Nightborn (5 Stars)

This is the tenth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Jon and Saga have just got married. They move into the house in Finland where Saga grew up. There's a lot of work to be done, because the house has been empty for years.

Nine months later Saga has a child. The child isn't normal. He has a hairy back, but the doctors reassure her that it's nothing to worry about. Other things are more unusual. Within a few months the baby, that they call Kuura, is able to stand and walk. Most disturbing is that Kuura doesn't want to drink milk, he only wants blood. By the time he's six months old, Saga is feeding him raw meat. At first Saga rejects the child, but she grows to love him, and as they bond she slowly becomes feral.

"Nightborn" is the best film of the festival so far.

Veins (2 Stars)

This is the ninth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Isabelle goes to visit her parents, who live in an isolated place in the countryside. If I counted correctly, there are only three houses clustered together, although it's mentioned that they belong to a village that we never see. There's no Internet. Who needs it? Isabelle is shocked to find out that her father died three days previously. She's angry that her mother didn't tell her. Isabelle's mother is acting strangely, and she seems to be under the influence of the retired doctor who lives next door. The mystery slowly unravels.

This isn't an attractive film. There are lots of realistic medical shots, which is something I never like. The pacing is painfully slow. At the end of the film loose ends are left open. Very unsatisfying.

Mag Mag (3 Stars)

This is the eighth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

We all know Japanese ghost stories, don't we? Films like "The Ring", "The Grudge" and "Dark Water". A female ghost is seeking revenge for some sort of wrong in her life. It's all pretty much the same story, but I don't complain if the film is made well. So when I heard that "Mag Mag" is a Japanese ghost story, I expected it to be the best film of the festival.

Mag Mag is a ghost who kills every man – usually high school boys – that she falls in love with. She leaves them dead on the ground with their eyes gouged out. That's the sort of concept that thrills me. Unfortunately, this film is spoilt by the frequent comedic scenes. Comedy doesn't blend well with a Japanese ghost story. And then the film has multiple twists at the end which spoil the story. I was disappointed.

Whistle (4½ Stars)

This is the sixth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

After the previous boring film, the festival ended the day with an exciting horror film. A skull-shaped whistle is found in a high school. When it's blown, everyone who hears it is killed by a monstrous figure, one by one. The inscription on the whistle is "Summon your death", which is exactly what happens. Every person is destined to die in a different way, whether it's a car accident, lung cancer or simply old age. The whistle causes each person to die now, in the same way that he would have have died in the future. Maybe some elements in the film are infeasible, but it's still a very good film.

Silence (2 Stars)

This is the fifth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

Anyone who reads my blog on a regular basis knows that I like films about vampires, especially female vampires. So why have I rated this film so low? It's not just because the vampires are so ugly. The problem is that so little happens in the film in the way of action. There's occasional biting, but most of the film is made up of talking, talking, talking. Maybe the conversations cover some philosophical ground, but I was so bored that I could barely pay attention. The best thing about the film is that it only lasts 56 minutes.

Appofeniacs (2 Stars)

This is the fourth film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

"Appofeniacs" is a film with a serious message. It shows the danger of deepfakes created with AI, in particular deepfake videos. Throughout the film people kill one another as a result of seeing deepfakes. The film could have been good if the people shown weren't so stupid. They're either drunk or high or simply lacking in intelligence. Maybe someone can make a better film on the subject.

Feels Like Home (3 Stars)

This is the third film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

A woman is kidnapped while standing in the street. Two men grab her and bundle her into a car. She wakes up tied and gagged in a bare room, with only a chair and a bed. A man tells her she's his sister, and her real name is Szilvi, not Rita. He only allows her to walk around the house when she accepts that she's his sister. She even begins to suspect it might be true, until she's shown photos of Szilvi which obviously aren't her.

It's a fascinating film, maybe too slow in parts, but with a serious message. Despite giving it a low rating, I'd like to see it again.

Obsession (4 Stars)

This is the first film in the Stuttgart Nights Festival.

This year the Nights Festival is being held once more in the Metropol cinema, which I see as a mixed blessing. On the one hand it has a larger screen than the Innenstadt cinemas. On the other hand it's poorly organised. The season ticket holders have to sit in the sixth and eighth rows; why not the seventh? The snacks in cinemas are always expensive, but Metropol's prices are extortionate for the small selection that they offer. Before the film started there was an announcement in the foyer that food and drink bought elsewhere was not allowed in the cinema, because it would make other cinema patrons jealous if they saw us eating our own food. That doesn't make sense. When festivals were held in the Innenstadt cinemas it was expressly stated that food could be brought in because of the long days. When I went in this evening my bag was checked, and I was sent to put my bag in the cloakroom. The next few days I'll have to put my snacks in my coat pockets, where they won't be found.

"Obsession" is an enjoyable, though not perfect opening film. It's a supernatural horror film. It's about a young man called Bear who's had a crush on a woman called Nikki since high school. Now she works in the same store as him, but he still hasn't found the courage to ask her out. She's planning to move to another town, so he's desperate. He tries another method; he buys an item called a One Wish Willow, which allows him to make a single wish for anything he wants. Only $6.99. That's a bargain! He wishes that Nikki will love him until the day he dies. Yes, that works. The same day after work she invites him home. She can't get enough of him. But as the days go by, we see that her love has become an obsession. She kills any other girl who comes close to him.

The film starts slowly, but after the first half hour I was amazed. The jump scares are used effectively, which is something I can rarely say. I would have given the film five stars, if the final 15 minutes hadn't disappointed me.

It's still a reasonable opening film. Let's hope the next films are better.

