Halloween [1978] (5 Stars)

My regular readers know that I'm forgetful. When I watched "Halloween" three years ago I suggested that I would make it a new tradition to watch it every year on October 31st. Today I finally remembered it. I'll try to make it a regular feature every year on this date, but I'm ashamed to promise in case I forget it again.

"Halloween" wasn't the first film about a seemingly unkillable serial killer who attacks random victims, but it set the pattern for all subsequent movies. To quote Wikipedia, "Slasher films typically adhere to a specific formula: a past wrongful action causes severe trauma that is reinforced by a commemoration or anniversary that reactivates or re-inspires the killer".

There's nothing wrong with slasher films having the same structure. It's not even wrong that they should be predictable. All that matters is that they should be full of suspense and make the viewer afraid. Some films do it better than others. "Halloween" is a classic, and none of its sequels live up to it.

Success Rate:  + 213.4

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Spider-Man 3 (5 Stars)

The third film in the Spider-Man trilogy is strongly criticised by film critics and fans alike. Many call it awful. I don't understand it. I find it very good, even if it's not up to the quality of the first two films. I included it in my list of my top 100 films in 93rd place. In retrospect I think it should have been higher in the list.

"Spider-Man 3" has so much in its favour. It neatly brings the Harry Osborn storyline to a close. The Sandman is brought to the big screen as a villain we can sympathise with. The pathos of Peter Parker's on-off relationship with Mary Jane Watson tugs at our heartstrings. My only criticism of the film is that it's too short to do Venom justice. It should have lasted three hours to give bigger battles with Venom.

I'm glad I had enough time to watch the whole trilogy without interruption over the last three days. I haven't written much about the films. Do I need to? I'm not a professional writer. I'm not paid to write 2000 words a day. If I have something on my mind I'll write it, and if I don't I shan't force myself.

The singer Prince was notorious for his sexual activities. At every party he visited he picked up another woman. His songs were also very sexual. In an interview he was asked what he liked doing most: having sex or writing songs about sex. His initial reaction was to laugh and call it a silly question. Then he became pensive and said that he didn't know the answer. Both were important to him. In the same way, I can be asked whether I prefer watching films or writing about films. I prefer watching films, but after eleven years of writing my blog I find that writing about films is also very important to me. Sometimes I write a big post, and the writing takes up more time than I spent watching the film. I enjoy watching films. I enjoy writing about films. I can't separate the two.

Success Rate:  + 1.5

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Spider-Man 2 (5 Stars)

This is the second film in Sam Raimi's brilliant Spider-Man trilogy. As I've said in past reviews, one of the greatest strengths of these three films is the casting. Actors were chosen who looked like the characters in the comics. Alfred Molina looks so much like Doctor Octopus that it's difficult to imagine anyone else ever playing the role.

I recently read that when the first Spider-Man film was planned in the early 2000's Stan Lee requested permission to play J. Jonah Jameson. I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, I admire Stan Lee so much that I'd love to see him in a large role rather than a brief cameo. On the other hand, J. K. Simmons played the part so perfectly that I wouldn't want to see anyone else. Supposedly Steve Ditko based his drawings of J. Jonah Jameson on Stan Lee. I shan't say anything else about it. Whichever decision I make, I'll regret it tomorrow.

Success Rate:  + 1.9

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Spider-Man (5 Stars)

In preparation for the new Spider-Man film, "No Way Home", I've decided to re-watch the Sam Raimi trilogy. They're the best Spider-Man films so far, and difficult to live up to. I consider "Spider-Man" (2002) to be the best super-hero film ever made. It's the perfect mix of action, romance and tragedy.

Success Rate:  + 3.9

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Despicable Me 2 (4 Stars)

Amazon Friday #21

"Despicable Me 2" isn't as funny as the first film, but it's still a good film. It makes up for the reduced humour by having the atmosphere of a spy film. It's not overtly a spy film, but it still has a James-Bond-ish feeling to it. You need to watch the film yourself to know what I mean.

Scientists in the Arctic Circle have developed a potion capable of altering DNA. This is stolen by an unknown master criminal. The Anti Villain League approaches Gru as an ex-villain to recruit his assistance in finding the villain. Gru protests that he's not an ex-villain, he's just taking a break from crime, but he agrees to help. He teams up with the AVL agent Lucy Wilde. She secretly confesses that she's fascinated by Gru's past, and if he ever returns to crime she'll quit the AVL to become his accomplice.

