The Seasoning House (2012)

Genre : Horror/Thriller
Country : UK

Cast :
Rosie Day : Angel
Sean Pertwee : Goran
Kevin Howarth : Viktor

Director :
Paul Hyett

Summary
The Seasoning House: where young girls are prostituted to the military. An orphaned deaf mute is enslaved to care for them. She moves between the walls and crawlspaces, showing the little kindnesses when she can. When fate brings the men that murdered her family and the reason she ended up in the whore house, a chain of events begins that will end her captivity ...

Forbidden Ground (2013)

Genre : War
Country : Australia

Cast :
Johan Earl : Wilkins
Tim Pocock : O'Leary
Martin Copping : Jennings

Director :
Johan Earl,Adrian Powers

Summary
When an allied charge on the German lines goes horribly wrong, one man finds himself stranded in No Man's Land. Reuniting with two other survivors, together they must help each other as they charge into the unknown across the muddy wasteland as the Germans quickly hone in on the desperate trio. Tensions rise between the soldiers as they are surrounded by explosions of grenades with the constant rattle of machine guns in their ears. Time is running out as they make their way back over enemy lines as an impending attack could soon take them out.

My opinion
An Australian attempt to create an image of the terrible battles that were held in WWI. They managed to show that on a small scale. Military units in dirty miserable conditions, sitting in mud and other dirt waiting until they were driven into a certain death. The whistling of bullets and explosions of bombs. The fear in the eyes of young soldiers who probably didn't even know what this war was about.

The image I'll remind of this movie was that of the arrogant superior who, without hesitation, gives an order to attack, although this would lead to a needless bloodshed. Because this was totally unnecessary and pointless in this stage of the battle, since they were planning for a heavy bombardment on the German positions. It was a showcase of egocentric display of power. I don't understand how come those hundred men in the trenches don't jump on that fagot coward collectively and chased him on the battlefield with a gun.

Anyway, the introduction of this film is the rush towards the German position, realizing  that no one will reach the other side alive. Don't expect grand heroic scenes like in "Saving Private Ryan", but rather limited images and close-ups. A clear sign that this is a low-budget film. The three soldiers Sergeant Major Wilkins , private O'Leary and Corporal Jennings , survive the massacre and end up in no man's land between the two lines. The rest of the battalion is spread over the mud-filled grounds. From here on starts the biggest part of the movie, because going back to their own trenches takes time. Corporal Jennings is very badly injured (A full leg torn away) which makes that the withdrawal is not so evident. This section is therefore extremely boring. It's not because of the acting. The acting is still acceptable despite the circumstances . But to be honest, a slowly receding threesome is not much to work with and to get an exciting story.

Eventually they made up a parallel story in which the wife of Sergeant Major Wilkins plays a leading role. She's pregnant and wants an abortion. Something that wasn't obvious to do at that time. Eventually she asks the help of a nurse who doesn't have experience with this operation. Obviously this ends up in a complete tragedy. And what a coincidence ! This nurse is the fiancée of Corporal Jennings, who at the same time ceased to live on the battlefield.

"Forbidden Ground"  mostly succeeded in visualizing the atmosphere and the horror in WWI, now 100 years ago. In terms of content, it's a disaster and the story itself is a bit far fetched.

Het verdict 2 /10
Links : IMDB

The Iceman (2012)

Genre : Biography/Crime
Country : USA

Cast :
Michael Shannon : Richard Kuklinski
Winona Ryder : Deborah Pellicotta
Ray Liotta : Roy Demeo

Director :
Ariel Vromen

Summary
Richard Kuklinski is working as a porn film lab tech until his mob bosses persuade him to change his career into that of a contract killer. For years, Kuklinski gains a reputation for cold blooded professionalism even as he raises a family who are kept in the dark about his true career. Unfortunately, mob politics ultimately forces him to secretly work independently with the psychopathic Robert 'Mr. Freezy' Pronge.