The Eight Hundred (3 Stars)

"The Eight Hundred" is a spectacle that's easy to admire and harder to fully love. Directed by Guan Hu, it dramatises the defence of the Sihang Warehouse during the early stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War; 452 Chinese soldiers hold out against 20,000 Japanese forces for four days while watched by civilians across the river. It’s a premise loaded with tension and moral weight, and at its best, the film delivers both in bursts of striking intensity.

Visually, it’s often astonishing. Shot for IMAX, the scale is overwhelming; explosions tear through the warehouse, bodies pile up in grimly choreographed waves, and the Suzhou Creek becomes a symbolic divide between courage and complacency. There’s a raw physicality to the combat that recalls "Saving Private Ryan", though without quite matching its emotional precision. The sound design, too, is thunderous and immersive; you don’t just watch the battle, you feel battered by it.

Where the film struggles is in its storytelling. For a narrative centred on sacrifice, the characters remain frustratingly indistinct. A handful of soldiers are given backstories or personality traits, but most blur into a collective mass of heroism. Compare that to the careful individualisation in "Dunkirk", where even minimal dialogue is enough to carve out distinct identities; here, the emotional stakes feel diluted because you're rarely anchored to a single perspective for long.

The film's cross-river structure – soldiers fighting on one side, civilians observing on the other – is a compelling idea that never quite coheres. The civilian scenes often drift into melodrama or symbolism that feels heavy-handed, undercutting the immediacy of the battle. A more disciplined intercutting approach, or a tighter focus on one or two civilian characters, might have created a stronger emotional bridge between the two worlds.

There's also a tonal inconsistency that holds it back. At times, "The Eight Hundred" leans into gritty realism; at others, it embraces near-mythic patriotism, complete with slow-motion hero shots and swelling music. Neither approach is inherently flawed, but the film doesn't reconcile them. A clearer commitment to one tone, or a more careful blending of the two, would have made the narrative feel less conflicted.

If it could be improved, the most obvious change would be a sharper focus on character. Following a smaller core group of soldiers, giving them clearer arcs, and allowing quieter moments between the chaos would heighten the impact of their eventual sacrifices. The battle scenes are already powerful; what's missing is the emotional thread that makes those scenes linger.

Even so, it remains an impressive achievement. Few modern war films attempt this scale, and fewer still sustain it for over two hours. It's a film that commands respect, even as it leaves you wishing it had trusted its human story as much as its spectacle.

Success Rate:  + 3.8

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The Life of Chuck (5 Stars)

Every now and then a film is made that's truly original. Not often, but it happens. The best film of 2025 was doubtlessly "The Life of Chuck". Told backwards, the film shows the key incidents in the life of Charles Krantz, nicknamed Chuck. He lived, he danced, he died. That's something that could be written on my gravestone. It wasn't written on Chuck's gravestone, because when he died the world ended.

Other reviewers tackle the question of whether the world really ends in the film. Is the third part of the film just the imagination of a man lying in a hospital bed dying of a brain tumour? Personally, I don't think the question should be asked. Walt Whitman wrote, "I am large. I contain multitudes". He wrote it about himself, but it applies to everyone, and in the context of the film it applies to Chuck. When Chuck dies at the young age of 39, the universe dies with him.

The film wasn't very successful at the box office, which is sad. It should have been seen by more people. I don't think it was a problem that people didn't understand the film, they just didn't go to the cinema to see it. I've spoken to friends who I'm sure would have liked it, but they didn't go. They didn't know what the film was about. One friend thought it was a film about music. Another assumed it was a horror film, because it's based on a Stephen King story. It's not a horror film. It's a science fiction film and a deeply philosophical film.

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Ambulance (4 Stars)

Michael Bay's "Ambulance" is a loud, breathless exercise in controlled chaos that succeeds on its own terms. It takes a simple premise, a desperate bank robbery gone wrong, and stretches it into a near two-hour chase sequence that rarely lets up.

The standout feature is, unsurprisingly, the driving. The film's lengthy car chases are relentless, jittery and often astonishingly staged, with Bay turning Los Angeles highways into a shifting maze of ambulances, police cruisers and military response units. The camera rarely sits still; drones, dash cams and sweeping aerial shots create a constant sense of motion that borders on overwhelming but feels deliberately so.

Plot and character work are minimal, which is fine here. "Ambulance" is less interested in motivation than momentum, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II driving much of the tension through escalating panic and strained brotherhood dynamics. It's scrappy rather than deep, but that suits the film's stripped-back survival structure.

It won’t convert anyone who finds Michael Bay's style exhausting, but for viewers willing to go along with the noise and velocity, it delivers exactly what it promises: an extended, high-octane chase film that barely pauses to breathe.

Success Rate:  - 0.7

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Kill Bill (5 Stars)

Oops I did it again. I went to see "Kill Bill" for a second time in two days. When I bought my tickets it seemed necessary, because it was claimed it would never be released on disc. Quentin Tarantino has  changed his mind, fortunately. But it was still good to see the film again.

One recent change to the complete film that wasn't in the 2011 version shown at the Cannes Film Festival is a 12-minute after-credits scene, called "Kill Bill: The Lost Chapter". It's a fully animated sequence featuring Gogo's sister Yuki. It doesn't really belong to the film, especially not at the end. When I own the film on disc I'll probably watch it separately, not tagged on to the end.

One thing that amused me tonight was the man sitting in the seat next to me. I always respect people who go to the cinema alone, like me, not with their partners or friends. It shows that they take films seriously. This man was different. During the fight scene in the House of Blue Leaves he covered his eyes every time a head or an arm was chopped off. Someone should have warned him that it would be so violent.

