drgonnzo Reviews

Echo in the Canyon (2018)

Jakob Dylan is the most emotionless interviewer I ever seen

[5/10 · 18 December 2021]

I am not sure if he tried to seem cool or hip or what but there are these legends of rock music telling him interesting and crazy stories and he just stands there expressionless with the occasional "hmm" And then he sings these songs with the same one tone one level of voice so we get treated to inferior versions of the classics and a boring second generation Dylan.

I think he was not even listening to them. At one point Michelle Phillips is telling him this genuinely funny story and she starts to laugh herself and she is sweet and charming and Jakob at the very end gives this weird chuckle. Cringeworthy. I felt bad for Michelle and for the whole documentary in that moment.

The Night Comes for Us (2018)

Carnage

[8/10 · 7 November 2018]

Carnage. That is one word summary of the film from Indonesian director Timo Tjahjanto. Relentless action from start to finish, with bones breaking and people getting killed in the most creative ways, martial art extravaganza with tons of blood. So much blood. This film gives any slasher horror run for its money in terms of spilled blood. Who cares there are plot holes you could drive a semi through. There is a guy getting killed by a cow's femur. The main protagonist Ito is one of the Six Seas, elite group of henchmen working for the Triad whose mission is to spread terror in their name. During one of these missions after killing bunch of unarmed villagers with only one little girl left alive soon to be shot as well. But here Ito has a change of heart and instead of killing the girl he kills all his men and decides to save the girl bringing the wrath of the Triad upon himself and everyone that tries to help him. Many took issue with this set up saying why this girl especially when we find out he has been massacring whole villages for the past three years. But why not a random girl? We have seen it many times in films like this, daughter, niece, best friends daughter, girl who helped him in the past, girl who reminds him of his dead daughter...This film boils it down to its basics. Just a girl that he needs to save, and as he says at one point, himself as well. A symbol, a reason to unleash the violence on the bad guys. The story is down to its bare bones, which many took issue with but which in my opinion was the intention. Most characters motivations are very simple, Tahig is just helping his friends, because that is what good friends do, White boy Bobby looks for redemption and the bad guys just want to kill them because they have been told to. The only little fleshed out character is Iko Uwais, but ultimately he just wants to prove himself against Ito. Then there are characters we do not even get an explanation as to who they are or what they interest in the little girl is like the motorcycle girl, in credits only called as the Operator. But she is badass without all that. The actress playing her is the Hammer girl from Raid 2. And what happened to Ito's girlfriend, major focus in the beginning and completely forgotten later. In summary The night comes for us is the most action film this year, most violent, most bloody and most martial arty.

Crone Wood (2016)

Irish indie horror gem

[10/10 · 2 November 2018]

This review is long overdue. It has been exactly a year since I have seen the film at IndieCork Film Festival and many of the finer details are not so clear in my mind anymore. But I promised myself to write one to support this Irish indie production at least in this smallest of ways.

When the film started I thought to myself, please not another found footage horror. But soon the film changed gears and not for the first time and I started to realize this is not another Blair Witch Project and the film began to resemble more the original Wicker Man. It was clear that the latter in particular was a big influence on the director but it was not another tired copy but a great film in its own right.

What makes this type of horror a good film, and this is true for many other films not just horror, is how well you establish the characters at the beginning before the bad stuff started happening. At that stage you have to like or hate them enough to care what happens to them. And Crone Wood succeeds to do just that, to introduce the lead protagonists to us in the short amount of time thanks to the solid performances of the actors playing them and the strong direction by Mark Sheridan. You can tell throughout the film that he is big fan and student of the horror genre which helps him to skilfully avoid the usual clichés as he plays with the twists and turns and our own expectations. Highly recommend to check this one out.

Lady Bird (2017)

It is only ok

[6/10 · 18 March 2018]

I enjoyed the film and I am a big fan of Saoirse Ronan but it is nowhere as excellent as everyone says. It is only ok. The film thinks it is smarter that i really is and it is only saved by the great performances both in lead and supporting roles. I always enjoy a good intelligent coming-of-age story especially with quirky characters and witty dialogue so this should be ticking all my boxes but ultimately it falls flat. I will maybe upset some viewers but this film doesn't in slightest reach the quality of these years Oscar nominees. Interestingly enough I have not met a single person in my immediate surroundings who would like the movie so I am being still positive comparing to them but still very critical compared to the raving reviews.

My conclusion is that is not a waste of time or money to see it I would recommend it as a Sunday afternoon Netflix movie watch.

6/10

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

most successful try of turning a book into a movie

[10/10 · 13 September 2006]

First I wanna say, every movie that was based on a book, no matter how good the movie has been, is nothing compared to the original book. Every true reader would agree with me. Its not the question either the books or the movies. Some people are fans from movies some like books more. I am talking about book fans now. When you read a book you imagine the whole story, and automatically you adapt it to your person. When they write the girl was pretty, you imagine a girl that is pretty for you, it don't has to be a concrete person, just a imagination of a pretty girl. You just know she is pretty. And the second thing by books is that they describe also feelings and opinions of the characters and also of the writer. Thats why the movie cant give you the experience you have while reading a book, the actors cant capture all the feelings with acting. Every movie is maybe 10% of the books quality. Except of this movie, this movie is same quality. There is nothing in between for me. I never seen movie that was more than 10% until this, whats 100%. Congratulations to Terry Gilliam, Benicio del Toro and of course Johny Depp. They should get academy awards for their performance. I watched the movie maybe 30 times. You have to watch it at least three times to get the right impression. And also after 10th time, something can surprise you. There are so many little details, you have to watch everybody in this movie and listen to every word spoken, even in the background. This was the first movie when I was laughing out loud like crazy in a movie theatre. I usually just laugh a little, but here I couldn't stop, my stomach was hurting me already. It is also the first movie I went 4 times in movie theatre to see it. This movie is great, is beyond any judgments. And I am still talking only about capturing the book. I am not talking about the story, which is great as well, thanks to autor Hunter S.Thompson.Between 1 and 10 its 29. its the best movie ever.