Life of a King (2013)

Genre : Drama
Country : USA

Cast :
Cuba Gooding Jr. : Eugene
Dennis Haysbert : Searcy
Malcolm M. Mays : Tahime

Director :
Jake Goldberger

Summary
Ex-felon, Eugene Brown, establishes a Chess Club for inner city teenagers in Washington, D.C. It's the story of a man who wants to give those Afro-American kids something they never had : a future.

My opinion 
Apparently "Life of a King" is the true story of the ex-detainee Eugene Brown who founded a chess club in the slums of Washington, to keep teenagers of the streets and to teach the philosophical significance of a game of chess. I say "apparently"  because I read on the internet that the real Eugene Brown only gave chess lessons at an elementary school, and certainly not at a high school. Also he would be too afraid to hang around with teenagers driving fast cars, waving with guns and trade drugs. So this movie is 95% fiction. The idea to establish a chess club for underprivileged children came from one Sergeant Michael Brown (no relation incidentally) who served in the fire department in Washington D.C.

Whether it is a slightly modified version of the real facts, actually isn't relevant. I thought it was a fascinating and poignant film about underprivileged kids who escape reality every day and don't think a descent education is important. They flee into the criminal world and turn against the social values. "Life of a King" belongs in a list of films that have appeared over the years. The content is twofold. On the one hand we have the rebellious youth rejecting any form of authority except that of a local criminal. On the other hand, we have some good Samaritan who believes that these young people do have a future and tries to help them. The subject is nothing new and there are a whole series of movies with a similar theme. From "Boys Town" and "Blackboard Jungle" to "Class of 1984" and "Dangerous Minds" . In all these movies a figure emerges who has the will and patience to put the derailed youth back on track. The biggest cliche in all these films is the fact there needs to happen a tragic accident before everyone comes to their senses.

Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a wonderful part. I'm not a big fan of Cuba, but I thought this was a magnificent performance. He always has such a somber and sad look on his face that perfectly fits this role. A broken man after a long imprisonment who realizes that his only purpose, just like a pawn in a chess game, is to protect an important person and at the end gets sacrificed. That's the message he tries to convey to the young kids. Clifton (Carlton Byrd) is the leading figure of the young ones who's dealing for a local drugs lord. He's the only one who doesn't believe in the chess game of Eugene but immediately realizes that the latter is not quickly intimidated. Tahime (Malcolm Mays) is the timid boy with family problems and follows Clifton blindly until the end. Peanut (Kevin Hendricks) is the soft hearted of the classroom and gets handed the role of victim.

The message Eugene wants to tell, is that life is like a chess game. Once you understand and apply that to daily life, there are opportunities to escape the downward spiral. At times I found it very moving. But you have to admit that this is just an average movie with the usual cliches and predictable situations. This movie will finally end up on some TV channel that broadcasts more of this moralizing, with life stories filled, movies.
A beautiful rendition in a well known framework.

My rating 6 /10
Links : IMDB

Dead Souls (2012)

Genre : Horror
Country: USA

Cast :
Bill Moseley : Sheriff Depford
Jesse James : Johnny Petrie
Magda Apanowicz : Emma

Director:
Colin Theys

Summary
Johnny Petrie learns on his 18th birthday that he was adopted after inheriting a farm in Maine. Eager to start a new life, Johnny leaves home so he can began afresh in this "new" dwelling. However, Johnny soon discovers that the farm, which has been abandoned for eighteen years since his natural family died, harbors a horrifying history about the deaths of said natural family.

My opinion
A movie that comes in my list of a mediocre but "not quite good" horror movie. Things started very promising. The apostate priest who, cause of a strange reason, kills his whole family. His wife and two older children are killed in an explicit way. Of course one member of the family remains unharmed. The newborn Brian was hidden by his older brother in a drawer. Thus the ritual can not be accomplished and the priest nails his family on a cross and eventually commits suicide. What the actual ritual is, is not really clear in this film. A bit of a weird idea of the priest to connect Christianity to a primitive religion of Egypt.

