Tagarchief: The Verdict

The Verdict: John Wick: Chapter IV

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

I had a friend in the early zeroes who, when we would send him over to the video store to rent a movie, he would surely come back with the dumbest, most stupefying action movie sequel ever produced. I don’t see this friend any longer, but I am pretty sure John Wick: Chapter IV will now be his favorite movie of all time. The first John Wick movie was no masterpiece, but it was a decent action flick that had some of the elements needed to enjoy a movie of this kind. Elements that are completely lacking in part IV: a story, humor, tension (John Wick can fall off any building and survive) or emotion (if he would get killed, so what?). All it does have is endlessly boring video game action with the same type of kill being repeated over and over, and this for an almost insulting 2 hours and 49 minutes. Is there nothing positive to say? Some of the actors are in good shape and many of the visuals are pretty impressive. There is some talk of the death of cinema these days, and John Wick: Chapter IV certainly supports the case of the pessimists perfectly. Hollywood screenwriters that lack original ideas and producers pumping a depraved amount of money in a completely mindless sequel is definitely what John Wick: Chapter IV brings to the High Table. And with a fifth movie in the works and a television show already out, this trend is not likely to be reversed any time soon.

John Wick: Chapter IV is now available on Amazon Prime

The verdict: to stream or not to stream? Not to stream

The Verdict: The Banshees of Inisherin

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

The Oscar contender for Best Film of 2022 is an unusual one. The story, set on the fictional island of Inisherin in 1923, revolves around the two friends Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson). One day, the aging Colm breaks off the friendship because he is tired of the talkative airhead Pádraic. Pádraic cannot and will not accept the decision however, and keeps harassing his old friend, who in turn threatens to cut off his fingers every time Pádraic talks to him. This strange and darkly comic tale is apparently a metaphor for the Irish inner struggle with its needless violence and self mutilation. Interesting, but also taken at face value, this is a great story, filmed and acted beautifully. Another winner by the actor-director team of Martin McDonagh, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson who brought us the suburb In Bruges in 2008.

The Banshees of Inisherin is now available on Disney Plus

The verdict: to stream or not to stream? To stream

The Verdict: Clerks III

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

In the 1990’s, a glorious time for American, independent cinema, writer-director Kevin Smith debuted with the ultra low budget comedy Clerks. It was a terrific movie because of the characters, the delicious dialogues on pop culture, and mostly because it was very, very funny. Smith followed up his cult success with some pretty great (Chasing Amy / Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) and not so great (Jay and Silent Bob Reboot) movies. Now Clerks III has arrived and it is Smith’s worst movie to date (from the ones I have seen). The main problem: it is not funny. And the dialogues don’t work. Also, the characters Dante and Randall are not interesting any more 26 years later. Randall is no longer harassing customers. And Dante’s self pity worked in the original because he had an actual big life decision to make. Now, it just gets tiresome. The one positive thing I can report about Clerks III is the ending. Spoiler alert: Dante dies! Not to be too harsh on Smith; I still love the guy. And not that I hated Dante so much that I wanted him to die. I just thought it was a fitting ending to the Clerks saga. Hopefully, Smith’s Mallrats follow-up will be better.

Clerks III is now available on Netflix

The verdict: to stream or not to stream? Not to stream. Watch the original instead.

The Verdict – Crimes of the Future

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

The Master of Body Horror, David Cronenberg (now 79 years old), returns with a concept typical for him. In an unspecified future, evolution has taken a weird turn; humans don’t feel pain anymore and some grow new organs at rapid speed (‘accelerated evolution syndrome’). One of these persons is Saul Tensor (Viggo Mortensen, also getting older but he still ‘has it’). He forms a performance duo with Caprice (the always excellent Léa Seydoux). Together they perform the live removal of Saul’s newly developed organs in front of excited audiences. When Saul has a zipper in his stomach installed, which his partner finds sexually arousing and then performs fellatio on it, the movie reminds of a mix of Existenz (Cronenberg’s last science fiction film in which humans have a portal in their spine to connect them to virtual reality) and Cronenberg’s Crash (in which a group of people get sexually aroused from car crashes). It is typical of the Canadian writer/director to try to turn his audience on with images of grotesque organically shaped technology and horribly morphed bodies and their insides. It is a weird movie, even by the standards of the King of Venereal Horror, but those who have become accustomed to his style know it is probably also strangely fascinating. And it is. What also helps is the eerie music by his regular composer Howard Shore and the great cast, which also includes Kristen Stewart. How did he ever prepare his actors to get into character for this freakish story?

Crimes of the Future is now available on Amazon Prime

The verdict: to stream or not to stream? For Cronenberg completists, to stream. For all others it depends; can you stomach a dancer with his mouth and eyes sewn shut and ears attached all over his body?