YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE (full review at Screen Realm)

You Were Never Really Here is the fourth feature from Lynne Ramsay and is an adaptation of the novella by Jonathan Ames.

Joaquin Phoenix stars as Joe, a deeply traumatised ex-soldier who lives with his elderly mother and works as the hired muscle for a private investigator. A lucrative case comes his way as he is employed to locate Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), the runaway daughter of a local Senator. He is given an address and a request to exercise both discretion and brutality. To divulge any more plot would be to enter spoiler territory but suffice it to say, the plot takes us into some dark territory and violence is ever present.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/you-were-never-really-here-movie-review-joaquin-phoenix/

IMDB: You Were Never Really Here

GUZOO: THE THING FORSAKEN BY GOD - PART1 (aka Guzoo: Kami ni misuterareshi mono - Part I)

This was a tricky one to learn about and I expected that trying to find it would involve a lot more work. Fortunately Guzoo's minimal search results yielded a YouTube upload, and while that's not the ideal screening option it does stand as your best (only?) chance of seeing Kazuo Komizu's splatter obscurity.

Trying to learn more about this film ended up being very similar to investigating Japanese punk records - when you arm yourself with an overwhelming curiosity and zero language ability. A chance encounter with a screenshot on Tumblr led me down a rabbit hole where, beyond what's here on Letterboxd, the only thing I've been able to establish is that Part 2 does not exist.

On to the film itself then, and if you're not consumed by waves of intrigue at the title Guzoo: The Thing Forsaken by God - Part 1, then perhaps this is a good place to take your leave. The plot is not a million miles away from Nobuhiko Obayashi's Hausu as four schoolgirls go to visit a family friend in a country house and after a bunch of innocent wholesome fun, get terrorised by something sinister- in this instance, a lumpen, tentacled monstrosity from the basement. The creature is an amorphous mound of blubber that really looks a hell of a lot like a Shoggoth from Lovecraftian lore. John Carpenter's influence can also be felt in the Prince of Darkness vibe and similarities to The Thing in some of the effects. Stuart Gordon's body horror masterpiece From Beyond emerged the same year and Guzoo feels a bit like its demented sibling.

But the main issue with Guzoo is that at a brisk 40 minutes it feels more like the IDEA of a movie than a fully fledged story. Guzoo could have been something spectacular if they'd just (pardon the pun) fleshed it out a bit more.

IMDB: Guzoo: The Thing Forsaken by God - Part 1

This review was also posted to Letterboxd

MANDY (full review at Screen Realm)

In 2010 first-time director Panos Cosmatos created a surreal and grotesquely beautiful science fiction movie by the name of Beyond the Black Rainbow. Cosmatos crafted a movie with a superficially retro appearance, which, upon inspection, contained a depth of startling visual originality...

And while Beyond The Black Rainbow was certainly not for everyone, it found appeal among those who like to look in the dark corners and around the smudged edges of cinema for something a bit different. Even if you don’t agree that Black Rainbow succeeds in its mission, you can’t name another movie like it… until now.

...Red (Nicolas Cage) and Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) live an idyllic life together in their home in California’s Shadow Mountains, until one day they cross paths with a religious cult led by Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache). Jeremiah decides he must possess Mandy and enlists the help of a monstrous trio of L.S.D.-bent bikers to take her by force.

...Mandy is dark and weird and unhinged, and very, very good.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/mandy-movie-review-nicolas-cage/

IMDB: Mandy

THE MEG (full review at Screen Realm)

After years in Development Hell, The Meg, based on the book by Steve Alten, arrives on our screens with the irresistibly high-concept formula of Jason Statham + Giant Shark. It has thus ramped up enthusiasm to giddy heights for those of us who consider ourselves connoisseurs of both the large-creature-runs-amok oeuvre, and the filmography of Mr Statham.

The plot involves an offshore, hi-tec science lab, dedicated to exploring the depths of the ocean. More specifically a team of scientists lead by Zhang (Winston Chao) and financed by Morris (Rainn Wilson) set out to prove the floor of the famed Marianas Trench is merely a deep sea cloud protecting a realm of undiscovered sea life. It begins as a forgotten world yarn in the grand tradition of Jules Verne or Edgar Rice Burroughs. Think 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Journey To the Center Of The Earth, The Land That Time Forgot. But in a similar plot development to Alexandre Aja’s feral Piranha remake, the scientists accidentally loose a gigantic prehistoric shark, or Megalodon, upon the modern world and it’s up to burly, expert rescue diver Jonas Taylor (Statham) to stop it.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/the-meg-movie-review-jason-statham/

IMDB: The Meg

LET THE CORPSES TAN (LAISSEZ BRONZER LES CADAVRES) (full review at Screen Realm)

French writing/directing team Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani follow up their acclaimed neo-gialli Amer and The Strange Color Of Your Body’s Tears with their third feature, Let The Corpses Tan (Laissez Bronzer Les Cadavres). Corpses… is a stylish and bloody crime noir that also takes influence from Italian cinema - this time in form of spaghetti western and classic Italian ‘poliziottesco’ crime films.

A criminal gang, led by Rhino (Stéphane Ferrara), uses local artist Luce’s (Elina Löwensohn) remote studio residence as cover to undertake an early morning gold heist on a coastal road outside an unnamed town. Returning to their hilltop hideaway, with a couple of hitchikers in tow, the gang plans to lie low until the furore around the robbery has died down. Unfortunately, two local motorcycle cops call in on a routine check and the situation quickly devolves, resulting a bloody stand off as both cops and criminals find themselves under siege.


Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/let-the-corpses-tan-movie-review/

IMDB: Let The Corpses Tan

ESCAPE TO VICTORY (full review at Screen Realm)

Escape To Victory (or simply Victory if you are more familiar with the prosaic US and Australian title) is a 1981 World War II / sports movie meld from legendary director John Huston. Or to put it another way, Escape To Victory is the greatest sports movie ever made.

Loosely based on a 1962 Hungarian film by the name of Two Half-Times in Hell (Két félidő a pokolban) aka The Last Goal, the story has its roots in a remarkable real-life series of games known as The Game of Death aka The Death Match, which took place in 1941 and saw F.C. Dynamo Kiev trounce a team of Nazis.

Read the full article at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/escape-to-victory-movie-1981-classic/

IMDB: Escape To Victory

SEE YOU UP THERE (AU REVOIR LA-HAUT) (full review at Screen Realm)

In 1918 as the First World War edges to a close, on verge of armistice, Edouard Péricourt (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) and Albert Maillard (Albert Dupontel) are ordered, along with the rest of their company, to undertake one last foray into No-Mans Land.  Their commanding officer Henri d'Aulnay-Pradelle (Laurent Lafitte), sends his charges into the firing line of the Somme, where Edouard saves Alberts life. But as the two prepare to retreat Edouard is injured in an explosion which tears away the bottom of his face, leaving him permanently disfigured.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/see-you-up-there-au-revoir-la-haut-movie-review/

IMDB: See You Up There