The start wasn't that bad. How the priest slaughters his family gave me the impression that it would be an acceptable horror movie. I could predict that in the distant future the saved son would return to his home as a teenager and would be confronted with his mysterious past. The introduction of Brian and his kind of weird mother pointed out it was clearly a low-budget film. Once the mother goes to the hospital and the boy, now called John Petrie, goes to the town where the house is for sale of which he's the only heir, it gets a little better and even at times a little exciting. The cliché ingredients are again used such as ghosts  appearing around the corner, creaking floors and doors that open by themselves. There were also moments when something appears behind someone and afterwards there is nothing anymore when that person turns around . It's all in there, and after the umpteenth time you're kind of bored of it. There's only one commendable moment in the whole film as Brian stands next to his old crib.

Then there is the introduction of Emma. A girl that came from i-don't-know-where and moved into the house, because it was already empty for some time. She wasn't very convincing and changed spontaneously from an arrogant kid to a loving and seducing teen girl. They are complete strangers for each other, but suddenly it seems as if they know each other for years. Together they come to the incoherent and incomprehensible discovery what the priest was trying to achieve and something is brought up as the "fifth nail". Then there's a senior police officer who retired after the incident who's still looking for the truth. They will organize a seance to find the solution.

And from here on it just get worse. The ghosts look abominable and the effects look very outdated. When victims return as living dead and want to finish the unfinished task, it really starts to look completely amateurish. In particular how the kids save themselves in the final scene. That looked like a really old 70's horror movie. The highlight was a zombie falling into a nail that finished him of.

A mixture of all sorts of horror genres with a strong start, but a historically bad ending

My rating 3 /10
Links : IMDB

Bless Me, Ultima (2013)

Genre : Drama
Country : USA

Cast :
Luke Ganalon : Antonio
Miriam Colon : Ultima
Benito Martinez : Gabriel

Director :
Carl Franklin

Summary
A drama set in New Mexico during WWII, centered on the relationship between a young man and an elderly medicine woman who helps him contend with the battle between good and evil that rages in his village.

My opinion
I bless you in the name of all that is good and strong and beautiful.

A simple and beautiful imaged coming-of-age story. The film is based on a novel by Rudolfo Anaya, an American author and one of the founders of modern Chicano literature. Antonio tells the story of him growing up in New Mexico under the watchful eye of Ultima, a curandera or healer. Ultima has knowledge about healing herbs. Most people see her as a person who possesses supernatural powers and cures diseases caused by evil spirits. Those diseases are believed to be a punishment from God. Others see Ultima as a kind of witch ( Bruja ) who can transform into an owl. Antonio accompanies her while she collects medicinal herbs. He visits with her the sick and begins to understand the connectedness of nature with the process of healing even though he never gets an explicit scientific explanation about the healing process, how she casts spells onto witches or why she sometimes decides not to intervene.

Don't expect a flashy entertaining and action-packed movie. Despite the film proceeds in a sluggish manner while creating an image of this community in Guadalupe, the film was able to captivate me. I've never read the novel. So I can't judge whether the film follows the book to a great extent or not. The main part of the film shows the relationship between Ultima and Antonio. You notice immediately that there is a very strong link between those two from the first moment they have met. The fragments where Ultima passes her knowledge of medicinal plants and herbs to Antonio, are beautiful and very emotionally. The moment Ultima is on her way to heal an uncle of Antonio is actually a key moment. There is a curse on him by the daughter of a local resident named Tenorio Trementina. Eventually, Antonio faces a kind of exorcism, followed by the application of a kind of voodoo ritual.

The ongoing theme is Antonio's Christian faith that is developing, while being confronted with primitive rituals . The moment he celebrates ​​his First Holy Communion and supposedly be one with God, he sees the chance to get an answer on a question about Narciso. The fact that he receives no response ensures that there is doubt about the whole Christian faith. The death of a boyfriend who disbelieves cause there's been done so much injustice to him, probably also has a big influence.

The acting of Ultima and Antonio by Miriam Colon and Luke Ganalon is excellent and credible. Colon is a female Mexican version of "Gandalf" with a strong personality despite her old age, and a furrowed, tanned face that radiates wisdom. However, the best player is Ganalon. Superb acting. The supporting cast is perfectly chosen.