There's a shopping mall where several master criminals lead innocent lives. Gru and Lucy are sent to work in the mall, opening a jam shop as their cover. While they're hunting for the criminal responsible for the theft a romance develops.

Lucy is pretty, in a cartoonish way. It's just a shame that her nose is bigger than her breasts.

But Gru doesn't notice her big nose. His eyes are elsewhere.

Gru has an even bigger nose. It makes kissing difficult.

Closer...

Closer.....

And they get there in the end!

The girls that Gru adopted in the first film approve. They want a mother.

I always get their names mixed up, so I'm including three posters here, more as a reference for myself than for my readers.

Now I have no excuse for forgetting their names again. Edith is disguised in her picture, but she's easily recognisable from her trademark hat. She's never shown in the films without it.

But as any young child will tell you, the film is all about the Minions. My grandson Oliver can't even remember the name of the film. "Despicable" is such a long word. He calls it the Minion film.

Success Rate:  + 10.8

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Nothing To Hide (4 Stars)

Netflix Thursday #1

After some hesitation I've finally started my Netflix Thursday feature. I intend to watch a film streamed by Netflix every Thursday. This doesn't mean I've never watched films on Netflix before now. I've been subscribing to Netflix for almost five years. In the past I didn't usually mention that I watched a film on Netflix. This will change things. It will motivate me to look for good films on Netflix.

I need motivation. I said that I intended to watch "Le Jeu" two years ago, Yes, two whole years ago, in my review of "Das Perfekte Geheimnis". Why did I wait so long? I don't know. Did I forget? Maybe I did.

"Le Jeu" means "The Game", but it was called "Nothing To Hide" when it was released in America. It was made in 2018, and it's a remake of the 2016 Italian film "Perfetti Sconosciuti" ("Perfect Strangers"). The Italian film is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most remade film. In the last five years it's been remade 18 times. Something about the film has captured the imagination of people worldwide, in countries as diverse as India, Spain, Russia, China and Turkey. The only language in which the film hasn't yet been remade is English. Harvey Weinstein bought the rights for the film shortly before he went on trial, so the English language remake has been put on hold indefinitely.

The film is about four middle-aged couples who meet for dinner on the evening of a lunar eclipse. Actually, it's only three and a half couples, because the girlfriend of one of the men doesn't turn up. Some of them have known each other for 25 years. They decide to play a game to prove that they completely trust one another. They all put their mobile phones on the table. Any phone calls have to be answered on speaker phone. And text messages or emails have to be read aloud.

The seven people, four men and three women, begin the evening as friends and lovers, but a few hours later they're fighting against one another as enemies.

This is the third version of the film I've seen so far. I still haven't seen the original, an error that I hope to correct soon. The French version has a twist at the end which is missing from the Spanish and German versions that I've seen so far. It would be good to see the original version as the benchmark against which the remakes have to be measured.

Success Rate:  - 0.5

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (5 Stars)

Disney Wednesday #3

One of the advantages of having access to Disney Plus is that I have all the classic Walt Disney cartoon films at my fingertips. I probably watched all of them on television when I was a child. I don't intend to watch all of them now, just the ones that I can remember best. Or maybe I shall watch all of them. I don't know.

"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", which I prefer to shorten to "Snow White", is the first animated film made by Walt Disney in 1937. Many critics call it the best animated film ever made. It's simply magical. It's based on a fairy tale with the same name published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. They didn't write it themselves. It's been told in various forms across Europe for hundreds of years, but they were the ones who wrote the version which has since been recognised as the official version. At least, it was the official version when they wrote it. In their version the dwarfs weren't named. The Walt Disney film gives the dwarfs the names Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy and Dopey. These names are now accepted as their real names.

The Queen is the most beautiful woman in her country, as her magic mirror tells her every day. One day the mirror tells her that her step-daughter Snow White is more beautiful, so the Queen is jealous and wants to put her to death. She orders her huntsman to kill her, but he's too noble to commit murder. He tells Snow White to flee. She takes refuge in a small house where seven dwarfs live.

Snow White is cute, but I prefer the Queen. Show White is a cute young girl, but the Queen is a real woman. Added to that, the Queen has an evil face, and I've always liked evil women.

