• Seventh Army - The Artificial God (2016)

    Seventh Army's The Artificial God is one of the worst records I have heard in a very long time. The Chinese trio tries to mix industrial rock, black metal and electronic music in a way that doesn't please any fan group.

    The musicianship is so horrible that it isn't even so horrible it's funny anymore. The guitar riffs are as monotonous as they can get. The bass guitar is either inaudible or unspectacular. The drum machine that was used sounds like broken military march percussion on repeat. The strange sound samples sound as if they had been recorded underwater with a cheap cell phone. The occasional brief melodic keyboard sounds offer failed attempts at creating electronic music that don't blend in at all with the rest of the music.

    There seem to be two vocalists in the band and both are absolutely terrible. The main vocalist sounds like a hoarse version of Dani Filth from Cradle of Filth. The second singer reminds me of a drunken interpretation of a roaring Dagon from Inquisition. The singers sound awful separately and even worse when they try to cooperate in some tunes.

    It's hard to believe that this release seems to have been recorded by an actual band. It rather sounds like a desperate Myspace one-man project recorded in a filthy basement filled with Doritos bags and Cold 45 cans.

    The record isn't even twenty-eight minutes long but still manages to be hard to sit through. Listening through this is as pleasant as getting electrocuted. I would like to end my review on a positive note but there just isn't any. The production is below terrible, the lyrics are vapid, the songwriting is all over the place, you name it.

    Just stay away from this abomination at all costs. There isn't anything exotic, intriguing or sympathetic about this record. You have been warned.

    Final rating: 0%

    Partager via Gmail Delicious Technorati Yahoo! Google Bookmarks Blogmarks Pin It

  • Tomie: Saishuu-shô - kindan no kajitsu / Tomie: The Final Chapter - Forbidden Fruit (2002)

    Tomie: The Final Chapter - Forbidden Fruit was supposed to be the last film in the franchise about the evil girl that cannot die. As we speak, four more movies have been made but it might have been a good idea to actually end the franchise on a solid note with this film. The movie isn't as gripping as Tomie: Replay and as atmospheric as the first Tomie four years earlier but it's clearly an improvement over the unbalanced Tomie: Rebirth or the compilation of low-budget television episodes released under the title Tomie: Another Face.

    The story revolves around a high school student called Tomie who is bullied by three other girls. Her mother died ten years ago. Her father seems to be as gloomy, lonesome and unhappy as herself. One day, the high school student meets a girl of her age who is also called Tomie but who is completely different from her. She seems to be courageous, quirky and self-confident. The two quickly become friends and even start developing a romantic interest in one another. However, the extroverted Tomie deceives her friend as she is actually interested in her friend's father and wants to get rid of his daughter. She reveals to the old man that she was in love with him twenty-five years ago but ended up being killed by one of their friends. She wants to rekindle her love for the old man and soon manipulates him and his daughter. The father soon must make the difficult choice to either get rid of his daughter or of the obsessive intruder.

    This film is much more a drama with mild horror elements rather than a horror movie with mild drama elements. This movie isn't scary but it convinces with the gloomiest atmosphere in the franchise up to this point. The film starts slowly as most of the other entries but steadily quickens up the pace and ends on a surprising note. There are several memorable scenes like Tomie being nursed as a monstrous baby reminding of Eraserhead and the sinister showdown in the ice factory. The story is quite unpredictable and certainly one of the strongest plots in the franchise. The actresses and actors are more dynamic, emotional and unique than in some of the predecessors. The manipulative nature of the antagonist becomes most obvious in this film. The outcast protagonist however is certainly a character the audience can root for.

    I would recommend this movie to fans of the franchise and to anyone who likes supernatural dramas with a gloomy atmosphere. Tomie: The Final Chapter - Forbidden Fruit would have concluded the movie franchise on a solid note. Still, there isn't one single film that fully lives up to the potential of the original manga series.

    Partager via Gmail Delicious Technorati Yahoo! Google Bookmarks Blogmarks Pin It

  • Bad Times at the El Royale (2018)

    Bad Times at the El Royale is one of the greatest Hollywood movies released this year. Set in a remote hotel on the California-Nevada border that has seen its best days decades earlier, the movie follows an intriguing set of characters that end up meeting there. We meet an aging Catholic priest who is suffering from an illness, a female black singer, a communicative salesman and a sarcastic young woman who are welcomed by a nervous receptionist. All these characters have secrets to hide and aren't exactly who they pretend to be. Things take a sinister turn when the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a mysterious blackmail organization and a murderous sect get involved. When extortion, kidnapping and murder take place, the remote hotel becomes the setting of an explosive showdown.