Kill Bill (5 Stars)

Finally! I've waited 22 years to see this film. "Kill Bill" was originally released as two films in 2003 and 2004. Quentin Tarantino re-edited the two films into a single film in 2011, but it was only released in Japan. In December 2025 it was finally shown in America at a few select cinemas and minor re-editing. Conflicting statements were made, possibly deliberate misinformation to raise expectations among film fans. First Tarantino said the film would only be shown in cinemas and not be made available for home viewing on disc or streaming. That was depressing. Then it was said that it would be released on Blu-Ray, but not streaming. Ideal! For me, at least. Then I was surprised to see that it was dropped onto Amazon Prime today, without prior announcement.

My local cinema was only showing the film twice, today and tomorrow. I bought tickets for both days. Then, last Monday, they announced that it would be lengthened to four days, probably because both days were sold out.

The main changed are

1. Oren Ishii's origin story is lengthened.

2. The fight scene in the House of Blue Leaves is in colour throughout, not partially black and white.

One small change that I noticed immediately was that the Klingon proverb was missing from the opening scene. I've read theories why Tarantino edited it out, but I miss it.

The official name of the film is "Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair". Giving it that name makes it sound like two films that have been stitched together. I prefer to call it "Kill Bill", which emphasises that it's a single film that was chopped in two.

From Dusk Till Dawn (5 Stars)

"From Dusk Till Dawn" is a film that practically splits itself in half; a crime thriller mutates into a vampire siege, and the clash between its two central families sits right at the heart of that transformation.

On one side we have the Gecko brothers, Seth and Richie; criminals defined by chaos, instinct and a complete absence of moral restraint. George Clooney plays Seth as cool and calculating, a man who understands violence as a tool, while Quentin Tarantino makes Richie something far more disturbing; impulsive, erratic, and barely tethered to reality. Their family bond is real, but it's warped; loyalty exists, yet it's rooted in survival rather than care.

In stark contrast stands the Fuller family; a broken but fundamentally decent unit led by Jacob, a former preacher struggling with his faith after personal tragedy. Harvey Keitel gives Jacob a weary gravity, a man trying to hold his children together even as his beliefs crumble. Kate and Scott represent a more recognisable familial dynamic; tension, grief and affection all coexisting in an uneasy balance. Where the Geckos are united by crime, the Fullers are held together by something more fragile; the remnants of love and moral responsibility.

The early part of the film thrives on this contrast. The Geckos dominate through fear, forcing the Fullers into submission, yet there's a quiet sense that the balance could shift at any moment. The Fullers' decency becomes a kind of resistance; they endure rather than retaliate, and that endurance gives them a moral strength that the Geckos lack.

When the film pivots into horror at the Titty Twister, the dynamic evolves rather than disappears. Faced with a supernatural threat, the distinction between the families begins to blur. Survival becomes the common ground; Seth's ruthlessness suddenly has value, while Jacob's moral compass regains purpose. The Geckos' amorality and the Fullers' ethics, once opposed, now function as complementary traits in a fight neither family could survive alone.

What makes "From Dusk Till Dawn" compelling isn't just its genre switch; it's how that shift forces both families to confront what defines them. The Geckos, stripped of control, reveal flickers of reluctant cooperation, while the Fullers, pushed to extremes, discover a capacity for violence they would never have chosen.

By the end, the film suggests that family is less about moral purity and more about what people are willing to do for one another under pressure. The Geckos start as predators and the Fullers as victims, but the night reduces everyone to the same basic instinct; survive, protect, endure. It's in that levelling that the film finds its strange, blood-soaked unity.

Success Rate:  + 1.1

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Two Orphan Vampires (5 Stars)

"Two Orphan Vampires" is Jean Rollin's 18th film, made in 1997. It's one of his last films, but in many ways it's his most typical film. It barely pretends to belong to the horror genre, even as it trades in vampires, blood and nocturnal wandering. The action, if it can even be called action, is downplayed. The film is like an abstract painting, creating emotions in everyone who watches it.

The film follows two blind girls who live in an orphanage. What the nuns don't know is that they're only blind in the daytime. At night they can see everything in a blue tint. They sneak out of the orphanage to drink blood, sometimes human blood, sometimes animals. They're not vampires in the conventional sense. They frequently live and die. How often they remain dead varies, but they always claw their way back to the surface. Dying is a time of rest for them. They've lived for a long time. In the 15th Century they were worshipped as Goddesses by the Aztecs. In a single ceremony 40,000 men were laid out for them to feed, all of them volunteers. Towards the end of the film we find out that they're much older, and there are hints that they've existed since the beginning of time, before Adam and Eve.

Rollin’s pacing is always languid, but here it feels almost defiant. Scenes linger far beyond what mainstream storytelling would allow; conversations drift, actions feel ritualistic, and long stretches pass where nothing much happens in a traditional sense. Yet this isn’t indulgence for its own sake. The slow rhythm creates a kind of trance state, pulling the viewer into the same suspended existence as the protagonists; caught between day and night, blindness and vision, innocence and predation.

The two leads carry the film less through dialogue than presence. Their performances are deliberately stylised, almost affectless at times, which only adds to their otherworldly quality. They don’t behave like typical horror figures, nor like realistic teenagers; they exist somewhere in between, embodying Rollin’s recurring fascination with fragile, doomed femininity. There’s an undercurrent of sadness running through everything they do, as though their vampirism is less a curse than an extension of an already isolated existence.

Visually, the film is steeped in a muted, dreamlike atmosphere. Rollin contrasts the drabness of daytime interiors with the freedom of the night, where cemeteries, empty streets and shadowy corners become spaces of strange beauty. His usual gothic imagery is present but subdued, less about spectacle and more about texture and feeling. The result is a Paris that feels detached from reality; familiar, yet ghostly and removed.