The Queen makes another attempt to kill her, but Snow White survives and marries a handsome prince. And they all lived happily ever after. It may be a film made for children, but it's a story that can appeal to people of any age. Anyone who believes in romance will be charmed by the film.

Success Rate:  + 278.5

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M.F.A. (4½ Stars)

I expect that most of my readers are wondering what the initials MFA mean. They stand for Master of Fine Arts. That's the degree for which Noelle, the main character, is studying at a prestigious university. It's a random title, I admit. In Germany the film is called "The Art of Revenge", which is a more relevant title that at least gives a clue what the film is about.

Noelle is a shy young woman. She has no experience with boys. That's amazing. Look how beautiful she is.

It's not just her face. She has a beautiful body as well.

I suppose it's all about self-confidence. She's scared to approach men, so she remains single.

I like Noelle's body, but I don't like her painting. I've never understood abstract modern art. My eyes are on the left side of this picture.

There are some other examples of her artwork on the wall. Or are your eyes still fixed on Noelle?

Noelle goes on a date with a fellow student called Luke. It's soon clear what he wants. He forces himself on her, and he doesn't stop when she repeatedly says No. He's not just a rapist, he's an insensitive pig. When it's over he says it was good and he wants to see her again.

Noelle reports the incident to the university counsellor, but she gets no sympathy. The counsellor suggests that she really wanted it and she only decided to call it rape afterwards. She visits Luke and asks him to apologise. He doesn't understand. Idiot! He says it was good sex, and he wants it again. He starts to kiss her, but she pushes him away, and he falls off the balcony to his death. She rushes away, and when they arrive the police call his death an accident.

It's not over for Noelle. Luke's swift death doesn't satisfy her. She finds out that three students gang-raped another student at her college, but they were found innocent in court, even though there was a video of the incident. She sets out to take revenge on rapists in general as a vigilante. Over the next three days she kills the three students. It's easy. She dresses in her sexiest clothes and seduces them one by one. They're drawn like moths to a flame. She drugs them and kills them, either by strangling them or by battering them to death with a hammer. This is just the beginning. All rapists must die.

I have full sympathy with Noelle. I don't care what the legal system says. Courts can make mistakes. Judges can make mistakes. High paid lawyers persuade juries to make mistakes. Rapists deserve to die. I refuse to back down from that opinion.

"Promising Young Woman" (2021) is so similar to "M.F.A." (2017) that I'm sure it was influenced by the film. "M.F.A." is a better film. It's more direct in what it shows, leaving nothing to the viewer's imagination.

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Schlussmacher (3 Stars)

The Fantasy Film Festival is over, so I can get back to watching normal films. If you can call this film normal. It's a German comedy film. Somehow Germans and comedy don't go well together. I don't understand what the problem is. They try their hardest, but they can't make me laugh.

Paul Voigt is played by Matthias Schweighöfer, who also directs the film. He works for Happy End, a separation agency in Berlin. I thought separation agencies were invented for this film, but they really do exist. Happy End helps with organisation and counselling when a relationship breaks up. It doesn't matter whether it's a marriage or just a love affair; Happy End is there to make the break up as pleasant as possible.

Interestingly, the separation agency only receives payment after the relationship has ended. That means that Paul makes no attempt to keep a couple together. It's not about marriage counselling. It's the exact opposite. If it looks like the couple are changing their minds about separating, Paul convinces them how much happier they will be when they're single. "You can find yourself a younger, prettier wife".

Paul is Happy End's most successful employee. He's assisted in the separation of almost 1000 couples. Is that something to be proud of? He's been promised to be made a partner (like in a law firm) when he reaches 1000.

One day he visits Thorsten Kuhlmann (Milan Peschel). His girlfriend Kati is too cowardly to talk to him herself, so she's hired Happy End to do the dirty work for her. She sends Paul with a message: "Thorsten, I don't want you any more. Please leave my apartment immediately, before I get home tonight". Ouch! Thorsten never expected it. He has nowhere to go at such short notice. He begs Paul to let him stay at his house. That's not part of the separation deal, but Paul has recently lost his drivers license for drunk driving, so he hires Thorsten as his driver.

That's the story's premise. The two men are thrust together by circumstances, so they have to live and work together. Normally I don't approve of remakes, but this is an exception. I'm sure that a Hollywood version with Jim Carrey, Will Smith or any other comedian would work well. They'd make me laugh. Matthias Schweighöfer and Milan Peschel don't.

