00s Movie Review - Sin City

Director: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller, Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Crime/ Thriller
Runtime: 124 minutes
Year: 2005
Starring: Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Elijah Wood, Nick Stahl, Jaime King, Josh Hartnett, Carla Cugino, Michael Madsen, Rutger Hauer, Powers Booth, Brittany Murphy, Alexis Bledel

Description: An exploration of the dark and miserable Basin City and three of its residents, all of whom are caught up in violent corruption.

Review: “Sin City” is a film noir-like movie which is very faithful to the graphic novel it’s based on. A perfect job for director Robert Rodriguez, who is accompanied by “Sin City” novel writer Frank Miller and director Quentin Tarantino. 

All these creative minds are a guarantee for an explosive and inventive film. “Sin City” looks breathtaking and is groundbreaking. The graphic novel isn’t just made into film, it looks like the novel actually came to life. De original pictures are used for the story

board and stayed intact. The actors had to film in front of a so-called ‘green screen’.
The presented world and its citizens is shown in black and white. Sometimes things as a red dress, golden blonde hair and blood are highlighted with color. The contrasts look great. 

There are lots of extravagant characters in “Sin City”. Like ‘Yellow Bastard’, a violent pedophile with rubbery skin and unhuman physical forms. And Jackie Boy, a corrupt cop. But most memorable is cannibalistic Kevin, a slick man with a sardonic grin on his face. The anti-hero is Marv, played by Mickey Rourke who you barely recognize. As a storm he rages through the city. For the women, it’s Jessica Alba that catches your eye. As a kid she was rescued by John Hartigan, played by Bruce Willis. Now she is a gorgeous, young woman turned stripper. 

Like I said before, “Sin City” is a groundbreaking film and it amazes me every single time.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

TV Show Review - The Fall of the House of Usher

Season: Mini Series
Genre: Horror/ Drama/ Mystery
Number of episodes: 8
Year: 2023
Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Mary McDonnell, Carla Cugino, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel, Zach Gilford, Samantha Sloyan, Michael Trucco, Mark Hamill    

Description: To secure their fortune (and future) two ruthless siblings (Bruce Greenwood, Mary McDonnell) build a family dynasty that begins to crumble when their heirs mysteriously die, one by one.

Review: Many filmmakers have a bond with the actors they work with. Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, or Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Director Mike Flanagan does this with his series and films as well. In his newest show, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, we see a lot of familiar faces, like Bruce Greenwood, Carla Cugino, Zach Gilford, Henry Thomas, Samantha Sloyan and his wife Kate Siegel. I was very excited for this show, I’m a huge fan of Mike Flanagan’s work.

“The House of the Fall of Usher” is (very loosely) based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name. The story is about 40 pages long, so creating an 8-part TV-series around it is quite the challenge. Flanagan also took it to modern time. And I believe he did an excellent job.

The Usher family has amassed enormous wealth, but is mostly known for theur major crimes they get away with time and time again. Until one day, Roderick Usher’s six children are killed one by one in bloody accidents in a short period of time. Roderick invites hi judicial adversary to confess it all, because he knows full well who is targeting him.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” is marketed as horror, it is not a show just for the horror fans. I see it mostly as a dark, gothic mystery thriller with horror elements in it. The show has some really strong and effective scares, that would be stated horror.

The characters are diverse, but I can say that you will hate them all. They are all so unlikeable, but extremely interesting. The series only downside is that it has some predictability, because you know when which sibling will die. Because it’s set I a way that one person will die per episode. The way they all kick the bucket is not predictable, because some of them are very original, and all gruesome.

The cast is fantastic, but Carla Cugino and Bruce Greenwood (who previously both starred in Flanagan’s “Gerald’s Game”) are the ones that impress the most. Cugino is a literal chameleon in “The Fall of the House of Usher”.

I don’t think this is a show for everyone, whether you like horror or not. I highly enjoyed it and jumped a few times because of the scares Flanagan so well added. And the conclusion of the whole story was very strong.

00s Movie Review - The Lookout

Director: Scott Frank
Genre: Action/ Crime/ Drama
Runtime: 99 minutes
Year: 2007
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, Carla Cugino, Bruce McGill, Isla Fisher, Alex Borstein

Description: Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is once a promising high school athlete whose life is turned upside down following a tragic accident. As h tries to maintain a normal life, he takes a job as a janitor at a bank, where he ultimately finds himself caught up in a planned heist.

Review: Chris has trouble ordering actions, and as a result must attend therapy at e center for independent living. Simple things like telling how his day went already cause him problems. This is due to a car accident when he was still in school. Fortunately, besides the center, there is Chris’ blind roommate Lewis who wants to help him with his daily struggles. Chris works at night, as a janitor for the local bank. When he meets Gary at a bar, it looks like he got some new friends. But Gary has other plans, because he is more interested in the bank then in Chris personally.
It's a conventional story in many ways, but since the character of Chris is so interesting is goes a little deeper beyond the surface. One of the strengths of the film is the fact that the dramatic development of Chris always remains central and is the engine of all events. The heist itself is only a small part of the film.
“The Lookout” is definitely not a perfect movie, the thriller aspect is predictable and fall short of the realistic approach of what came before it. But these are basically minor criticisms of a film that convinces in its drama, which again is mostly due to the excellent performance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Chris. An actor I have always enjoyed watching.

Rating: 4/ 5

10s Movie Review - Gerald's Game

Director: Mike Flanagan
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 103 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Carla Cugino, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas, Carel Struyken, Kate Siegel

Description: A couple (Carle Cugino, Bruce Greenwood) tries to spice up their marriage in a remote lake house. After the husband dies unexpectedly, the wife is left handcuffed to their bed frame and must fight to survive and break free.

Review: Gerald handcuffs his wife Jessie to the bed of a remote lake house they are vacation in. for Jessie, this adventure turns into torture when Gerald suddenly dies of a heart attack, while her still being cuffed to the bed.  
2017 was a year that Stephen King had many of his films being adapted to the big screen. His book series “The Dark Tower” finally turned into a movie and the remake of “It” was a huge success. In addition, Netflix presented us with “1922” and “Gerald’s Game”.
One thing is for sure, “Gerald’s Game” is not the easiest book to film. The story largely takes place in the mind of Jessie who is chained to a bed while her late husband is being eaten by a stray dog. Yet director Mike Flanagan manages to squeeze enough suspense out of this plot.
This success is largely due to the intense acting of Carla Cugino as Jessie. As the fear, hunger and thirst begin to take their toll, she turns more an more into herself. We too escape from Jessie’s plight for a brief moment, only to be confronted with the nightmares of her past.
These interludes deepen the complexity of Cugino’s character and ensure that the film never becomes boring. Flanagan’s dedication to character development makes “Gerald’s Game” both a robust King film adaptation and an effective psychological horror film.

Rating: 3,5/ 5