    Filmed in the key of Quentin Tarantino's movies, Bad Times at the El Royale starts with sluggish but atmospheric pace to introduce all relevant characters and locations. The film gets a grislier turn as more and more secrets about the characters and locations are gradually being revealed. The final thirty minutes are bloody, brutal and intense as the film ends on a particularly high note.

    The location of the rundown hotel is quite fascinating as it also reflects the characters whose days of former glory are long behind them. When a storm arises and the characters are stuck in the remote location, the movie gets a quite claustrophobic vibe. The film takes place in a shiny lobby, simple hotel rooms and a few secret locations that are quite surprising to say the least.

    The actresses and actors are particularly convincing and play their roles with empathy and precision. The audience quickly sympathizes with some characters and easily scorns others. The fates of the characters won't leave anyone unimpressed.

    Bad Times at the El Royale offers relentless action, unique characters, intense dialogues, stunning locations, dramatic moments, creative plot twists and uneasy tension in two and a half particularly entertaining hours. You should definitely watch it at your local movie theatre.

    Partager via Gmail Delicious Technorati Yahoo! Google Bookmarks Blogmarks Pin It

  • Wu ming zhi bei / A Cool Fish (2018)

    A Cool Fish is an action-comedy movie with a dramatic twist. It tells several different stories that are all linked. We follow two friends and thugs who want to rob a bank but end up taking cell phone models from a cheap store and hide in the apartment of a suicidal woman in a wheelchair. The brother of said woman is a security guard and former police officer who now works for a businessman who betrayed his own clients and the security guard tries to retrieve a gun that was stolen from him. His former colleagues don't care about the gun however and are busy chasing the two thieves. The security officer's daughter is friends with the businessman's son who tries to clear his father's name. His father's clients and partners organize daily funerals in the city to put pressure on the businessman who has fled the city with his emotive girlfriend. All these characters will end up at the same spot for an explosive showdown.

    Does the plot sound confusing to you? It actually is and that is one of the few flaws of the film. It includes too many characters, locations and side stories. Some elements of the plot are also quite hard to believe. Another flaw is the dragging ending that certainly overstays its welcome. This film would be much more efficient if it were fifteen minutes shorter.

    Apart of the stretched ending, A Cool Fish is a dynamic, entertaining and funny movie. The action scenes have hilarious slapstick elements. The dialogues often have dark and dry humour. The actresses and actors are rather convincing with the suicidal woman in the wheelchair being the greatest of them all.

    If you are looking for an entertaining action-comedy movie with a few profound touches towards the end, you will certainly enjoy this dynamic film. It's not a particularly memorable movie but an enthusiastic one that is best enjoyed at your local cinema with a few friends. It's certainly more creative, vivid and surprising than another Hollywood reboot of an old action-comedy franchise.

    Partager via Gmail Delicious Technorati Yahoo! Google Bookmarks Blogmarks Pin It

  • Tomie: Rebirth (2001)

    Tomie: Rebirth is the weakest entry in the horror movie franchise about the evil girl that cannot die. Let's start with the few positive points. The film certainly has an uneasy atmosphere from start to finish. Sakai Miki might be the best actress to portray Tomie yet as she finds the right balance between human emotions and monstrous manipulations. The film shows a Tomie that is more powerful than ever before. She can come back to life through a picture, take possession of other people when they use her lipstick and even kill people with the help of her hair.

    Despite a good lead actress, an intriguing atmosphere and a few clever ideas, the movie is boring and hard to sit through. Horror movies should be scary in one way or another but there isn't one single frightening moment in the entire film. The cast claimed that the film had humorous elements and were close to a dark comedy but that most certainly isn't the case as the atmosphere remains gloomy throughout the film and people die under terrible circumstances. Most of the acting performances are terrible since actors and actresses constantly move and speak in slow motion that would even make Inspector Mathias and Detective Chief Inspector Derrick look like dynamic characters. The story is also somewhat confusing as it shifts perspectives all the time and includes unnecessary flashbacks. The pace of the film is dragging and it certainly doesn't help that this is the longest movie in the franchise up to that point.

    Tomie: Rebirth is a disappointment because it never lifts up, overstays its welcome and wastes all of its initial potential. Shimizu Takashi directed movies like Ju-On before this film and would later on create the marvelous Marebito but his involvement in this film is underwhelming. Only avid collectors and fans of the franchise can give this film a try. Anyone else should stick to Tomie or Tomie: Replay or just read the manga.

    Partager via Gmail Delicious Technorati Yahoo! Google Bookmarks Blogmarks Pin It





    Suivre le flux RSS des articles
    Suivre le flux RSS des commentaires