Brain Freeze (3 Stars)

This is the 35th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

The film takes place on an island that belongs to Quebec. I thought it was called Peacock Island, but I haven't been able to find an island with that name. It's a place where rich people go to play golf. A special fertiliser is used to make snow melt in winter and allow golf to be played all year round. This contaminates the water supply, and people turn into zombies. This is only a temporary state. When the illness progresses, people turn into grass and die. Yes, grass.

The film is satirical, making obvious references to Coronavirus. We have quarantines and lockdowns. There's a right wing radio host who tells people that the residents of the island have to be sacrificed to save Quebec.

Zombie films aren't pretty. This isn't a pretty film. Maybe you'll like it if you're a a fan of zombie films.

Are you lonesome tonight? (4 Stars)

This is the 34th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

Wang Xueming knocks over a man while driving at night. He gets out to check the man, and he's unconscious. He drives away, but he feels guilty, so he returns to the man. He's now dead. Wang rolls the body down a slope at the side of the road, into long grass.

A few days later Wang sees a woman putting up posters of her missing husband in town. It's the man he knocked over. Wang wants to get close to her. He follows her home and cuts the cables of her air conditioning. He leaves a card offering air conditioning repair. She calls him, he repairs the air conditioning, and then the two become friends.

Eventually the body is found. Wang confesses to the wife that he hit him with his car, but the cause of death is gunshot wounds. The man was involved in criminal activities before his death, and now Wang is also threatened.

This is an unusual drama, not just the story, but also the style. It isn't told chronologically. It keeps jumping forwards and backwards. We see some events twice from different perspectives, which makes the film more interesting.

Knocking (2 Stars)

This is the 33rd film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

Molly is a woman who suffers from paranoid delusions. She's recently been released from hospital, but she's still in regular contact with her doctor. She has an apartment on the eighth floor of a large building. She frequently hears knocking on the ceiling. She visits the people who live above her, but everyone says there isn't anyone knocking. Sometimes she hears a woman crying for help. She rings the police, but no evidence of a trapped woman is found. Nobody believes her because of her history of mental health issues.

I found the film disturbing. It's not a subject matter that I like to watch.

Ted K (4½ Stars)

This is the 32nd film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

The Ted K in the film title is Theodore Kaczynski, better known as the Unabomber. He planted bombs and sent bombs by mail for 17 years, from 1978 to 1995. His motivation was that he despised modern society. He lived in a cabin in the woods in Montana with no electricity or running water. Some of his targets were high ranking citizens, such as airline executives. Others were relatively unknown, such as computer salesmen.

He's a man about whom I knew almost nothing, except for his name. I didn't even know why he was called the Unabomber. It's short for University and Airline Bomber. He's commonly called a terrorist, although I personally don't think the word applies to him. A terrorist makes attacks on large numbers of random individuals, but Ted Kaczynski always picked specific targets. It would be more accurate to call him an assassin, or simply a killer.

Ted Kaczynski was a brilliant man. He went to Harvard University at the age of 16, and at 26 he became a Mathematics Professor. He quit his job at the university after only one year. He was a virgin, about which he often expressed regret. The furthest he ever got with girls was first base, i.e. kissing.

Sharlto Copley does a good job of bringing the character to life. We don't feel sympathy with him, but I doubt that was intended. He was an unpleasant character.

The Sadness (4 Stars)

This is the 30th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

"The Sadness" was presented as a zombie film. That's wrong. It's not about zombies, but it's an easy mistake to make.

The film takes place in Taiwan. There's a pandemic caused by a disease called the Alvin Virus. Those who are infected become violent and sexually aggressive. The violence can involve biting, which is the similarity with zombies, but it can also take the form of stabbing people with a knife or chopping them up with an axe.

I've never seen a film with so much violence, blood and gore. You need a strong stomach to watch it. It divided the audience. Some found it artistic in its perversity, while others were disgusted. I needed time to acclimatise myself to the violence. It's extreme. Watch it at your own peril.

John and the Hole (2 Stars)

This is the 29th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

Every year at the festival there's one film that excites people so much that it sells out. Films like "Mandy" and "IT Chapter One". They were both excellent films. This year the only film that's sold out is "John and the Hole".

So what's it about?

A 13-year-old boy called John finds a hole in the woods near his house. It's a partially constructed bunker that was never completed. It's impossible to get in or out without a long ladder. John drugs his family (father. mother and sister) and traps them in the hole. He leaves them in the hole for days, maybe weeks. 