So if you want to experience a zen-moment among all the other action-packed and exciting movies, then you should try this film.

My rating 7 /10
Links : IMDB

Rushlights (2012)

Genre : Crime/Drama/Romance
Country: USA

Cast :
Josh Henderson : Billy
Haley Webb : Sarah

Beau Bridges : Sherif Brogden

Director:
Antoni Stutz

Summary
Billy and Sarah, two delinquent teenage lovers from the suburbs of Los Angeles, travel to a small southern town to falsely claim a dead friend's inheritance. The two teens, haunted by their own dubious pasts while pursuing their scam, wind up in a nightmare of greed and betrayal when confronted with the twisted and bizarre underworld of Tremo.

My opinion
Sooner or later, I'm gonna nail your maggot ass to the wall.

"Rush Lights" is a mediocre movie and for once the design and interpretation are not really the weak point. The storyline however is terribly simplistic and looks like a regular TV series. Often it seemed like I was watching an old episode of "Matlock" or "Columbus" cause it was so average and uninspiring almost during the whole movie. Then the unbelievable coincidences started to appear at a furious pace. I was just waiting for the next nonsense that they came up with.
The performances and the displayed images need no criticism. The town Tremo is a small village in the middle of nowhere in Texas. It's a dusty place and it seems as if time stood still there. You can still look at the horizon while standing somewhere on a hill and when you're standing at the wrong place where at that moment an old Buick or Cadillac is speeding away, you can be sure that weeks later the sand is still gritting your teeth. So visually it looks acceptable.
The fact that they managed to incorporate Beau Bridges and Aidan Quinn is a positive thing.There is no doubt about the experience that both gentlemen have, given their huge list of films on their resumé. They are also the only two compelling actors and stand their ground in this crooked story. Josh Henderson as "Bill" isn't out of place in this movie. As I said earlier, it looks more like an episode of some TV series. And that's exactly the kind of thing he has a lot of experience in. Usually, his acting was fine but at times it was quite hesitant and faintly. Haley Webb acting as "Sarah" didn't thrill me that much. She looks absolutely stunning (besides the fact that she has such a weird crooked smile sometimes) but sometimes has a tendency to over-act. Despite their limited experience in feature films, they do ensure that their characters look credible.
Where does this movie actually fail? It's the storyline, the conduct and that stupid ending that screws up the overwhelmingly positive feeling I had about this movie. The initial setup is actually average. Billy and Sarah meet and start a relationship. It goes terribly wrong when a friend of Sarah dies from an overdose. It's a bizarre coincidence they look like twins and Billy comes with the brilliant idea to use that benefit and cash an inheritance of the deceased. After arriving in Tremo it turns out this is not so easy and some secrets from the past start to reveal themselves. And from then on it's just a series of astonishing facts.

*** SPOILER ALERT***

Lets start with a little summary of some ridiculous things :  
- To receive a plain simple post package here in Belgium I need to show my ID. So I'm pretty sure there is a bit more needed concerning an inheritance then just a quick check of the ID by a lawyer. And especially when it comes to an inheritance involving a significant value of real estate.
- The family lawyer turns out to be closer to the family than he expected. Ignorant as he was in all those years, he can understand the whole thing by simply reading a letter from the deceased rich man and recognizing the handwriting of his mother. And in a magical moment the plot is very very clear to him. 
- While Sarah and Billy are passionately kissing, a shotgun falls down on the floor, goes off and miraculously hits an unknown person standing behind the window. 
- A burglar loses in a clumsy way a DVD with compromising material on it. The recordings show that the rich guy had some kind of gay relationship with his bastard son (This part wasn't made that clear in the movie)
- Billy is looking in the yellow pages for another lawyer for a consultation. Turns out to be the lawyer the rich guy visited to change his will. What a coincidence.
- A dealer is chasing the two lovebirds to collect his money. At first he kind of get killed. I was sure about that after seeing the cloth he's wrapped in, completely soaked with blood. He's thrown in the trunk of the car and then still appears at the end to claim once again his money. But then the  unfortunate fellow suffers a heart attack. Isn't life a bitch ?
Probably there are even more of those facts that can be added to the list. So concerning the content it feels a bit plain and it seems as if they had a lot of ideas and possibilities after a brainstorm session and put them all in this movie. Too bad, because ultimately the visual part wasn't that bad.

