don’t hold the camera on them longer than needed (and definitely don’t make them constantly look ‘shifty’). there were odd shots. like just out of film school shots. it had no visual maturity. bizarre choices had me scratching my head throughout. for example; the films serious, but then there’s one single scene where it tried (and failed) to be a comedy. loads of f-bombs even though it’s borderline a saturday afternoon film. there were so many meaningless moments which were accompanied by an overpowering swathe of music. the accents were all over the place. there’s time travel mumbo jumbo. they turned on a nuclear reactor with a medieval lever (as well as walking into a nuclear reactor and not dying of cancer in one second). the kid actor who looked nothing like the lead AT ALL! actually speaking of the lead the dude deserved better as he did his best and the film failed him. after all this negativity though i just couldn’t hate it. it really did try. it’s heart is in the right place, and even though you could see the end coming a mile away, it did feel right as it played out. 2067 is all over the place. it’s pure schlock. but warts and all i think i’d still say give it a watch

Project Power (2020)... i like all three leads (girl in ‘the deuce’ is excellent). but project power just set itself up to be completely obvious right from the start. if you didn’t see all of that coming, then this must have been your first movie. that aside though it’s flashy, cool’ish (maybe), and goes through its three acts without any real narrative issues. i also suppose its nice to have these sort of friday night movies on netflix. oh, the film is about superpower drugs on ‘the street’ and cop has to stop people. watch it... it’s alright

Sputnik (2020)... sputnik is excellent. my kind of movie. quick synopsis; cosmonauts arrive/crash back on earth. one is dead and one is alive. the survivor is taken to a military base as he has ‘something’ inside him. pictured above is brought in to assist. the ‘something’ is no longer inside the survivor. end of synopsis. now i know what you’re thinking; ‘i’ve seen that movie’. and admittedly that’s what i thought going in. very very quickly though i realised the film was russian (”duh, it’s called sputnik”... yeah, ok). now this setup in the hands of hollywood would involve the ‘something’ picking off annoying characters one at a time until person escapes (with maybe a boring/who cares twist at the end). now the russians, they know their cinema. and they definitely know their sci-fi. sputnik early on sets up a problem to be solved. it’s not so much ‘where is it’... it’s more ‘what does it want’. and this problem is what helps the film settle down into something intriguing. i don’t want to spoil proceedings so i’ll leave the plot there. i’ll finish by saying the film is a slow talkie, which has an interesting low-fi vibe to it. i saw this a couple of months ago and i think i clapped as the credits rolled (i’m sure i did). yeah... one of my films of the year

The Beach House (2020)... do you know what ‘cosmic horror’ is? if you don’t i can’t be bothered to explain it. if you do, and you’ve heard that the beach house is cosmic horror, then i’m sorry but that’s such a stretch i just can’t allow it. for an hour you don’t really know what’s going on. and that’s great... you’re hooked. then you start to think ‘ah, ok... i get it’. and it pretty much goes like that to the end (with a slight’ish twist’ish bit to completely finish off proceedings). i think i was bored throughout. but props to the beach house for not being ‘whizz bang horror’ every five minutes, and just settling into its own pace to tell its own story. disappointed, but i’d still recommend it

Gretel and Hansel (2020)... two things; forget the name. just completely forget it. i know what you’re thinking, it’s a cash-in. no it’s not. 2. when i say ‘if you like ‘the witch’ you’ll like this’ i’m not at all trying to say gretel and hansel is as good as the best horror movie of the last 10 years. all i’m saying is that tonally, thematically, and visually, you’ll be in the same place. i really liked gretel and hansel. it’s slow and still, the sense of dread and foreboding is in every frame, and even though it kind of stutters towards its conclusion, by then it’s earned a thumbs up. granted it’s not going to be for everyone. but if you do like films where style is the substance, then you’ll appreciate what gretel and hansel is (ps. also look out for oz perkins previous flick ‘the blackcoats daughter’)

Brahms: The Boy 2 (2020)... so the first film didn’t even happen??? in case you don’t know, in the first movie the doll wasn’t haunted. there was just a person in the walls (who may have had something to do with the family... i can’t remember). here though, the doll is haunted. so why ‘the boy 2′ ??? just make a different movie? ‘the boy 1′ wasn’t even well received or a hit at the box office? alright i’m waffling. the boy 2 is shit