British don't do cowboy

I've read the novel Los Angeles Without A Map by Richard Rayner a couple of times and truly liked it. When the movie (directed by Mika Kaurismäki) came out I was pretty jazzed about it. It was funny and pretty rough around the edges. Now, 20 years later, the story of a Scottish undertaker following an American girl he just met to Los Angeles and finding the place amazing and weird at the same time, it's bit outdated. And it's not that funny now either, reasonably entertaining though.

North winds make them disappear

The good old Cold War times in East Germany, the communist Shangri-La, where Stasi (The Ministry for State Security) kept an eye on every citizen, as closely and comfortably as hemorrhoid. It's a wonder people wanted out. But they did. Hundreds of defectors got killed, the lucky ones escaped. And the means were many. Balloon is based on a true story and it's a gripping one, packed full of suspense and captures the repressive period wonderfully.

Victim of borrowed time

Theo can't tell the difference between the real world and the nightmares he's having. Apparently the moment he lost his wife, he lost sanity and a track of time of as well. A new girlfriend and their daughter for company a trip to picturesque Welsh countryside might drive the inner demons away. Pointless horror with no suspense.

Covered with spikes and fuelled with bile

Old-school police officers Ridgeman and Lurasetti (Mel Gibson & Vince Vaughn) are suspended for being too violent. Without income, even for honest cops, it's tempting to use their skills and streetwise to provide livelihood for their families illegally. The officers get involved with some really wicked shit. S. Craig Zahler wrote and directed couple of fresh and almost groundbreaking movies Bone Tomahawk (2015) and Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017) that put violence in American cinema in new heights and Dragged Across Concrete follows suit. He's one of the directors I've bookmarked to follow his career.

Hungry, cold and hunted

"In October of 1994, three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkettsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found." Back in the day, how they advertised and prepared audience for the movie was more impressive than The Blair Witch Project film itself. Now, 20 years later, that effect is gone, the film hasn't stood the test of time and, in fact, the only legacy that remains is that they should be held accountable for the hundreds of shitty hand-held camera movies that followed in the wake of this project. 

In the wake of the weary

Rayburn runs a wildlife sanctuary. It's a nice place, but he has to deal with shit like poachers and vandalism. Rayburn has had a fair share of misery; the disapperance of his daughter and a divorce that followed within. Unsurprisingly he tries to drown his sorrow with booze. As if this wasn't enough, wrong kind of men and women with terribly wrong and illogical decisions start popping around every corner. A messy thriller, horrible script with surprising yet silly twist in the end, bits entertaining though.

Circles around the bronze ashes

Liam wakes up from a car accident not only oblivious to his own being, but he's also become a grim reaper incarnate causing immediate death to anyone in his proximity. He sucks the life out of someone or something by just coming close. He fucken radiates death. I like these low-key indies where inventiveness and perseverance overshadow the low budget.

Someone somewhere forgot a zero

To capture cop killers, they isolate Manhattan, N.Y., by closing its bridges (hence the title 21 Bridges), tunnels, rivers and railroads. A complete Manhattan lockdown. Sounds interesting altho in the end it's only a sidenote in a cliché-ridden plotholed story of good cops and bad corrupt cops. Decent cast of Chadwick Boseman (his last theatrically released film), Sienna Miller, J.K. Simmons, Keith David and Taylor Kitch.