Archive

Tag Archives: Blowtorch


Big Bad Wolves Lior Ashkenazi, Tzahi Grad, Doval'e Glickman, Rotem Keinan, Guy Adler, Dvir Benedek, Gur Bentwich, Nati Kluger, Kais Nashif, Menashe Noy, Rivka Michaeli מי מפחד מהזאב הרע‎‎, Mi mefakhed mehaze'ev hara

Big Bad Wolves (aka מי מפחד מהזאב הרע‎‎, Mi mefakhed mehaze’ev hara): Three men’s lives come to a head when a child is murdered and the hunt for the killer intensifies – Israeli black comedy horror/thriller. Off the bat this is a very odd mix that flips from gruesome child murders straight to bawdy comedy with no hesitation. Centered around the question of “is he / isn’t he guilty”  the main chunk of this plays out like a Mystic River / Prisoners dilemma… showing normal men becoming monsters. The torture scenes are very visceral and gnarly, difficult to watch. It also starts becoming darkly comical in the last act, as the multiple – seemingly innocuous – strands are brought nicely together. Hailed by Quentin Tarantino as the best film of 2013, this is one of his shout-outs that is actually worth a punt!

Score: 7/10

Big Bad Wolves Lior Ashkenazi, Tzahi Grad, Doval'e Glickman, Rotem Keinan, Guy Adler, Dvir Benedek, Gur Bentwich, Nati Kluger, Kais Nashif, Menashe Noy, Rivka Michaeli מי מפחד מהזאב הרע‎‎, Mi mefakhed mehaze'ev hara

 

Advertisement

- Why are we here again? - I need a new house...

The Cold Light of Day: when his family are kidnapped near Madrid an everyman has to find a briefcase and return it to the captors in time. This is a strange one: coming out of the cinema it felt like a serviceable ‘nuts and bolts’ action movie, however,  two days later the only parts i can recall are the Nike, Blackberry, Coca Cola, Audi, Land Rover, Fabrik Nightclub co-promotion scenes. There’s a couple of night-time action scenes that were too shaky and poorly lit to be even remotely coherent – although there are a few interesting flares of camerawork, and it fades in and out of attempting to have the atmosphere and music of a classic Boir thriller – it’s just not consistent enough. The story is quite derivative, sloppy, and predictable genre writing – and everything down to the title feels focus-grouped to death. God bless Cavill for trying, but there’s next to nothing for anyone to work with – all characters are like concentrated stock. The Cold Light of Day is one of the laziest films I’ve seen in a long time; it just wants to coast on the back of the names involved – although the biggest (Sigourney and Bruce Willis) phone in two of the sleepiest and offendingly unremarkable paycheck performances of the year.

Score: 3/10