Monday, October 07, 2013

FILLMORE DISCOS 74

Helter-Skelter, 2012 (****)
like the contents of Sweet fashion magazine converted into a disturbing horror film, Japanese photographer-director Mika Ninagawa's eyes-wide-open dazzlingly explicit visual feast of an exquisite idol girl's dark descent to madness

Maniac, 2012 (*)
utterly pointless remake of Joe Spinell's sleaze horror: awkward dialogue, porn quality acting, and horribly self-conscious POV technology

Spring Breakers, 2012 (***)
nice audiovisual aesthetics, girls are great, it all promises so much... and then James fucking Franco appears

The Conjuring, 2013 (*)
the one scary thing about this laughably clichéed Amityville rip-off cum RC propaganda film is its box office success

L'Apollonide, 2011 (*****)
dispassionately dark and beautifully realised anthology of women's life experiences in a 1900s Parisian bordello

FILLMORE DISCOS 73

4 comments:

JayB said...

the remake of maniac is pointless however the soundtracks not bad in a Carpenter/Howarth kind of way.

William Bennett said...

agreed! and to the extent that, as with say Drive, the opening credits offer high hopes

Unknown said...

Franco was ideal for that role, as much as it pains me to write that. It was a savvy casting choice, to build expectations for a film which appeared to be everything it wasn't. I wonder if the blood rushing from the teenage organs was directly proportional to their anger as they left the cinema?

Unknown said...

Franco was ideal in that role. That's a difficult thing to write, mind you, but consider the entire context of that film and all the teenage boners that started popping when they ran the ads/previews. Expectations crushed, red faces flush with soft disappointment.