Anyone approaching "Two Orphan Vampires" expecting tension, scares or even a clear narrative arc will likely come away frustrated. This is a film that resists those pleasures almost entirely. But for those willing to meet it on its own terms, it offers something rarer; a melancholy, dreamlike meditation on isolation, identity and the strange freedoms of the night. It’s less a story you follow than a mood you inhabit, and it lingers precisely because it never fully resolves into something concrete.

Isn't it romantic? (5 Stars)

When I first reviewed "Isn't it romantic?" in 2019 I said that it was a Netflix original film and would probably not be released on disc. Fortunately, I was wrong. It took a few years, but now it's available on Blu-Ray in the USA. Click on the image above if you don't believe me. It's region free, as all Blu-Rays should be, so you can play it anywhere.

It's a bright, self-aware romantic comedy that plays like both a parody and a celebration of the genre it mocks. Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson and starring Rebel Wilson, the film follows a cynical New Yorker who wakes up trapped inside a glossy romcom fantasy world after a head injury.

What makes it work is its willingness to lean into the clichés it's satirising; sweeping musical numbers, impossibly attractive love interests and picture-perfect cityscapes are all pushed to absurd extremes. Wilson carries the film with sharp comic timing, while Liam Hemsworth and Adam DeVine knowingly play into archetypes of the genre.

It doesn't completely escape the conventions it pokes fun at, and its message about self-love is delivered a little too neatly, but that's arguably part of the joke. Light, fast-paced and intermittently clever, it's an enjoyable riff on romantic comedy tropes rather than a full reinvention of them.

Success Rate:  - 0.4

Sagrada Reset Part 2 (4 Stars)

This is a direct sequel to "Sagrada Reset Part 1". It was released only two months later, which gives the impression that the two parts were originally made as a single film, but the four hour running time was deemed too long. In the film's chronology, the second film starts six days after the end of the first film.

In the first film Soma was brought back to life after her suicide was undone by her time travelling friends. That was two years previously. Ever since then she's been hiding at Haruki's house. She doesn't want anyone except for her closest friends to know she's alive, because it's important to her that events unfold the same way as they did when she was dead. Now it's time to reveal herself as the Second Priestess.

I didn't mention in my review of the last film that there's an organisation called the Bureau which watches over the people in the town with abilities. Supposedly the Bureau has been created to prevent misuse of the powers, but the Bureau's leader Urachi actually wants to remove everyone's powers and make the town normal again. I apologise, I couldn't figure out why he wants to do this. The films are too complex for me to understand everything after a single viewing. I can't help feeling that things have been cut from the comics that would have explained everything.

Soma's intention, and the reason she committed suicide, was to prevent the special powers in the town from being removed.

There was a character in the first film, Kagaya, that I considered so insignificant that I didn't mention him. He's Urachi's personal assistant, responsible for opening and shutting doors and carrying Urachi's diary. That doesn't sound like much, does it? Whatever Kagaya closes stays locked, and nothing can open it. In the second film it's explained that this is a time lock; any door he shuts is frozen in time. The second film shows that he can even freeze people in time.

51 years ago there were only three people in the town with powers; a married couple and their piano teacher. The woman could foresee the future, and the man could make the town a place where people would have powers, but only for a brief time. The man had an unspecified illness, and he would die within a year. His wife knew that if the townspeople had powers there would be a healer able to cure him. Shortly after the powers appeared in the town, they had a son: Urachi. When he was eight years old he asked his friend Kagaya to freeze them in time so that the powers in the town wouldn't disappear. I still don't understand why. Ever since then, for more than 40 years, they've been kept as prisoners. But now Urachi wants to free them.

My head hurts. The story is fascinating, but I just don't get it. As far as I can tell, the comics aren't available in English, but the animated mini-series based on the comics keeps close to the stories. Maybe I can buy them. I'll consider it.

Sagrada Reset Part 1 (4 Stars)

Sometimes I have problems rating a film. There's a lot that's positive in "Sagrada Reset Part 1", but it's difficult to follow what's happening. That's not because the plot is complex, it's because the characters are complex. They all have different powers, and whenever a character returns to the story after half an hour's absence I scratch my head and ask myself what his powers are.

The story takes place in a Japanese town called Sakurada where almost everyone has special abilities, i.e. superpowers. They only retain their powers as long as they remain in the town. As soon as they leave, they lose their powers, and they don't get their powers back even if they return.

Suspend disbelief.

Most of the characters in the film are schoolchildren aged 14 to 16.

Haruki is a girl who has the ability to reset time up to three days. Everyone goes back in time, and she doesn't even know that she's done it.

Kei is a boy who has perfect memory. He never forgets anything he's seen or done, not even he smallest details. This means that when Haruki resets time, he's the only one who remembers what happened before the reset, so he's the ideal partner for Haruki.

Tomoki is a boy who can send a voice message to anyone at a scheduled time, whether it's the past, present or future.

Yoka is a girl who can change the shape of anything. She can also make others do her will.

Eri is a girl who can make anyone forget something when she makes eye contact. Usually she makes the other children forget how to use their powers. Kei is the only one who can resist her.

Sasano is an old man who can create portals with a Polaroid camera. Either he uses his pictures himself, or he gives them to others. Anyone who rips a picture goes to the time and place where the picture was taken, but he can only remain for ten minutes.

An unnamed priestess can see the future.

Sakagami is a boy who can copy the special power from one person to another, but only as long as he's touching both of them.