My rating 4 /10
Links : IMDB

Godzilla (1998)

Genre : Action/SF
Land : USA

Cast :
Matthew Broderick : Niko Tatopolous
Maria Pitillo : Audrey Timmonds
Jean Reno : Philippe Roaché

Director :
Roland Emmerich

Summary
Following the French atomic bomb tests in the South Pacific, an unknown creature is spotted passing eastward through the Panama Canal. Scientist Niko Tatopolous is called in to investigate the matter, and he quickly arrives at the conclusion that a giant, irradiated lizard has been created by the explosions. Godzilla then makes its way north, landing at Manhattan to begin wreaking havoc in the big city.

Escape Plan (2013)

Genre : Action
Country: USA

Cast :
Arnold Schwarzenegger : Ray Breslin
Sylvester Stallone : Emil Rottmayer
Jim Caviezel : Hobbes

Regisseur :
Mikael Hafström

Summary
Ray Breslin is the world's foremost authority on structural security. After analyzing every high security prison and learning a vast array of survival skills so he can design escape-proof prisons, his skills are put to the test. He's framed and incarcerated in a master prison he designed himself. He needs to escape and find the person who put him behind bars.

My opinion
Heh heh. You hit like a vegetarian!

Now this was a movie to sit back and enjoy watching two old action veterans doing it all over again. Who thought these two gentlemen would be completely extinguished and only live on their well-deserved reputation of the past, was definitely wrong. Forget "The Expendables", "The Last Stand" and "Bullet to the head", and don't assume that this movie is comparable. Stallone and Schwarzenegger once again prove that they are still able to present a movie that’s entertaining, action-packed and dressed with a touch of humor. There is even a glimpse of a story. How is that possible ! Obviously you can see that some years have passed after they have been rolling their biceps frightfully in “Conan” and “Rambo”. But they still look tough enough and are able to kick some butt.Admittedly the topic "Escaping from a prison" isn't very original. The fact that Ray Breslin (Sly) is an expert in this field and volunteers to be locked into such facilities to find the weaknesses and always manages to escape , I found a brilliant idea. The ultimate test he has to take is on an unknown place for his team and turns out to be a hard mission to deal with . Emil Rottmayer (Arnie) is also locked up in this prison and eventually helps to ensure that Ray can escape and catch the person that set him up in the first place.
Stallone plays a convincing role as an expert and I'm sure he kept training hard in all these years since he still looks stunningly muscled. Schwarzenegger also still has rock hard muscles, only his facial features betray his upcoming retirement. To my surprise he tries a rather successful attempt at acting. It's not just a mumbled English with a heavy Austrian accent. No way. Sometimes there are full dialogues, sometimes surprisingly with a comedic twist. The moment he starts whining in his own mother tongue while in the isolation cell, is actually hilarious but also admirable convincing. The scene on the stairs where they make a snapshot made me laugh so hard I almost had tears in my eyes . I repeated that fragment probably five times ! The action part is similar to the better films in which both men have acted and not the plain dumb violence as used in “Commando” or the latest “Rambo” movie which apparently was intended to get the score of shot opponents as high as possible. I thought the end was perhaps a bit exaggerated and over the top. But that didn’t really bother me at all.

The supporting roles weren't that bad either. Jim Caviezel played convincingly the ice-cold prison director Hobbes . Even 50 Cent didn’t irritate me this time and wasn't that bad.

Are you in for a decent and nicely put together action movie, then "Escape Plan" is a must see. It’s filled with guaranteed action scenes and humorous one-liners . Sly and Arnie thus prove that they really are the crème de la crème in this genre . Hopefully there will be even more enjoyable movies like this in the future !

My rating 7 /10
Links : IMDB