There's also a meta-story. A mother tells her 12-year-old daughter Lily the story of John and the Hole. Then she tells her that she's leaving and Lily will have to live by herself.

That's it. That's the whole film. When it was over I was stunned by the stupidity. If the director was trying to give us a message, I missed it. Whatever it was that drew the crowds into the cinema, they were disappointed, based on the reactions of the people sitting around me. Some hazarded a guess as to what the film meant, but nobody liked it.

The Feast (4 Stars)

This is the 25th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

I don't always agree with my friends at the film festival. Almost everyone found this film boring, but I greatly enjoyed it. It starts off slowly, but it's worth waiting for the mystery to unravel.

Gwyn and his wife Glenda used to be simple farmers in Wales, but after discovering rare minerals on their land they've become wealthy. Gwyn has now become a member of parliament, the career of choice for the idle rich. But not all is going well for the family. Their son Guto is a drug addict. That's the hobby of choice for the idle rich. Their other son Gweirydd used to be a doctor, the pride of the family, but he gave up his job to practise sport. 

The family is planning a meal for their friends. They hire a young woman called Cadi to help with the cooking and act as a hostess. She doesn't talk much, but she follows instructions. It's obvious from the starts that she has ulterior motives, but it isn't until late in the film that we find out what they are.

I regret that the film doesn't show more of the beautiful Welsh scenery, but it's a good film, if you have the patience to wait for things to start happening.

Sweetie, you won't believe it (4 Stars)

This is the 24th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

It's the first film I've seen that was made in Kazakhstan. Apart from "Borat", of course.

Dastan is a happily married man. Sort of. His wife Zhanna is always nagging him, telling him to spend more time at home instead of going out with his friends. She's pregnant, and the baby can come at any moment, but he insists on going fishing with his friends. He jumps in their van, and he finds it full of blow up dolls. He asks them why, and they say they thought fishing was just an excuse to tell his wife.

Huh? Sex dolls are something you enjoy with your friends?

Enter a criminal gang that specialises in stealing horses.

And there's a one-eyed killer with super-human strength.

It all leads to Dastan and his friends having to fight for their lives in a remote place. The film makes no sense at all, but it's hilarious. It was the funniest film in the festival so far. There was laughter throughout the theatre. And it all leads up to Dastan coming home and blabbering, "Sweetie, you won't believe what happened to me today".

Mosquito State (1½ Stars)

This is the 23rd film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

Richard Boca is a brilliant mathematician, but socially inept. At university he studied bees, and he's written a computer program based on his studies that predicts stock market developments. Weird. He's become a millionaire working for a company on Wall Street, but whenever he's not at work he spends his time alone.

One day he's bitten by a mosquito. His face swells, but he learns to live with the mosquito. He lets mosquitos breed in his apartment, and he lives in a symbiotic relationship with them. They feed on his blood, and he controls them.

This is a Polish film, but made with English dialogue. I haven't labelled it as Polish, because my labels refer to the film's spoken language, not where it was made. The film has won multiple awards at film festivals, but I don't like it. It's an ugly film. I don't like bugs, especially bugs that bite me.

Lamb (4 Stars)

This is the 21st film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

"Lamb" is a film that divided the audience. Some people loved it, some people hated it. It's a slow moving film with very little dialogue. The film's genre isn't well defined. Wikipedia calls it a supernatural horror film, but that's not quite accurate. There are fairy tale elements.

Ingvar and Maria are shepherds who keep their flock in a remote part of Iceland. The film begins with lambs being born. One lamb is born later than the others. Is it days or weeks later? It's impossible to tell, because time progresses as if in a dream. All we know is that it's the last lamb born in the season. For some reason, Ingvar and Maria love the lamb more than any of the others. They call her Ada, the same name as their daughter who died shortly after birth. Instead of leaving Ada in the barn with her mother, they take her into their house, letting her sleep in their bedroom. They treat Ada as a child, dressing her in children's clothing.

Ada's mother keeps standing outside the house, trying to get to her daughter. This annoys Maria so much that she kills the mother.

Ingvar's brother Petur visits the farm to stay for a few weeks. He's shocked by the way Ada is being treated. He thinks his brother is mad.