Now you can see why I have trouble remembering everything. And these are only the major characters. There are other children with other abilities. 

There are confusing plots and subplots. I'll just mention the most important one. Kei's girlfriend Soma died two years previously. It was too long ago for a Reset, and Sasano wasn't there to take a photo. So how do they get her back? It's a confusing mixture of the abilities, used in a specific order. I can't even remember what they did, I'd have to watch the film again to figure it out. But the biggest shock is that (unknown to anyone) Soma committed suicide, because she wanted to be rescued after her death. That's a risky plan.

After watching the film I read up on it. Sagrada Reset began as a comic book series. Ah ha! That explains everything. In comics many characters can be included, and it's easy for readers to follow them, especially if they're introduced one at a time. The film is obviously made for people who've read the comics.

I might watch the film again. I'll understand it better next time.

Wakanda Forever (3 Stars)

This is the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's a big disappointment. It's so mediocre. Maybe my three star rating is too generous. In its favour, the CGI works well, and the images are pleasant, except when Prince Namor is on the screen. (Do they even call him "Prince" in the film?) 

The film wasn't just unnecessary, it's a mistake. "Black Panther" was a brilliant film, and there should never have been a sequel after the death of the great Chadwick Boseman. "Wakanda Forever" smears dirt over his memory. I just put the film back in my shelf. I doubt I'll ever take it out again.

Success Rate:  + 2.3

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The Escapees (4 Stars)

In one of his most understated films, Jean Rollin trades gothic horror for something more intimate; a drifting, melancholic tale of escape and fragile connection.

The story follows Michelle and Marie, two women who flee a psychiatric institution together and form an immediate, almost instinctive bond. Their journey unfolds less as a conventional narrative and more as a series of encounters, shaped by mood, landscape and the constant tension between freedom and vulnerability.

Central to that journey is Sophie, the pickpocket who helps facilitate their escape and becomes an essential third presence. Sophie brings a harder edge to the film; she understands survival in a way the other two do not, and her pragmatism both sustains and subtly undermines the fragile, almost utopian world they begin to build together.

Equally important is Louise, a commanding figure within the dockside underworld. As a bar owner, she represents a very different kind of power; rooted not in escape, but in control. Where Michelle and Marie drift, Louise is anchored; she navigates the same shadowy spaces with authority and confidence. Her presence broadens the film’s perspective, suggesting that life on the margins is not only about vulnerability, but can also offer its own forms of dominance and self-determination.

Visually, the film is pure Rollin; empty beaches, decaying buildings and quiet, in-between spaces that feel detached from time. The pacing is languid and at times aimless, but that is part of its charm. This is a film that prioritises atmosphere over plot, emotion over structure.

"The Escapees" may frustrate viewers looking for a tight storyline, but as a mood piece it is quietly absorbing; a wistful, dreamlike exploration of freedom, survival and the fleeting bonds formed in the spaces between.

We see Louise on stage singing several times. Here she's accompanied by an unnamed man played by Jean Rollin. Louise is played by the actress Louise Dhour. She appeared in three of Rollin's films, and in each film her character was called Louise, even though they were three different people. There were rumours that she had an affair with Jean Rollin. They denied it, but it didn't stop people whispering.

Louise Dhour died on 27th December 2010, only 12 days after Rollin himself. Was it coincidence, or brought on by grief after the death of her lover? I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

General: My Top 100 Films

Today I updated my top 100 films list for the first time in 18 months. By that, I mean that I updated it on my web site. I have a list on my computer that I update frequently. In the list I'm showing below, I've put the position in brackets that films had in my original list in 2021. It's mostly slight adjustments, but it's still interesting, to me at least. Please leave comments telling me what you think is too high, too low or missing. I'll take all constructive criticisms seriously, but at the end of the day, tastes differ. I'd be overjoyed to see comments with your own top 10, top 20 or any number.

1. (1) Lost Highway (1997)
2. (2) Donnie Darko (2001)
3. (3) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
4. (4) Tag (2015) (Japanese)
5. (5) The Matrix (1999)
6. (6) Terminator 2 (1991)
7. (7) Terminator (1984)
8. (8) Spider-Man (2002)
9. (10) Supervixens (1975)
10. (9) The Wall (2012) (German)
11. (–) The Art of Self-Defense (2019)
12. (12) Jurassic Park (1993)
13. (14) Faster Pussycat Kill Kill (1965)
14. (15) Kill Bill (2003-2004)
15. (20) The Life of Pi (2012)
16. (–) Bicentennial Man (1999)
17. (11) Jurassic Park: The Lost World (1997)
18. (21) The World's Fastest Indian (2005)
19. (17) I know what you did last summer (1997)
20. (16) The Last Circus (2010) (Spanish)
21. (19) Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) (Chinese)
22. (24) Inglourious Basterds (2009)
23. (18) I still know what you did last summer (1998)
24. (13) Batman (1966)
25. (23) Spider-Man 2 (2004)
26. (22) House of Flying Daggers (2004) (Chinese)
27. (27) Witching and Bitching (2013) (Spanish)
28. (33) Basic Instinct (1992)
29. (32) 800 Bullets (2002) (Spanish)
30. (28) King Kong (2005)
31. (29) The Truman Show (1998)
32. (25) Downfall (2004) (German)
33. (41) Jackie Brown (1997)
34. (30) Cold Fish (2010) (Japanese)
35. (49) Night Train (2009)
36. (26) Pleasantville (1998)
37. (37) Dark City (1998)
38. (36) Triangle (2009)
39. (31) Mars Attacks (1996)
40. (59) Scream (1996)
41. (35) Django Unchained (2012)
42. (43) The Red Violin (1998)
43. (39) Deadpool (2016)
44. (47) Tommy (1975)
45. (51) Evita (1996)
46. (34) Ed Wood (1994)
47. (40) The Door (2009) (German)
48. (42) Love Exposure (2008) (Japanese)
49. (44) The Ninth Gate (1999)
50. (38) Deadpool 2 (2018)
51. (–) Run Lola Run (1998) (German)
52. (46) Thelma and Louise (1991)
53. (54) Falling Down (1993)
54. (74) Young Frankenstein (1974)
55. (60) Scream 2 (1997)
56. (62) Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
57. (61) Reservoir Dogs (1992)
58. (53) Death Proof (2007)
59. (56) The Raid 2 (2014) (Indonesian)
60. (69) Tragedy Girls (2017)
61. (52) Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
62. (79) The Walk (2015)
63. (50) Pulp Fiction (1994)
64. (45) Phone Booth (2003)
65. (55) Adaptation (2002)
66. (71) Enter the Dragon (1973) (Chinese)
67. (65) Ip Man (2008) (Chinese)
68. (57) Summer in Orange (2011) (German)
69. (73) The Legend of 1900 (1998)
70. (85) We are the night (2010) (German)
71. (88) The Shining (1980)
72. (83) Monster (2003)
73. (66) Ip Man 2 (2010) (Chinese)
74. (58) Flowers of War (2011)
75. (81) The Green Mile (1999)
76. (97) Iron Rose (1973) (French)
77. (48) Legend of the Fist (2010) (Chinese)
78. (63) The Gift (2000)
79. (–) Mulholland Drive (2001)
80. (–) IT (2017-2019)
81. (77) John Rabe (2009) (German)
82. (68) Lock, stock and two smoking barrels (1998)
83. (67) Snatch (2000)
84. (64) From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
85. (–) Barbie (2023)
86. (93) Spider-Man 3 (2007)
87. (72) Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982)
88. (70) Gladiator (2000)
89. (78) The Paperboy (1994)
90. (75) The Virgin Psychics (2015) (Japanese)
91. (90) The Mummy (1999)
92. (–) Barb Wire (1996)
93. (98) Kick-Ass (2010)
94. (86) Dark Water (2002) (Japanese)
95. (–) I, Tonya (2017)
96. (–) Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) (Chinese)
97. (–) Pearl (2023)
98. (–) John Wick 2 (2017)
99. (–) John Wick 3 (2019)
100. (–) River (2023) (Japanese)
     

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There are 13 new films in my list. In case you're interested, these are the 13 films that were knocked out.

(76) The Man who would be King (1975)
(80) Perfume (2006)
(82) Little Nicky (2000)
(84) Gloomy Sunday (1999) (German)
(87) What to do in case of fire (2001) (German)
(89) Azumi (2003-2005) (Japanese)
(91) Wie Feuer und Flamme (2001) (German)
(92) Attack of the 50 Foot Centerfold (1995)
(94) Titanic (1997)
(95) Mad City (1997)
(96) Leon (1994)
(99) Rush Hour (1998)
(100) Bella Martha (2001) (German)

Sigh... all of them still deserve to be in my list, but I don't want to kick anything out.

Bicentennial Man (5 Stars)

Netflix Thursday #47

"Bicentennial Man" is a film that was made ahead of its time. When it was released in 1999 it seemed faintly embarrassing, yet it has aged into something quietly fascinating, commonly being called a cult film. Directed by Chris Columbus and starring Robin Williams, it was initially dismissed as overlong, sentimental and tonally confused; a family film that strained toward philosophical seriousness without quite earning it. But in the age of contemporary AI, its reputation has shifted. What once felt naive now feels oddly prescient.

The film, loosely based on Isaac Asimov's novella "The Bicentennial Man", charts the 200-year life of Andrew, an android who evolves from a household appliance to something approaching a human being. At the time, this arc was framed largely as a Pinocchio-style fable; a machine who wants to become "real". Today, that premise lands differently. The question is no longer abstract. With the rise of machine learning systems and conversational AI, Andrew's journey speaks directly to contemporary anxieties about consciousness, identity and rights.

One reason the film has become a cult object is precisely because of how unfashionable it once was. In 1999, audiences were primed for sleeker, more ironic science fiction; the same year saw "The Matrix" redefine the genre with cyberpunk cool and philosophical edge. By contrast, "Bicentennial Man" is earnest to a fault. It takes its time, embraces melodrama and leans heavily on Williams' gentle, increasingly restrained performance. That earnestness, once a liability, now reads as sincerity. The film is not trying to be clever; it is trying to be humane.

And that is the key to its afterlife. Modern AI discourse is often dominated by fear; job displacement, surveillance, loss of control. "Bicentennial Man" approaches the subject from the opposite direction. It asks not what machines will do to us, but what it would mean for a machine to join us. Andrew's desire is not to surpass humanity but to belong to it; to love, to create, to die. The film's central provocation is quietly radical: humanity is defined not by biology, but by experience, vulnerability and mortality.

There is also something newly poignant in the film's incrementalism. Andrew does not leap into consciousness; he inches toward it over decades, through small acts of creativity and self-modification. In an era when AI progress is rapid and opaque, this slow, legible evolution feels almost comforting. It suggests a continuity between tool and personhood that modern systems, with their black-box complexity, often lack.

The film's flaws have not disappeared, but these very flaws are now considered its strengths. The romance subplot used to divide critics; how could a woman possibly have a romance with a robot? But today there are common news stories of people forming relationships with online chatbots, which contributes to its cult appeal. The film is marked as a sincere attempt to grapple with big ideas within a mainstream framework; something increasingly rare.