I greatly enjoyed the film. I might rate it higher next time I see it. The film is simply beautiful. Ingvar and Maria are a simple couple, happy with their hard work in the cold, barren land. The scenery is beautiful, and the director makes sure that there are many outdoor scenes. It's an intense film that has to be seen to be believed. I can understand the people who don't like it, but it's worth watching at least once. Give it a chance.

Dashcam (2 Stars)

This is the 20th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

A young man called Jake edits videos to be shown during news broadcasts. He's waiting for camera footage of an altercation between a policeman and an attorney. The story is that the policeman stopped the attorney for a routine traffic check. The attorney was drunk, so he shot the policeman. The policeman fired back, and both died.

The story is big news, because the attorney was involved in a case against the state governor for corruption.

The police department accidentally sends the original dashcam and bodycam footage, not the shortened (i.e. censored) versions. There are also recordings of the police conversations. The traffic check wasn't random. The police officer was instructed to stop the attorney's car. Both men were shot by an unseen assailant.

This is an interesting psychological thriller, but it's not well made. The first half of the film is in real time. That's good. Then Jake leaves his apartment, and time skips when we see him in different places. I have nothing against real time films, and I have nothing against normal film timing, whatever it's called, but the swap from one form to the other was a jolt. The film is disappointing.

Coming home in the dark (2 Stars)

This is the 19th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

Hoaggie and Jill are a married couple, both school teachers. They're having a picnic with their two teenage sons in an isolated spot surrounded by the mountains of New Zealand. They're interrupted by two armed men who rob them. The men shoot the two boys dead, then take the couple on a car ride.

The film doesn't make sense. The men say that they want revenge on Hoaggie for things that happened when he was their teacher, but they insist that the attack wasn't planned. It was just a random meeting. The brutality of the two men is senseless.

Night Drive (4 Stars)

This is the 18th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

"Night Drive" is a film that caught me off guard. I read all the film descriptions in the festival guide before the festival began, so I had a rough idea what to expect from each film, but nothing prepared me for this film.

The film begins on 22nd December 2018 in Los Angeles. A driver called Russell picks up a young woman called Charlotte. The word Uber isn't used, but he's obviously an Uber driver. Russell is due to go to a Christmas Party, so Charlotte is his last job of the evening. Initially she only wants to travel a short distance, but she keeps giving new directions, so he tells her he doesn't have time and she should get a new driver. She gives him a bundle of cash that persuades him to carry on driving her.

She suggests that they should stop for a drink at a bar. He drinks two pints of beer. When they leave Charlotte asks if he's still able to drive, and he insists that two beers is well within his limit. We see that he has no trouble driving. Some people can handle their drink better than others. She insists on taking a diversion through some small streets to look at the Christmas lights. A man runs in front of their car and is almost killed. Russell wants to call an ambulance, but Charlotte says that if the police are involved Russell will be arrested for drunk driving, and it's important to her that he drives her to her destination.

The action escalates as they continue their night drive. Russell is shocked to find out that Charlotte is a cold blooded killer, murdering people they meet while he looks on in horror.

At this point in the film I was thinking to myself, "The film's okay, but there's nothing special about it". Then, 15 minutes from the end, everything changed. It wasn't a plot twist. It was a genre twist. What I mean is that things happened that were totally unexpected. It's the same as "From Dusk Till Dawn", which seems to be a crime story until vampires suddenly appear, except in "Night Drive" the genre change comes much later in the film.

This is a film that I must see again. It's not the best film in the festival, but the way it developed was a shock like I was being punched in the stomach.

OSS-117: From Africa With Love (4 Stars)

This is the 16th film in the Stuttgart Fantasy Film Festival.

It's the third in a series of films starring Jean Dujardin as Hubert Bonisseur, agent OSS-117 in the French secret service. I'd never heard of him before today. My friends sitting with me in the festival were surprised. They all knew the films. Have I been missing out?

The film is a parody of the early James Bond films. It's not a laugh-out-loud comedy like "Johnny English", the humour is subtle. It's more of a satire than a comedy.

The film takes place in 1981. OSS-117 is sent to an unnamed African country to locate another agent who's gone missing. He also has to prevent the rebel forces from staging a coup, because the president is on good terms with France. OSS-117 is sexist, racist and homophobic. That's what makes him a good secret agent.

As soon as the film finished, there were conversations about Daniel Craig. There was a general consensus that Jean Dujardin is a better actor.

I need to watch the first two films.