Ultimately, "Bicentennial Man" endures because it asks a question that has only become more urgent: if a machine can think, create and feel, what, exactly, is left to distinguish it from us? In 1999, that question felt speculative. In 2026, it feels uncomfortably close.

What was once a misfire now plays like a time capsule from a more optimistic technological imagination; one that believed the endpoint of artificial intelligence might not be domination or disaster, but a quiet, hard-won recognition of shared humanity.

The film has returned to the public eye through being revived by Netflix. For that we can be thankful. The DVD releases from the turn of the century are now difficult to find. On Netflix the film is in HD quality, even though it's never been released on Blu-ray. Discerning fans are clamouring for a Blu-ray or even 4K release.

Success Rate:  - 1.0

John Wick 3 (5 Stars)

"John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum" pushes the mythology of the series to its most overtly operatic extreme; where "John Wick" hinted at a hidden order and "John Wick: Chapter 2" mapped its structure, the third film tests its limits, asking what happens when a man openly defies it.

The key shift in "Parabellum" is that the mythology is no longer background texture; it becomes the narrative engine itself. The concept of excommunicado, introduced at the end of the previous film, transforms the assassin world into something closer to a totalitarian system. Once John Wick is cast out, every rule, every ritual, every institution we have seen before turns against him. The coins, the markers, the sanctuaries; all are rendered useless. What was once a structured society becomes a mechanism of pursuit.

This escalation brings the governing body, the High Table, into sharper focus. In earlier films it functioned as an abstract authority; here it begins to take on form through emissaries like the Adjudicator. The shift is significant. The mythology moves from suggestion to embodiment, from whispered power to visible enforcement. Yet the High Table remains deliberately opaque; its members are never shown, preserving a sense of distance that keeps it from becoming mundane. It still feels less like a boardroom and more like a pantheon.

One of the film’s most striking developments is its expansion into the past. Wick’s journey to the desert and his encounter with the Elder reframes the mythology in quasi-religious terms. Authority is no longer merely institutional; it is spiritual, almost metaphysical. The idea that allegiance can be sworn through acts of physical sacrifice suggests a belief system rather than a legal framework. This pushes the series further away from crime fiction and closer to myth; the assassin world now resembles a faith with its own rites and absolutions.

At the same time, "Parabellum" complicates the idea of neutrality that was so central to the earlier films. The Continental, once an inviolable sanctuary, becomes a battleground when its manager refuses to bow fully to the High Table’s demands. This is a crucial development. The rules are no longer stable; they can be bent, reinterpreted or outright broken depending on who holds power. The mythology, which once felt rigid and ancient, begins to show cracks.

However, this expansion comes with a certain loss of elegance. In "John Wick: Chapter 2", the pleasure lay in discovering the system; here, the film risks over-articulation. The more the mythology is explained, the less it retains the enigmatic quality that made it compelling. Characters speak more openly about rules, hierarchies and consequences, and the sense of a hidden world gives way to something more explicit, almost bureaucratic in its complexity.

Yet the film compensates by using this very complexity to redefine John Wick himself. If the first film made him a legend and the second bound him to a system, the third positions him as a potential disruptor of that system. His survival is no longer just a matter of skill; it becomes an act of resistance. The mythology, once something that elevated him, now seeks to erase him; and in opposing it, he begins to take on a different kind of mythic status.

The final act underscores this transformation. Alliances shift, loyalties fracture and the supposedly immutable order reveals itself to be contingent. The world of assassins is no longer simply a closed circuit of rules; it is a contested space, where power can be challenged, if not easily overturned.

In the end, "John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum" represents both the peak and the strain of the series’ myth-making. It expands the universe to its widest scope; geographically, philosophically and symbolically. But in doing so, it edges closer to demystification. The balance between suggestion and explanation begins to tilt.

Still, the achievement is undeniable. The trilogy evolves from a minimalist revenge tale into a fully realised mythos, one that blends ritual, violence and hierarchy into a coherent, if increasingly elaborate, world. "Parabellum" may reveal too much, but it also proves that the world of John Wick can sustain that revelation; and perhaps even survive its consequences.

The Continental hotel is an imposing building in the film. In real life the building used for external shots is the Beaver Building, on the corner of Beaver Street and Pearl Street, close to Wall Street. In actual fact there's a restaurant on the ground floor, and the upper floors are used for office space. It's 22 floors high, one of the smallest buildings in the vicinity. The buildings on either side are 37 and 42 floors high, respectively, while the buildings on Wall Street are 60 floors high or more.

Success Rate:  + 2.4

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The Night of the Hunted (5 Stars)

While watching Jean Rollin's films in 4K I'm giving them better ratings. Is it because I appreciate them more in better quality? Or am I simply enjoying them more after multiple viewings. Whatever the reason, I'm giving "Night of the Hunted" a five star rating for the first time. I don't understand why I ever gave it less.

A young man called Robert is driving home at night. He sees a woman yelling for help. He picks her up and offers to drive her home, but she doesn't know her address or even her name. As he soon discovers, it's not just amnesia. Her memories are breaking down. Within 30 minutes she forgets everything that's happened. She doesn't even remember getting into Robert's car. He takes her home with him and they become lovers, but the next morning their romance is forgotten.

The woman has been tracked by two mysterious doctors. They take her to a hospital where dozens of patients are suffering from the same symptoms. At least, they claim it's a hospital. It looks more like a bare apartment building. Anyone who tries to help a patient leave is shot. It's left open until the final scenes whether the doctors are trying to heal the patients or are responsible for their illness.

The narrative unfolds in a deliberately ambiguous way, focusing less on clear explanations and more on atmosphere, emotional disorientation and the terrifying idea of losing one's identity piece by piece. This ambiguity is what makes the film a beautiful masterpiece.

John Wick 2 (5 Stars)

"John Wick: Chapter 2" takes the sleek, stripped-down revenge framework of "John Wick" and expands it into something far more elaborate; not just a sequel, but a deepening of a strange, ritualised underworld that now feels almost mythic in scope.

In the first film, the mythology was tantalising but restrained. We glimpsed a hidden society of assassins governed by codes, currencies and neutral zones; The Continental stood out as a kind of sanctuary, its rules lending the violence a peculiar sense of order. John Wick himself was less a man than a whispered legend; "Baba Yaga" invoked in hushed tones, his past suggested rather than explained.

"Chapter 2" decisively pulls back the curtain. The sequel introduces the idea that this world is not merely a loose network, but a fully institutionalised hierarchy with global reach. The High Table – an unseen governing body – shifts the tone from crime thriller to something closer to dark fantasy; power is abstract, distant and absolute. This is no longer just about gangsters; it is about systems that feel ancient and unbreakable.

The expansion is most effective in its details. The gold coins, already present in the first film, are given greater texture as a kind of all-purpose currency that transcends national borders. Blood oaths, embodied in the "marker", introduce a feudal element; obligation is literal, sealed in blood and enforced with ritual gravity. These touches suggest a society bound less by law than by tradition, as though the assassins operate under a code older than modern civilisation.

Crucially, the film also widens the geographical scope. Rome becomes a stage for this underworld’s operations, with its own Continental branch and its own local customs. This decentralised yet unified structure reinforces the sense that John Wick’s world exists parallel to our own; invisible, but everywhere. The mythology grows not by exposition dumps, but by showing how the same rules manifest in different places.

Yet there is a trade-off. As the mythology expands, John Wick himself becomes slightly less mysterious. In the first film, his legend was defined by absence; here, the film risks over-defining him by embedding him more concretely within the system. His past is no longer just rumour; it becomes contractual, bureaucratic. The danger is that myth turns into lore, and lore into something almost procedural.

That said, the sequel cleverly uses this very expansion to trap its protagonist. By formalising the rules of the assassin world, Chapter 2 turns them into a mechanism of inevitability. Wick is no longer simply avenging a personal loss; he is ensnared in obligations he cannot escape. The climax, set within the mirrored halls of a modern art museum, feels like a visual metaphor for this shift; infinite reflections of a man who can no longer step outside the system that defines him.

In the end, "John Wick: Chapter 2" succeeds not just by raising the stakes, but by redefining them. The violence is still balletic and precise, but it now unfolds within a world that feels governed by mythic rules rather than mere narrative convenience. Where the first film hinted at a hidden order, the sequel reveals it; vast, intricate and ultimately inescapable.

It's a bold move. By expanding its mythology so aggressively, the film risks diluting the elegance of the original’s simplicity. Yet it also lays the foundation for a saga that can sustain itself beyond a single act of revenge. John Wick is no longer just a story; it is a world, and in "Chapter 2", that world finally takes shape.

Success Rate:  + 2.3

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Fascination (5 Stars)

This is Jean Rollin's tenth film, made in 1979. It's yet another vampire masterpiece. The film takes place close to Paris in 1905. A jewel thief called Marc has betrayed the other members of his gang and is on the run across the countryside. He takes a refuge in a mansion occupied by two women, Eva and Elisabeth. They claim to be servants looking after the mansion while the owners are away, but Marc doesn't believe them. Unknown to Marc, the two women are waiting for the arrival of five other women to perform a yearly ritual.

While dancing with Elisabeth, she tells Marc, "At midnight you'll see what seven women can do to one man". There are only five women in this photo, but I'm sure they can handle a man as well. As a matter of fact, even one woman is too much for a man to handle. We see this when Eva kills the four gang members hunting Marc by herself.

Eva is played by the French actress Brigitte Lahaie. Jean Rollin met her when she took part in "Vibrations Sexuelles", a hardcore sex film that he made in 1977 when he was desperate to make money. He recognised her as a talented actress and promised he would give her a part in one of serious films. He hired her a year later for "Grapes of Death" (not yet available in 4K). She went on to appear in another three of Rollin's films, including "Fascination".

Lips of Blood (5 Stars)

This is Jean Rollin's eighth film, made in 1975. It's a beautiful, emotionally moving film. Many of Rollin's fans consider it to be his best film, and I can understand why.

When Frederic was 12 years old he got lost late at night. He found an old castle whose sole inhabitant was a mysterious pale woman. He immediately fell in love with her, as 12-year-olds do. She let him stay the night in his castle, and the next morning she sent him back to his mother. He promised to come back the next day, but he didn't.

Time went by. Frederic forgot the woman. 20 years later he's at a party with his girlfriend, when he sees a photo of the castle being used in a perfume advertisement. Memories come flooding back. He's determined to find the castle again. But there's some sort of conspiracy. He contacts the photographer who took the photo, but she's murdered by a vampire before she can tell him.

When he eventually finds the castle, the woman is still waiting for him. She hasn't changed. She says that she's loved him all these years.

That's an oversimplification of the plot. There are a few shocks on the way. But the atmosphere is still haunting and beautiful.

Jean Rollin has a cameo as a funeral caretaker.

He's killed by four beautiful vampires when he's on the night shift. To be honest, this scene is totally gratuitous. But I can understand Rollin wanting a scene where four scantily clad vampires are on top of him. If it were me I'd insist on at least twenty takes before moving on.